Anderson, Charles W. 1934–

(Charles William Anderson)

* Indicates that a listing has been compiled from secondary sources believed to be reliable, but has not been personally verified for this edition by the author sketched.

PERSONAL: Born June 28, 1934, in Manitowoc, WI; son of Herbert Frederick and Ruth Wilhelmina (Krause) Anderson; married Jean Claire Wood (a computer programmer), June 5, 1955. Education: Grinnell College, B.A., 1955; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1957; University of Wisconsin, Ph.D., 1960. Politics: "Independent Democrat." Religion: Lutheran. Hobbies and other interests: Primitive transportation.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, 412 Holly Ave., Madison, WI 53711-1539.

CAREER: Political scientist, educator, and writer. University of Wisconsin, Madison, assistant professor, 1960–63, associate professor, 1963–66, professor, 1967–83, Hawkins Professor of Political Science and chair of Integrated Liberal Studies program, 1983–86, professor emeritus, 1986–; University of Essex, Colchester, England, lecturer, 1971–72. External consultant, U.S. Department of State, American Council of Learned Societies—Social Science Research Council Joint Committee on Latin America; member of political science board, National Science Foundation, 1977–80.

MEMBER: American Political Science Association, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: Woodrow Wilson fellowship, 1955; LL.D., Grinnell College, 1988; Spitz Prize, 1992.

WRITINGS:

The Relocation of the Wisconsin School for Boys: A Case Study in Public Administration, Bureau of Government, University Extension Division, University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI), 1961.

(With William P. Glade, Jr.) The Political Economy of Mexico, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1963.

Toward a Theory of Latin American Politics, Graduate Center for Latin American Studies, Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN), 1964.

(With Fred R. Von der Mehden and Crawford Young) Issues of Political Development, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1967, 2nd edition, 1974.

Politics and Economic Change in Latin America: The Governing of Restless Nations, Van Nostrand (Princeton, NJ), 1967.

The Political Economy of Modern Spain: Policy-Making in an Authoritarian System, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1970.

Statecraft: An Introduction to Political Choice and Judgement, Wiley (New York, NY), 1977.

Value Judgement and Income Distribution, edited by Robert A. Solo, foreword by Janos Horvath, Praeger (New York, NY), 1981.

Pragmatic Liberalism, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1990.

Prescribing the Life of the Mind: An Essay on the Purpose of the University, the Aims of Liberal Education, the Competence of Citizens, and the Cultivation of Practical Reason, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1993.

A Deeper Freedom: Liberal Democracy as an Everyday Morality, University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2002.

Contributor of articles to professional journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Charles W. Anderson is a political scientist whose interests have centered on philosophy and the economy. He is also the author of several books focusing on these topics, including A Deeper Freedom: Liberal Democracy as an Everyday Morality. Here, Anderson presents his belief that democracy goes far beyond a political or public philosophy. For the author, democracy represents individual freedom and is the basis for a moral code that can help guide an individual's day-to-day life. Anderson explores such issues as how freedom within a democracy fosters virtue among its citizens and the forming of closer bonds with their fellow citizens. Writing in the form of a dialogue, the author poses collective questions about democracy, freedom, and virtue and then explores through the answers his philosophy about the connection between individual freedom and morality. Throughout the work, he discusses the thoughts of such figures as Jesus, Plato, Aristotle, and St. Augustine, as well as more contemporary thinkers, such as the philosophers John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce. Writing in the Review of Politics, Richard Dagger called the book "an elegant and evocative reminder of the richness of liberal democracy." Dagger continued: "A Deeper Freedom is a wise and lovely book, an exercise in practical reason that ventures into questions of faith and science. It is a pleasure to read." A Publishers Weekly contributor concluded that the author's "articulate paean to individual freedom offers an engaging study … that can teach us to live fuller and deeper lives."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, June, 1991, review of Pragmatic Liberalism, p. 1711; April, 1994, review of Prescribing the Life of the Mind: An Essay on the Purpose of the University, the Aims of Liberal Education, the Competence of Citizens, and the Cultivation of Practical Reason, p. 1341.

Ethics, January, 1992, R. Bruce Douglass, review of Pragmatic Liberalism, p. 426; January, 1995, Rudolph H. Weingartner, review of Prescribing the Life of the Mind, p. 458.

Publishers Weekly, April 1, 2002, review of A Deeper Freedom: Liberal Democracy as an Everyday Morality, p. 69.

Review of Politics, winter, 2003, Richard Dagger, review of A Deeper Freedom, p. 137.