Howard Richards (10 Jun 1938 – 7 Apr 2024) RIP

OBITUARIES, 29 Apr 2024

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies – TRANSCEND Media Service

Recipient of the 2021 Human DHS Lifetime Commitment Award, Howard will always be with us in our hearts as one of our most brilliant thinkers.

Dr. Howard Richards was a philosopher of social science based in Chile and working a lot in South Africa. He held the title Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, USA, a Quaker school where he taught for thirty-five years.

He was the founder of the Peace and Global Studies Program there and co-founder of the Business and Nonprofit Management program. Later he divided his time between the private practice of law and continuing his research and teaching. As a practising lawyer, he was general counsel for two non-profit corporations. As a scholar he published Understanding the Global Economy (Peace Education Books, 2004). Another book, co-authored with Joanna Swanger, Dilemmas of Social Democracies (Lexington Books), came out in 2006.

He has worked for the Organisation of American States, Canada’s International Development Research Centre, and others as an evaluator of innovative projects and programs, and worked on an evaluation of, among other things, alternative economic institutions (economia solidaria) in today’s Argentina, on which he made a progress report to a seminar convened by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, in Rosario, Argentina. He was co-convenor of the Global Political Economy Commission of the International Peace Research Association.

Howard Richards got an advanced certificate in education from Oxford in the field of educational psychology with an honors thesis on Piaget. The second field for his doctorate in education from Toronto was applied psychology and moral education. He furthermore did the moral education summer school at Harvard with Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan.

Howard Richards has published The Nurturing of Time Future in Dignity Press in 2012, and together with Joanna Swanger, and edited by Ivo Coelho, Gandhi and the Future of Economics in 2013, as well as Economic Theory and Community Development: Why Putting Community First is Essential to our Survival, with the assistance of Gavin Andersson in 2022 (reviewed by Michael Britton, peace psychologist, New Jersey, July 19, 2022).

Please see also:

