Robert J. Richards

Morris Fishbein Professor of the History of Science and Medicine

The University of Chicago

University Position

University Position

Professor in the Departments of History, Philosophy, Psychology, and in the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science

Director of the Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine.

Interests

I do research in history and philosophy of psychology and biology. This includes particular interest in evolutionary biopsychology, ethology, and sociobiology, as well as in theories of perception from the ancient period to the present day. Concerning philosophic and metahistoric problems, I have argued for a revaluation of evolutionary ethics and have explored the causal, temporal, and moral grammar of historical expression. I have written two books on the history and philosophy of evolutionary theory in Britain and America (see bibliography). I have also have published a book that describes and analyzes the impact of the German Romantic movement on philosophy and science in the age of Goethe. My most recent book focuses on evolutionary theory in Germany during the late nineteenth century through the Nazi period. I am currently at work on a historical and philosophical commentary on Darwin's Origin of Species. My teaching involves the aforementioned subjects as well as more general courses on history and philosophy of science in the ancient period, philosophy of history, and German intellectual history.