Kenneth Einar Himma is an American philosopher, author, lawyer, academic and lecturer. Born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Himma earned his bachelor's degree from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in 1985, his master's from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

in 1987, and his doctorate of law from the

University of Washington School of Law The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington. The school is fully accredited by the American Bar Asso ...

in 1990, before receiving his

PhD 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 2001 from the University of Washington for his thesis, "The Status of Legal Principles".Curriculum Vitae: Kenneth Einar Himma
at the University of Washington School of Law. Retrieved 9 April 2017. Himma specialises in

philosophy of law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

philosophy of information The philosophy of information (PI) is a branch of philosophy that studies topics relevant to information processing, representational system and consciousness, cognitive science, computer science, information science and information technolog ...

information ethics Information ethics has been defined as "the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination, and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society" ...

social philosophy Social philosophy is the study and interpretation of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social contexts for political, legal, moral and cultur ...

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

and

philosophy of religion Philosophy of religion is "the philosophical examination of the central themes and concepts involved in religious traditions". Philosophical discussions on such topics date from ancient times, and appear in the earliest known Text (literary theo ...

, and has authored dozens of academic papers in these fields. From 2004 until 2011 he worked as a professor in the philosophy department of

Seattle Pacific University Seattle Pacific University (SPU) is a private Christian university in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 in conjunction with the Oregon and Washington Conference of the Free Methodist Church as the Seattle Seminary. It ...

, after which he began lecturing part-time at the

. He is the author of Coercion and the Nature of Law (Oxford University Press, 2020), Morality and the Nature of Law (Oxford University Press, 2019), and The Nature of Authority (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2024). He is on editorial boards of Legal Theory, Law and Philosophy, Ratio Juris, Revus: A Journal for Constitutional Theory and Philosophy of Law. He also serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals in the philosophy of information. In 2007, Himma was elected to the editorial board of the ''

Journal of Information Ethics The ''Journal of Information Ethics'' is an academic journal of philosophy. The editor-in-chief is Robert Hauptmann. It has been published biannually since 1992 by McFarland & Company and the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. The publisher descr ...

'' and the board of directors for the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory Boards of the ''Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society'' and the ''International Review of Information Ethics'' and the Editorial Boards of ''Computers and Society'' and the ''International Journal of Cyber Ethics in Education'' In 2010, he was nominated for the World Technology Network's World Technology Award for Ethics, and in 2012, he was awarded a Fulbright Candidate Grant for Keynote at IVR Conference at Faculty of Law at University of Belgrade. Himma has had numerous opinion pieces published in ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

''. He has also contributed several entries to the ''

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''IEP'') is a scholarly online encyclopedia with around 900 articles about philosophy, philosophers, and related topics. The IEP publishes only peer review, peer-reviewed and blind-refereed original p ...

'', with commentary on the subjects of legal and religious philosophy. Some of his scholarly papers have attracted responses and commentaries from

Francis J. Beckwith Francis J. "Frank" Beckwith (born November 3, 1960) is an American philosopher, professor, scholar, speaker, writer, and lecturer. He is currently professor of philosophy and church-state studies, affiliate professor of political science and a ...

Thomas Metzinger Thomas Metzinger (; born 12 March 1958) is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, ...

, Greg Dawes, Alison Adam, David Gunkel,

Mark Coeckelbergh Mark Coeckelbergh (born 1975) is a Belgian philosopher of technology. He is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Vienna and former President of the Society for Philosophy and Techno ...

Matthew Kramer Matthew Henry Kramer (born 9 June 1959) is an American philosopher, and is currently a Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. He writes mainly in the areas of m ...

and Scott J. Shapiro.

Partial bibliography

Books

* * * * * *

References

External links

Curriculum Vitae: Kenneth Einar Himma
at the University of Washington School of Law {{DEFAULTSORT:Himma, Kenneth Einar 1957 births Academics from Washington (state) American ethicists American political philosophers Lawyers from Seattle American philosophers of law American philosophers of religion Philosophers from Washington (state) Seattle Pacific University faculty University of Washington School of Law faculty Writers from Seattle Living people Information ethicists