Dr. John Thrasher, currently a visiting professor at the Chase Center, has accepted a faculty position at the Center starting Fall 2026.
In addition to serving as visiting associate professor in civic thought, Dr. Thrasher is a core faculty member in the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Program at The Ohio State University.
“Dr. Thrasher is a leading scholar in the field of PPE, and he has shown himself to be an engaging teacher and valuable member of the Chase Center faculty,” said Executive Director Lee Strang. “Asking him to join us in our work to expand the role of civics education at Ohio State will add value to the Chase Center for our students, faculty members, and raise the scholarly reputation of the entire University community.”
From 2023 to 2025, Dr. Thrasher was the Wang-Fradkin Associate Professor in Philosophy and core faculty in the Smith Institute for Political Economy and Philosophy at Chapman University in Orange County, California. He was also the Director of the Law and Liberal Arts Minor at Chapman University.
From 2014 to 2018, he was a lecturer in philosophy at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
His research explores how norms, markets, and institutions help sustain a diverse, dynamic, and free society.
Thrasher earned his PhD from the University of Arizona and his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado.
He is co-author of the widely used textbook Philosophy, Politics, and Economics: An Introduction (Princeton, 2021), and The Ethics of Capitalism (OUP, 2020). He has published extensively in leading journals such as Philosophy & Public Affairs, The Journal of Politics, Philosophy & Phenomenological Research, The American Journal of Political Science, and Cognition, among others.