Lincoln Rathnam is a political theorist whose work examines the ideas of conflict, coexistence, and the common good in European, American, and Chinese political thought. He is the author of The Practice of Skepticism: Montaigne and Zhuangzi on Freedom, Coexistence, and the Limits of Government (Oxford University Press, 2026). His next book project examines theories of the origins of political order and prosperity in the social and political thought of the classical Confucians and the Scottish Enlightenment. His teaching interests at DKU concern Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), as well as American institutions, Chinese philosophy, and the foundations of the social sciences.

His work has appeared in Philosophy East and West and Liberal Education in a Free Society (University of Missouri Press, 2023).

Rathnam received his B.A. (Philosophy) from Davidson College and his M.A. (East Asian Studies) and Ph.D. (Political Science) from the University of Toronto. Before coming to Duke Kunshan University, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University and a visiting instructor at Davidson College.