Henry S. Richardson is an American philosopher, author, Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University.
His main work has centred on practical reasoning. His first book, Practical Reasoning about Final Ends, focussed on individual reasoning, whilst his second book, Democratic Autonomy: Public Reasoning about the Ends of Policy, which won the Herbert A. Simon Best Book Award in Public Administration, and the David Easton Award in the Foundations of Political Theory, dealt with collective reasoning.
In recent years Richardson's research has concentrated on bioethics. He has twice been a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Bioethics at the (U.S.) National Institutes of Health.
In July 2008 he was appointed as Editor to the academic journal Ethics. Since 2010, through his work as a member of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), he has acted as an advisor to the Director General of UNESCO on ethical issues relating to science and technology.
In September 2014 Richardson began a two-year tenure as president of the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA), he will be succeeded by the economist Ravi Kanbur.
Henry S. Richardson is the son of Anne Richardson, who was once the chair of Reading is Fundamental, and the politician and lawyer Elliot Richardson.
Richardson graduated from Harvard University in 1977, he remained there to gain a JD at Harvard Law School and an MPP at the Kennedy School of Government, both in 1981.
He fininshed his PhD in Philosophy, also at Harvard, in 1986.
Richardson, Henry S; Douglass, Bruce; Mara, Gerald M (1990). Liberalism and the good. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415902434.
Richardson, Henry S (1997). Practical reasoning about final ends. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521574426.
Richardson, Henry S (2002). Democratic autonomy: public reasoning about the ends of policy. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195150919.
Richardson, Henry S (2012). Moral entanglements : the ancillary-care obligations of medical researchers. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195388930.
Richardson, Henry S (1992) "Desire and Good in De Anima." in Essays on Aristotle’s "De Anima" Ed. M. Nussbaum and A.O. Rorty. : Oxford University Press: 381-399.
Richardson, Henry S (1997) "Democratic Intentions." in Deliberative Democracy Ed. J. Bohman and W. Rehg. Boston: MIT Press: 349-382.
Richardson, Henry S (1999) "Administrative Policymaking: Rule of Law, or Bureaucracy?." in Recrafting the Rule of Law: The Limits of Legal Order Ed. David Dyzenhaus. Oxford: Hart Publishing: 309-330.
Richardson, Henry S (1999) "Institutionally Divided Moral Responsibility." in Responsibility Ed. Ellen and Paul Frankel et al.. : Cambridge University Press: 218-249.
Richardson, Henry S (2001) "Commensurability." in The Encyclopedia of Ethics Ed. Lawrence C. Becker and Charlotte B. Becker. : Routledge: 258-262.
Richardson, Henry S (2001) "The Stupidity of the Cost-Benefit Standard." in Cost-Benefit Analysis: Legal, Economic, and Philosophical Perspectives Ed. M.D. Adler & E.A. Posner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press: 135-167.
Richardson, Henry S (2003) "Em Defesa de uma Democracia Qualificada." in Dereito e Legitimidade Ed. Jean-Christophe Merle and Luiz Moreira. Sao Paulo: Landy Editora: 174-194.
Richardson, Henry S (2004) "Satisficing: Not Good Enough." in Satisficing and Maximizing: Moral Theorists on Practical Reason Ed. Michael Byron. : Cambridge University Press: 106-130.
Richardson, Henry S (2004) "Thinking about Conflicts of Desire." in Practical Conflicts: New Philosophical Essays Ed. Peter Baumann and Monika Betzler. Cambridge University Press: 92-117.
Richardson, Henry S (2004) "Incommensurability and Basic Goods: A Tension in the New Natural Law Theory." in Human Values Ed. David S. Oderberg and Timothy Chappell . Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan: 70-101.
Richardson, Henry S (2006) "Public Opinion and Popular Will." in Deliberative Democracy: Theory and Practice Ed. D. Kahane et al.
Journal articles
Richardson, Henry S (Autumn 1990). "Specifying Norms as a way to resolve concrete ethical problems". Philosophy & Public Affairs (JSTOR) 19 (4): 279–310. doi:10.2307/2265316.
Richardson, Henry S (1998). "Truth and ends in Dewey". Canadian Journal of Philosophy, special issue - supplementary volume 24: Pragmatism (Taylor and Francis) 28 (s1): 109–147. doi:10.1080/00455091.1998.10717497.
Richardson, Henry S (Summer 1999). "Institutionally divided moral responsibility". Social Philosophy and Policy (Cambridge University Press) 16 (2): 218–249. doi:10.1017/S0265052500002454.
Richardson, Henry S (2000). "Some limitations of Nussbaum’s capacities". The Quinnipiac Law Review (Quinnipiac University, School of Law) 19 (2): 309–332.
Richardson, Henry S (June 2000). "The stupidity of the cost‐benefit standard". The Journal of Legal Studies (JSTOR) 29 (s2): 971–1003. doi:10.1086/468102.
Richardson, Henry S (June 2006). "Republicanism and democratic injustice". Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (Sage) 5 (2): 175–200. doi:10.1177/1470594X06064221.
Richardson, Henry S (December 2006). "Disabilities, capabilities, and Rawlsian social contract theory". The Journal of Ethics (Springer) 10 (4): 419–462. doi:10.1007/s10892-006-9000-5.
