Laurence Houlgate

In 2016, Professor Houlgate decided to keep a promise to his former students to write a series of study guides on the classical philosophers. There are now eight of these guides, published as a series under the title The Smart Student's Guides to Philosophical Classics. He also kept a promise to his colleagues who teach courses in the philosophy of law to write a textbook based exclusively on family law cases. That book was published in 2016 under the title Philosophy, Law and Family: A New Introduction to the Philosophy of Law. The book is published by Springer Nature International.

Houlgate's first full-time appointment was as a lecturer in philosophy at California State University, Fullerton. After two years, he accepted a position at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1966). He accepted a visiting professorship for one year at Reed College (Oregon) (1972-1973), and later accepted an Associate Professor position at George Mason University (Virginia). He remained at GMU for six years (1973-1979) and in 1979, accepted a position at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he was appointed Professor of Philosophy (1980) and served as department chair from 1990 to 1995. He retired from full-time teaching at Cal Poly, SLO in 2002 but continued part-time until 2016.

Laurence Houlgate did his undergraduate work in philosophy at California State University, Los Angeles. After the new degree in philosophy was approved by the administration in 1960, Houlgate was the first student to graduate from CSULA with a B.A. in Philosophy. His mentor was Professor Henry Alexander. On his recommendation, Laurence enrolled as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. He later transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles to study under H.L.A. Hart (who was there as a Visiting Professor) and Herbert Morris, one of Hart's students at Oxford and a recent appointee at UCLA. Houlgate received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Philosophy from UCLA in 1965 and 1967, having written his dissertation under Morris' direction.

Laurence D. Houlgate (born 1938) is an American philosopher, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and former department chair at California Polytechnic State University. He specializes in the history of Western philosophy, social ethics, philosophy of law and political philosophy. Houlgate was one of the first philosophers in the 20th century to theorize about the moral foundations of children's rights and the ethics of family relationships. After his retirement, Professor Houlgate wrote a popular series of eight study guides on the classical philosophers for beginning philosophy students. Houlgate also stood as the Democratic Party candidate for his district in the California State Assembly election of 2000 and California State Assembly election, 2002.