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).