Rate My Professor Justin Bruner

Justin Bruner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo, where he also directs the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Program in the College of Arts and Sciences. He earned his PhD in Logic and Philosophy of Science from the University of California, Irvine in 2014. Prior to his current position, Bruner held permanent academic appointments at the University of Arizona's Department of Political Economy and Moral Science, the University of Groningen, and the Australian National University. His research specializations encompass philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE), philosophy of science, social epistemology, social and political philosophy, decision theory, and experimental philosophy.

Bruner has published extensively in leading philosophy journals. Selected key publications include "No harm done? An experimental approach to the non-identity problem" (with Matthew Kopec) in the Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2022), "Nash, bargaining and evolution" in Philosophy of Science (2021), "Inequality and majority rule" in Analysis (2020), "The varieties of impartiality, or, would an egalitarian endorse the veil?" (with Matthew Lindauer) in Philosophical Studies (2020), and "The evolution of the endowment effect" (with Toby Handfield and Frank Calegari) in Evolution and Human Behavior (2020). More recent articles feature "Too Much of a Good Thing? Positive Assortment and Social Dilemmas" in Biological Theory (2026), "A note on the evolution of social learning" in Biology and Philosophy (2025), "Assertions: Deterrent or Handicap? A Reply to Graham (2020)" in Episteme (2025), "How mixed strategies make a difference in the one-shot prisoner’s dilemma" in Analysis (2025), and "Revising Rules, Shifting Schemas: Toward an Expanded Formal Account of Norm Change" (with Ryan Muldoon) in Philosophy and Public Affairs (2025). He serves as Associate Editor for the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Bruner is the Principal Investigator on a U.S. Department of Education grant, "From Campus to Community: Civil Discourse as a Catalyst for Local Civic Renewal" (2026-2029), valued at $4 million, and a co-investigator on projects funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation focused on inclusive immigration, democratic revival, and liberalism.