Mathias Risse

Associate Professor of Public Policy and Philosophy
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Office Address
Rubenstein-209
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 14
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-9811
Email: Mathias_Risse@ksg.harvard.edu
Assistant
Derya Honca (617-495-1923)
Mathias Risse

Profile

Mathias Risse is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Philosophy. He works mostly in social and political philosophy and in ethics. His primary research areas are contemporary political philosophy (in particular questions of international justice, distributive justice, and property) and decision theory (in particular, rationality and fairness in group decision making, an area sometimes called analytical social philosophy.) His articles have appeared in journals such as Ethics; Philosophy and Public Affairs; Nous; the Journal of Political Philosophy; and Social Choice and Welfare. Risse studied philosophy, mathematics, and mathematical economics at the University of Bielefeld, the University of Pittsburgh, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Princeton University. He received his BA, BS and MS in mathematics from Bielefeld, and his MA and PhD in philosophy from Princeton. Before coming to Harvard he taught in the Department of Philosophy and the Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics at Yale.

Courses

Fall

  • DPI-201-A The Responsibilities of Public Action

Spring

  • IGA-304 Human Rights and International Politics

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journals
    • Risse, Mathias. "A Right to Work? A Right to Leisure? Labor Rights as Human Rights." Journal of Law and Ethics of Human Rights 3.1 (2009): 1-41.
    • Blake, Michael, and Mathias Risse. "Immigration and Original Ownership of the Earth." Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics, and Public Policy 23.1 (Spring 2009): 133-167.
    • Risse, Mathias. "Common Ownership of the Earth as a Non-Parochial Standpoint: A Contingent Derivation of Human Rights." European Journal of Philosophy 17.2 (June 2009): 277-304.
    • Risse, Mathias. "The Right to Relocation: Disappearing Island Nations and Common Ownership of the Earth." Ethics and International Affairs 23.3 (Fall 2009): 281-300.
  • Book Chapters
    • Risse, Mathias. "The Eternal Recurrence: A Freudian Look at What Nietzsche Took to be His Greatest Insight." Nietzsche on Freedom and Autonomy. Ed. Ken Gemes, and Simon May. Oxford University Press, 2009, 223-247.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Risse, Mathias. "Securing Human Rights Intellectually: Philosophical Inquiries about the Universal Declaration." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP09-024, August 2009.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Risse, Mathias. "Immigration, Ethics, and the Capabilities Approach." United Nations Development Program Human Development Research Paper Series, August 2009.