b. 1955
Henry S. Richardson is a contemporary American philosopher at Georgetown University whose work spans practical reasoning, democratic theory, and ethics. He is best known for his account of the specification of norms and his defense of democratic autonomy as a framework for public deliberation about policy ends. His scholarship engages questions of equality, deliberative democracy, and the conditions under which practical reasoning can be both rational and responsive to moral complexity.
Developed an influential account of norm specification as an alternative to both rule-following and pure balancing in practical ethics
Authored 'Practical Reasoning about Final Ends' (1994), a major contribution to the theory of deliberation
Developed the theory of democratic autonomy in 'Democratic Autonomy: Public Reasoning about the Ends of Policy' (2002)
Argued that democratic legitimacy requires substantive public reasoning, not merely procedural fairness
Contributed to debates on moral epistemology and the rationality of ethical judgment