Madhav Kacker is a master's candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia, where he researches topics in normative political theory. His interests focus on political conceptions of justice, particularly the theory of John Rawls, and the communitarian critique of political liberalism. Mr. Kacker studies the relationship between justice and comprehensive conceptions of the moral good, specifically whether justice can remain independent of comprehensive moral claims. He is currently working under the supervision of Professor Johnston on a related research project, where he is examining the feasibility and desirability of the priority of right.
Additionally, Mr. Kacker is interested in the methodological affinities of these themes for political theory, particularly whether normative theory must derive from moral philosophy for second-order justifications or if political constructivism is appropriate in presenting independent justifications.
Mr. Kacker holds a BA in political humanities (politics, philosophy, history) from Sciences Po, Paris. He spent a year as an exchange scholar at the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University.
