Professor David Silver holds the Chair in Business and Professional Ethics at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia, where he served as Director from 2012-2024. He is jointly appointed to the Sauder School of Business and the Faculty of Medicine, and holds an associate appointment in the Philosophy Department. Prior to joining UBC, he taught at the University of Delaware, and has held visiting professorships at the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), Aix-Marseille University and Ben-Gurion University.
His book Corporations and Persons: a theory of the firm in democratic society(Oxford 2025) brings together themes from his academic work over the last two decades. It provides a theory of the firm which is informed by law, economics, psychology and history, but which is distinctly normative and philosophical.
A central idea of this work is that corporations play a crucial role in contemporary democratic societies, and that it is their moral responsibility to better understand and adhere to their appropriate roles within it.
Prof. Silver has served as a consultant and expert witness for businesses and professional associations, with an emphasis on matters where business and professional ethics intersects with the public interest.
