Janet Radcliffe Richards

Who is Janet Radcliffe Richards?

Janet Radcliffe Richards is a British philosopher who has written about feminism and bioethics.

She was Lecturer in Philosophy at the Open University 1979–1999, and Director of the Centre for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine at University College London until 2007. She is the author of several books, papers and articles, and has sat on a variety of advisory and working committees in areas of philosophy and bioethics. Since 2008, she is Professor of Practical Philosophy at Oxford University. She is also a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and posts regularly at the University of Oxford’s Practical Ethics: Ethical Perspectives on the News website.

Her identification with feminism and her focus on bioethics both occurred “by accident” during the writing of her first book, The Sceptical Feminist: A Philosophical Enquiry – bioethics being central to the abortion debate. The book proved to be controversial within and outside feminism, e.g. in regard to standards of rationality, fashion and style, and her liberal stance.