Henry Shattuck Richardson (born 1955)
is an American philosopher, author, and professor of philosophy at
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
, where he is also a senior research scholar at the
Kennedy Institute of Ethics
The Kennedy Institute of Ethics (also known as Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute of Ethics) is one of the most prestigious bioethics institutes in the world. Located at Healy Hall, it was established at Georgetown University in 1971 as a bioethi ...
.
Early life and education
Richardson is the son of Anne Richardson, who was once the chair of
Reading is Fundamental, and the politician and lawyer
Elliot Richardson
Elliot Lee Richardson (July 20, 1920December 31, 1999) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. As a member of the cabinets of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1970 and 1977, Richardson is one of two men in United States history ...
, who served as
United States Secretary of Defense
The United States secretary of defense (acronym: SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the United States federal executive departments, executive department of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, a ...
,
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
, and
Secretary of Commerce
The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...
.
Richardson graduated ''
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'' from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree in 1977. He then received a
J.D. from
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
and an
M.P.P. from the
John F. Kennedy School of Government
The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...
(supervised by
Martha Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum (; Craven; born May 6, 1947) is an American philosopher and the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she is jointly appointed in the law school and the philos ...
), both in 1981. In 1986, Richardson received his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in Philosophy from Harvard University under the supervision of
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls (; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an American moral philosophy, moral, legal philosophy, legal and Political philosophy, political philosopher in the Modern liberalism in the United States, modern liberal tradit ...
; his thesis was titled ''Rational deliberation of ends''.
Academic career
Richardson's main work has centred on
practical reasoning
In philosophy, practical reason is the use of reason to decide how to act. It contrasts with theoretical reason, often called speculative reason, the use of reason to decide what to believe. For example, agents use practical reason to decide wheth ...
. His first book, ''Practical Reasoning about Final Ends'',
focused on individual reasoning, whilst his second book, ''Democratic Autonomy: Public Reasoning about the Ends of Policy'',
which won the
Herbert A. Simon
Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...
Best Book Award in Public Administration,
and the David Easton Award in the Foundations of Political Theory,
dealt with collective reasoning.
In addition to working on practical reasoning and moral and political philosophy, Richardson has written on
bioethics
Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...
. He has twice been a visiting scholar at the Department of Bioethics at the (U.S.) National Institutes of Health.
From 2008 to 2018, he was the Editor of the academic journal ''
Ethics
Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
''.
From 2010 to 2013, 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
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
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 was succeeded by the economist
Ravi Kanbur
Sanjiv M. Ravi Kanbur (born 28 August 1954), is T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University. He worked for the World Bank for almost two decades and was the ...
.
From 2014 to 2017, he served as one of two "coordinating lead authors" on the orienting normative chapter of the three-volume report of the
International Panel of Social Progress,
''Rethinking Society for the 21st Century.''
In 2019, Richardson was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
.
Works
Books
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Journal articles
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References
External links
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Profile: Henry S RichardsonKennedy Institute of Ethics
Profile: Henry S RichardsonGeorgetown University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Henry S.
1955 births
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
American people of Dutch descent
American bioethicists
Georgetown University faculty
Living people
Livingston family
Schuyler family
Date of birth missing (living people)
Harvard Law School alumni
Place of birth missing (living people)
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Philosophy journal editors
Harvard College alumni