Sir Ralph Nicholas Wedgwood, 4th Baronet ( , rhyming with "safe" or "waif"; born 10 December 1964) is a British philosopher currently Professor of Philosophy at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

Life and career

Wedgwood was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

, the only son of the architectural historian Alexandra (known as Sandra; née Gordon Clark; daughter of the judge and crime novelist,

Alfred Gordon Clark Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark (4 September 1900 – 25 August 1958) was an English judgeHis Honour A. A. Gordon Clark (Obituaries) The Times Tuesday, 26 August 1958; pg. 10; Issue 54239; col E and crime writer under the pseudonym Cyril Hare. ...

) and her husband

Martin Wedgwood Sir Hugo Martin Wedgwood, 3rd Baronet, (27 December 1933 – 12 October 2010) was a British stockbroker and linguist. Wedgwood was the eldest son of Sir John Wedgwood, 2nd Baronet. He was a great-great-great-great-grandson of the master potter ...

, later 3rd Baronet. He was named after his great-grandfather,

Sir Ralph Wedgwood, 1st Baronet Sir Ralph Lewis Wedgwood, 1st Baronet, (; 2 March 1874 – 5 September 1956) was the Chief Officer of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) for 16 years from its inauguration in 1923. He was chairman of the wartime Railway Executive Commit ...

. Wedgwood is a descendant of the master potter

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...

. He inherited the Wedgwood

Baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscans. T ...

upon the death of his father on 12 October 2010. The

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the Baronetcy is John Julian Wedgwood (born 1936), son of the 2nd Baronet. Wedgwood was educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It derives from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the 1066 Norman Conquest, as d ...

, before entering Magdalen College, Oxford and taking a BA in Classics and Modern Languages, followed by studies at King's College London (MPhil), and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(PhD). He was appointed Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...

in 1995, becoming an Associate Professor in 1999. From 2002, Wedgwood acted as a Lecturer and Fellow in Philosophy at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ...

, and was promoted to full professorship in 2007. At the beginning of 2012 he moved to the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

as Professor of Philosophy.

Philosophical work

Wedgwood works primarily on topics in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ...

(including

meta-ethics In metaphilosophy and ethics, meta-ethics is the study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgment. It is one of the three branches of ethics generally studied by philosophers, the others being normative ethics (questions of how one ou ...

practical reason 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 follow. For example, agents use practical reason to decide whet ...

normative ethics Normative ethics is the study of ethical behaviour and is the branch of philosophical ethics that investigates the questions that arise regarding how one ought to act, in a moral sense. Normative ethics is distinct from meta-ethics in that the ...

, and the

history of ethics Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines right and wrong moral behavior, moral concepts (such as justice, virtue, duty) and moral language. Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and r ...

) and

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

. He is the author of ''The Nature of Normativity'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007), and numerous papers on philosophy and ethics, including the oft-cited paper ''The Fundamental Argument for Same-Sex Marriage'', which argues for the legitimacy of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

. He has also written a piece on the same subject for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedgwood, Sir Ralph, 4th Baronet 1964 births Living people People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of King's College London Cornell University alumni Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British philosophers Atheist philosophers Fellows of Merton College, Oxford MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences faculty University of Southern California faculty People from Vancouver