Background
Richardson, Henry Shattuck was born on January 16, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
(How should we reason about what we do? The answer offered...)
How should we reason about what we do? The answer offered by most recent philosophy, as well as such disciplines as decision theory, welfare economics, and political science, is that we should select efficient means to our ends. However, if we ask how we should decide which ends or goals to aim at, these standard theoretical approaches are silent. Henry Richardson argues that we can determine our ends rationally. He constructs a rich and original theory of how we can reason about what to seek for its own sake as a final goal. Richardson defuses the counterarguments for the limits of rational deliberation, and develops interesting ideas about how his model might be extended to interpersonal deliberation of ends, taking him to the borders of political theory.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521464722/?tag=2022091-20
(What would our decision-making procedures look like if th...)
What would our decision-making procedures look like if they were actually guided by the much-discussed concept of "deliberative democracy"? What does rule by the people for the people entail? And how can a modern government's reliance on administrative agencies be reconciled with this populist ideal? What form must democratic reasoning take in the modern administrative state? Democratic Autonomy squarely faces these challenges to the deliberative democratic ideal. It identifies processes of reasoning that avert bureaucratic domination and bring diverse people into political agreement. To bridge our differences intelligently, Richardson argues, we cannot rely on instrumentalist approaches to policy reasoning, such as cost-benefit analysis. Instead, citizens must arrive at reasonable compromises through fair, truth-oriented processes of deliberation. Using examples from programs as diverse as disability benefits and environmental regulation, he shows how the administrative policy-making necessary to carrying out most legislation can be part of our deciding what to do. Opposing both those liberal theorists who have attacked the populist ideal and those neo-republican theorists who have given up on it, Richardson builds an account of popular rule that is sensitive to the challenges to public deliberation that arise from relying on liberal constitutional guarantees, representative institutions, majority rule, and administrative rulemaking. Written in a nontechnical style and engaged with practical issues of everyday politics, this highly original and rigorous restatement of what democracy entails is essential reading for political theorists, philosophers, public choice theorists, constitutional and administrative lawyers, and policy analysts.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195150910/?tag=2022091-20
Richardson, Henry Shattuck was born on January 16, 1955 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Bachelor, Harvard University, 1977. Master in Public Policy, Harvard University, 1981. Juris Doctor, Harvard University, 1981.
Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy, Harvard University, 1986.
Assistant professor philosophy Georgetown University, Washington, 1986—1994, associate professor, 1994—2002, professor, since 2002. Editor Ethics International Journals Society Pol. & Legal Philosophy; visiting scholar department clinical bioethcs National Institutes of Health, 2002—2003, 2006.
Member World Communications Ethics & Science Knowledge & Technology United Nations Educational, since 2010.
(What would our decision-making procedures look like if th...)
(How should we reason about what we do? The answer offered...)
Member American Philosophical Association.