Faculty Profile for Dr. Vaughn Bryan Baltzly

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Vaughn Bryan Baltzly is an associate professor of philosophy at Texas State University. He earned graduate degrees at the University of Maryland in both public policy (focusing on international development policy under the tutelage of Carol Graham) and political philosophy (writing a dissertation supervised by William Galston and Christopher Morris). After completing graduate studies, and before coming to Texas State in 2016, Vaughn spent more than six years employed by the U.S. federal government. His civil service was split evenly between the executive branch (where he was a Presidential Management Fellow at the Department of Veterans Affairs) and the legislative branch (where he was a senior analyst in housing policy at the Government Accountability Office).

Teaching Interests

Vaughn teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and political philosophy -- most commonly, Honors sections of PHIL 1320 ("Ethics & Society") and PHIL 5320 ("History of Ethics"). In addition, he was, from 2017 through 2024, the coach of the Texas State "Ethics Bowl" team.

Research Interests

Vaughn's research falls under the interdisciplinary framework these days widely known as "PPE": "Philosophy, Politics, and Economics." Within the broader PPE umbrella, Vaughn's earlier publications clustered more in the field of applied ethics, while more recent publications have focused on the philosophy of economics. A pair of recent publications address pedagogical matters as well. Finally: under the influence of (and sometimes in collaboration with) his wife, Colleen Myles (a professor in Texas State's Department of Geography and Environmental Studies), Vaughn has begun publishing in the field of the "philosophy of food."

A forthcoming book with Broadview Press provides an introduction to the field of PPE, augmented with a dose of (evolutionary moral) psychology. Accordingly, the book is provisionally titled PPE+: On Ethics, Economics, Psychology, and Politics (or, Restoring the 'Moral Sciences').