•  On the Genealogy of Morals, Chapter Nine of Authorities.
•  This is an English translation of Chapter Seven “Socialism is Good for Business” of Solidaridad, Participacion, Transparencia, Rosario, Argentina: Fundacion Estevez Boero, 2007. This book has not yet been published in English. The full Spanish text can be found on line at http://lahoradelaetica.wordpress.com.
•  Human Rights and the End of the Age of Keynes, 2008, available also at http://howardrichards.org/peace/content/view/87/120/.
•  Human Development and the Transformation of the Academy, in Journal of Developing Societies, 27 (2, June 2011), pp. 201-206.
•  Zero Unemployment in a Plural Economy, powerpoint presentation, together with Joanna Swanger and Alicia Cabezudo, South Africa, 2011.
•  Muddle and Create, keynote talk for the annual retreat of the South African Research Chair in Development Education, at the University of South Africa, Pretoria, November 2011.
•  The Nurturing of Time Future, Lake Oswego, OR: Dignity Press
•  Charla harla para Universidad de Valparaíso, Howard Richards’ talk, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile, 10th April 2012, as Pdf file and as video.
•  How to Create a More Viable World: The Theory of Growth Points, a video dialogue between Howard Richards and Evelin Lindner created on 23rd April 2012 in Limache, Chile. In this video, Howard Richards offers the Theory of Growth Points as a methodology for creating a viable world. The video was recorded by William Thompson.
See a summary of this video titled, The Theory of Growth Points, compiled by Evelin Lindner.
This summary points at the following other texts:
– the article “Culture Change” that Howard Richards wrote together with Joanna Swanger in 2008
– a powerpoint presentation by Richards of “What Exactly Does Bourdieu Mean by Habitus?”
– Howard Richards’ essay “What Does it Mean to Be a Left Wing Economist Today.”
• Peacebuilding in Daily Life, a video dialogue between Howard Richards, philosopher of social science, and Evelin Lindner, that was created on 30th April 2012 in Chile, in Howard’s Dialogue Home and Centro para el Desarrollo Alternativo in Limache, Chile. In this video, Howard Richards explains the connections between what is possible to do in daily life and what is necessary to do for justice and sustainability. The video was recorded by Shelley Damaris Richards Higgins.
• Howard Richards’ Personal Background, a video dialogue between Howard Richards, philosopher of social science, and Evelin Lindner, that was created on 30th April 2012 in Chile, in Howard’s Dialogue Home and Centro para el Desarrollo Alternativo in Limache, Chile. In this video, Howard Richards explains his family background and who inspired him. The video was recorded by Shelley Damaris Richards Higgins.
• Howard Richards on Terrorism: Evelin Lindner is working on a book on humiliation and terrorism and persuaded Howard Richards, philosopher of social science, to comment on the topic of terrorism from his perspective. This video dialogue was created on 1st May 2012 in Chile, in Howard’s Dialogue Home and Centro para el Desarrollo Alternativo in Limache, Chile. The video was recorded by Shelley Damaris Richards Higgins.
– As for the “chemistry” of emotions, see Melvin Konner, The Tangled Wing: Biological Constraints on the Human Spirit, 2002
– As for deriving moral authority for peace from Islamic theology, see Saoud al-Mawla
– As for the lack of feasibility of the use of violence to reach the aims it intends to achieve, check out the work of Stephen Zunes
• Howard Richards on a Governable Plural Economy: Magnus Haavelsrud commented on the video on growth points that we created on 23rd April 2012 as follows (1st May 2012): “Thank you Howard and Evelin for this – make more! How about corporate responsibility as a topic and the new and reformed capitalism you are mentioning. Good business in other words and implications for Departements of Economy and research in economy and their great need for transdisciplinarity – also in economic thought. Greetings from oslo – magnus”
In response to Magnus’ comment, this video dialogue between Howard Richards, philosopher of social science, and Evelin Lindner was created on 1st May 2012 in Chile, in Howard’s Dialogue Home and Centro para el Desarrollo Alternativo in Limache, Chile. The video was recorded by Shelley Damaris Richards Higgins.
– As for the relationship between economics and history and the error made by looking for invariate relationship between variables, see Robert Boyer, L’économiste face aux innovations qui font époque : les relations entre histoire et théorie, in Revue Économique, Vol. 52, No. 5, Sept. 2001, pp. 1065-1115
– As for an experimental society, see John Dewey, The Public and its Problems, 1927
– As for an open society, see Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945
• Charla harla para Universidad de Valparaíso, Howard Richards’ talk, Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile, 10th April 2012, as Pdf file and as video (Español).
• Howard Richards: Cambio de Paradigma Hacia una Economía Plural (Español), a video dialogue between Howard Richards, philosopher of social science, and Evelin Lindner, that was created on 26th April 2012 in Chile, in Howard’s Dialogue Home and Centro para el Desarrollo Alternativo en Limache, Chile. The video was recorded by Bill Thompson. Este video fue creado en el Home Diálogo y Centro para el Desarrollo lAlternativo, Chile, de Howard Richards el 26 de abril de 2012. Howard Richards hizo la presentación, Bill Thompson hizo la grabación.
• Modernity’s Other and the Transformation of the University, A Talk to Faculty Members at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, February 17, 2012
• Principles for Reconstructing the Economy, September 17, 2012
• Modernity’s Other and the Transformation of the University: Short Answers to Simple Questions, Keynote Talk at the Sixth Annual Retreat on Development Education University of South Africa November 25, 2012.
• “Against Foucault” – A series of video presentations by Howard Richards, in dialogue with Catherine Odora Hoppers and Evelin Lindner.
• Howard Richards’ 3 Most Important Messages to the World. Howard Richards shares what he thinks are his most important insights after a long life of study and reflection, insights that he wishes to offer as his most important messages to the world. The video was recorded in Pretoria/Tshwane, South Africa, on 5th June 2013 by Justine Richards.
