Selected works on Practical Reasoning
Practical Reasoning about Final Ends (Cambridge, 1994)
Richardson constructs an original theory of how we can reason about our final goals, arguing against a long tradition of belief in the limits of rational deliberation. Discussion covers, inter alia, Aristotle, Aquinas, Sidgwick, Dewey, and several contemporary philosophers.
- review by Elijah Milgram, (Mind, 1996).
- overview of the book (PhilPapers).
- read excerpts online (Google Books).
“Commensurability as a Prerequisite of Rational Choice: An Examination of Sidgwick's Position”, History of Philosophy Quarterly 8(2): 181–197 (1991).
“Desire and the Good in De Anima”, in Essays on Aristotle's De Anima, ed. Martha C. Nussbaum & Amélie Oksenberg Rorty (Oxford, 1995).
“Truth and Ends in Dewey's Pragmatism”, The Canadian Journal of Philosophy 24: 109–147 (1998).
“Autonomy’s Many Normative Presuppositions”, American Philosophical Quarterly 38(3): 287–303 (2001).
“Thinking about Conflicts of Desire”, in Practical Conflicts: New Philosophical Essays, ed. Peter Baumann & Monika Betzler (Cambridge, 2004).
“Satisficing: Not Good Enough”, in Satisficing and Maximizing: Moral Theorists on Practical Reason, ed. Michael Byron (Cambridge, 2004).