Joseph Carens

Joseph H. Carens FRSC (born 1945) is a Canadian-American political scientist. He is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto. His research interests are mainly focused on contemporary political theory, especially on issues related to immigration and political community. Carens is an advocate of open borders, and an ethical theorist in the field of immigration.

Early life and education

Carens was born in the U.S. and is descended from Irish Catholic immigrants. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in philosophy in 1966. He then earned an M.Phil. in religious studies in 1970, a second M.Phil. in political science in 1972, and his Ph.D. in 1977, all from Yale University. In 1985, Carens immigrated to Canada from the United States and earned dual citizenship.

Partial bibliography

• The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford, 2013)
• Immigrants and the Right to Stay (Boston Review/MIT, 2010)
• Culture, Citizenship, and Community: A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness (Oxford, 2000)
• Equality, Moral Incentives, and the Market: An Essay in Utopian Politico-Economic Theory (Chicago, 1981)
• Democracy and Possessive Individualism: The Intellectual Legacy of C.B. Macpherson (Editor) (SUNY Press, 1993)
• Is Quebec Nationalism Just? Perspectives from Anglophone Canada (Editor) (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995)

Further reading

• Hoesch and Mooren (2020), Between Aliens and Citizens. An Outline of Joseph Carens’s Political Philosophy. In Joseph Carens: Between Aliens and Citizens, Springer Cham, 3-14
• Carens (2000), Culture, Citizenship and Community, A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness, Oxford University Press Inc, New York