• Los desafíos de la ética empresarial en Chile, el seminario “Desafíos Éticos en un Mundo Complejo” [“Ethical Challenges in a Complex World”], intentará dilucidar si este tema se encuentra o no en crisis. Published on October 4, 2013.
• The Imaginary World that Holds the Real World Captive, a draft chapter from the forthcoming book Economic Theory and Community Development: An Exercise in Applied Philosophy, by Howard Richards and Gavin Andersson with the assistance of Raff Carmen, Kate Philip, and Malose Langa, July 1, 2015.
• The Impossibility of Politics and How to Make Politics Possible, Limache, Chile, February 2016 (without footnotes). Please see the link to the Spanish original Como Entender la Politica (with footnotes) on an Argentine website. It is the text featured on the front page in February 2016, but after a while, new texts will occupy that page. Then it might be easier to find it on Repensar Economía.
• The Nice Terror Attack: Mind at the End of Its Tether, Limache, Chile: Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, July 15, 2016.
• Individual and Human Rights. Limache, Chile: Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, August 2016.
• Conflict and peace in Eurasia, edited by Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra – Reader response, Limache, Chile: Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, November 28, 2017, in dialogue with Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra.
• Solidarity Economy: A Key to Justice, Peace, and Sustainability, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, originally published in Oswald Spring, Úrsula, and Serena Eréndira Serrano Oswald (Eds.): Risks, Violence, Security and Peace in Latin America: 40 Years of the Latin American Council of Peace Research (CLAIP), Cham-Heidelberg – New York – Dordrecht – London: Springer- Springer International Publishing.
• Comments by Howard Richards in 2018 to Evelin Lindner’s article “How the Human Rights Ideal of Equal Dignity Separates Humiliation from Shame,” written for the Journal of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies in 2007.
• Humanity’s Principal Challenge, paper written for a seminar in Santiago, Chile, with Ela Gandhi, a granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi who continues his work. Each participant was asked to write three pages on the topic, “What is the principal challenge facing humanity today?” Limache, Chile, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, and TRANSCEND Media Service, 2017.
• Following Foucault: The Trail of the Fox, lectures by Howard Richards with dialogues among Evelin Lindner, Howard Richards, and Catherine Odora Hoppers, Foreword by Crain Soudien (CEO of the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa) and an Introduction by Magnus Haavelsrud, Stellenbosch, South Africa: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, 2018, 277Pages, ISBN 978-1-928357-62-9. The book can be ordered from the publisher. The book is based on “Against Foucault” – A series of presentations by Howard Richards, in dialogue with Catherine Odora Hoppers and Evelin Lindner carried out in Pretoria in 2013.
• General Philosophy Briefly Stated, Chile and South Africa: Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, June 2018.
• Honoring Peace Philosopher Howard Richards (Video) on Day Three of the 2020 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual at Columbia University, New York City, December 10 – 12, 2020. See also Day Two (Video).
• Invitation to Comment on the Key Points of Economic Theory and Community Development, an upcoming book authored with the assistance of Gavin Andersson, to be published in Dignity Press. A contribution to the 2021 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual at Columbia University, New York City, December 9 – 10, 2021. See also Magnus Haavelsrud (2021). “Economic theory and community development.” In European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, DOI: 10.1080/23254823.2021.1976376.
• Howard Richards, Recipient of the 2021 Lifetime Commitment Award, Day Two of the 2021 Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict, Virtual at Columbia University, New York City, December 9 – 10, 2021.
– Video of the Award Ceremony.
– Message of Appreciation from Evelin Lindner (Video | Pdf).
– Award Acceptance Speech by Howard Richards (Video recorded on December 8, 2021 | long Pdf | short Pdf).
– Howard Richards’ 3 Most Important Messages to the World (Video, 5th June 2013 | short version prepared by Linda Hartling on December 5, 2021).
• Economic Theory and Community Development: Why Putting Community First is Essential to our Survival, by Howard Richards with the assistance of Gavin Andersson. Lake Oswego OR: Dignity Press, 2022, reviewed by Michael Britton, peace psychologist, New Jersey, July 19, 2022.
• Accepting congratulations (Video) on the book Economic Theory and Community Development at the First World Dignity University Initiative Workshop, titled “For People and the Planet: Learning for a Future of Dignity,” hosted online on December 9, 2022, representing the 19th Annual Workshop co-hosted by Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, Columbia University.
• “I Have Seen The Promised Land,” by Dr. Howard Richards, Live Encounters Magazine, April 2023.

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Prof. Howard Richards was a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. He was Research Professor of Philosophy at Earlham College and he also taught at the University of Cape Town`s EMBA programme. He was educated at Redlands High School in California, Yale, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, University of Toronto, Harvard and Oxford. His books include: The Evaluation of Cultural Action, a study of an application of Paulo Freire´s pedagogical philosophy in rural Chile (London Macmillan 1985); Letters from Quebec; Understanding the Global Economy; The Dilemmas of Social Democracies; Gandhi and the Future of Economics; Rethinking Thinking; Unbounded Organizing in Community; and The Nurturing of Time Future. His book, written with the assistance of Gavin Andersson, Economic Theory and Community Development: Why Putting Community First Is Essential for our Survival, is available from the publisher, Dignity Press, and from Amazon and other major booksellers, as a print book and as an eBook. RIP

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