Professor Joseph D’Agostino has developed an interest in pre-Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment conceptions of politics and law as they can be applied to the contemporary world.  He has published articles with a focus on the essential nature of law as physically coercive and the necessity of formulating empirically-based definitions in order to understand political law and similar phenomena.  He also has an interest in the use of science in justifying legal coercion and the proper limits of that justification.  He taught law at Savannah Law School from 2013 to 2020 before subsequently practicing law in Virginia. 

Professor D’Agostino previously served in Washington, D.C. as a Legal Fellow for Congressman Tom Price (Ga.), a Law Clerk for U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (Okla.), and as a Researcher at Georgetown University Law Center.  He has served as a pro bono researcher for the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. 

Professor D’Agostino holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia and a B.A. from the University of Chicago, and is a member of the bars of Virginia and North Carolina.