David E. McClean

I have led two or three lives simultaneously, and this is reflected in the range of subjects covered in my books. My academic work, in philosophy and religion, was undertaken at The City University of New York, New York University, and The New School for Social Research, where I now serve on the Board of Trustees. I teach various philosophy courses at Rutgers University (Newark) and elsewhere: Business Ethics, American Philosophy, Africana Philosophy, Social Ethics, and others. I have also made a living as a consultant to Wall Street firms, mostly concerning operations and regulation.

My books reflect subjects that I have been most passionate about over the years.

Philosopher Richard Rorty's insouciance and creative reading of the works of certain figures in philosophy were liberating factors in my study of philosophy. Of course, while Rorty was an important philosopher, his "violence of direction," as I call it in my book "Richard Rorty, Liberalism and Cosmopolitanism," led to certain errors, in my view, which are explored in the book. Those errors, I argue, are not fatal to many of Rorty's insights.

"Wall Street, Reforming the Unreformable" engages concerns regarding the troubled and troubling culture of the financial services industry, and looks at the problem from the perspective of civics/civic virtue and, to some degree at least, human psychology. The book reflects some thirty years of work in the industry, in everything from private equity to investment management to investment banking, at various levels. It refutes dogmatic assumptions about the prospects for cultural change in the financial services industry, and calls for what I call 'Fully-Cognizant Corporate Conduct' via the employment of what I call 'Third-Wave Economic Imagination.' However, the book is not merely desiderative and theoretical. To the contrary, it contains 50 concrete proposals for reform, from the repeal of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to the proscription of common industry practices and standards, such as soft dollars and the commission system of compensation, which incentivize bad behavior. As well, executive compensation and the nature and importance of the welfare state are discussed. Of the various scandals that we have seen in recent years, the book spotlights two in particular: The insider trading scandal at S.A.C. Capital, and the research-fixing scandal of the early 2000s that led to a large settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and some of the largest broker-dealers.

My book on climate change, "Climate Change: The Moral and Political Imperatives," will be published in 2018.