{{Short description|American philosopher, speleologist, and author (1931–2019)}} {{Multiple issues|{{primary sources|date=September 2019}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2019}}}} {{Infobox philosopher |region = [[Western philosophy]] |era = [[Contemporary philosophy]] |image = |name = Richard A. Watson |birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|02|23|}}<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Richard-A.-Watson/e/B000AP7U7Q/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1330977896&sr=8-2 Richard A. Watson's Biography] at the [[Amazon.com]] website.</ref> |birth_place = |death_date = {{death date and age |2019|09|18|1931|02|23}} |death_place = |school_tradition = |main_interests = [[History of philosophy]] |employer= [[Washington University in St. Louis]] |notable_ideas = |influences = |influenced = |signature = }}

'''Richard Allan Watson''' (February 23, 1931 – September 18, 2019) was an American [[philosopher]], [[speleologist]] and author.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?pid=193962865|title = DR. RICHARD ALLAN WATSON Obituary (1931 - 2019) Boston Globe| website=[[Legacy.com]] }}</ref>

==Biography==

Watson taught philosophy at [[Washington University in St. Louis]] for forty years. He was considered one of the foremost living authorities on [[Descartes]].<ref>[http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/1519/ Brothers Judd reviews].</ref><ref name="Britannica">{{cite journal|first1=Richard A. |last1=Watson |title=René Descartes |work=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc |date=31 March 2012 |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/158787/Rene-Descartes |accessdate=31 March 2012}}</ref> He was an [[Emeritus Professor]] of Philosophy for Washington University.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://philosophy.artsci.wustl.edu/Richard_Watson |title=Richard Watson Emeritus Professor of Philosophy |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |accessdate=March 31, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811032524/http://philosophy.artsci.wustl.edu/Richard_Watson |archive-date=2011-08-11 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Watson earned a degree in geology specializing in "paleoclimatology of 10,000 years ago." This involved the development of agrarian societies in the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref name="autobio">{{cite web |url=http://www.richardwatsonbooks.com/newsletter.htm |first1=Richard |last1=Watson |title=Autobiography |date=March 31, 2012 |access-date=2012-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715183540/http://www.richardwatsonbooks.com/newsletter.htm |archive-date=2011-07-15 |url-status=dead}}</ref> From July 1965 to July 1967, he was president of the [[Cave Research Foundation]].<ref name="longest-cave">{{cite book|last1=Brucker|first1=Roger W.|last2=Watson|first2=Richard A.|title=The Longest Cave|date=1987|orig-year=1st pub. 1976 New York: Knopf|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|location=Carbondale, Illinois|isbn=0809313219|page=198}}</ref>

His book, ''Cogito, Ergo Sum: a life of René Descartes'' is a travelogue in the form of following Descartes's travels around Europe. It was chosen by the [[New York Public Library]] as one of its "25 Books to Remember from 2002."<ref name="autobio"/>

==Criticism of animal rights==

Watson authored the article ''Self-consciousness and the Rights of Nonhuman Animals and Nature'', which argued that most animals do not have [[animal rights|rights]] such as the rights for freedom or from unnecessary suffering because they are not moral agents, do not possess self-consciousness, free will, or have the capability for understanding moral principles or the physical capability to act according to given principles of duty.<ref name="Povilitis 1980">{{cite journal|author= Povilitis, Anthony J.|year=1980|title=On Assigning Rights to Animals and Nature|journal=Environmental Ethics|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261879243|volume=2|issue=1|pages=67–71|doi=10.5840/enviroethics19802110 }}</ref> According to Watson, an animal deserving of rights must have a well developed brain to discern "right from wrong".<ref name="Povilitis 1980"/>

== Selected publications == Richard A. Watson's publications include the following books and articles: *{{Cite book|title=Cogito, Ergo Sum: a life of Rene Descartes|publisher= David R Godine |orig-date=2002|year=2007|isbn=978-1-56792-335-3}} Was chosen by the New York Public library as one of "25 Books to Remember from 2002"<ref>{{cite book | title = Cogito, Ergo, Sum at Google Books |isbn = 9781567923353| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=IRvIQkLFD60C&q=first+published | accessdate= 27 July 2010|last1 = Watson|first1 = Richard|year = 2007| publisher=David R. Godine Publisher }} See book back cover.</ref> *{{Cite book|title=The Philosopher's Demise: Learning French|publisher= [[David R Godine]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-56792-227-1}}Has been translated into Italian *{{Cite book|title=The Philosopher's Diet: how to lose weight and change the world|publisher=David R Godine|year=1999|isbn=978-1-56792-084-0|url=https://archive.org/details/philosophersdiet00wats}}Has been translated into nine languages. *{{Cite book|title=Niagara|publisher=[[Coffee House Press]]|year=2000|isbn=978-1-56689-006-9|url=https://archive.org/details/niagaranovel00wats}}. The biography of the first person to cross the Falls on a wire, and the first person(a woman) to go over the Falls in a barrel. The French translation has featured at the Saint-Malo Ettonants voyageurs Festival International du Lirre in 1997, where it won a translation award. *{{Cite book |title=Descartes's Ballet: His Doctrine Of Will & Political Philosophy |publisher=St. Augustines Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-58731-175-8}} *{{Cite book|title=In the Dark Cave |publisher=Star Bright Books|year=2005|isbn=978-1-59572-038-2}} * Watson, Richard A. The Downfall of Cartesianism. [[The Hague]]: [[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|Martinus Nijhoff]], 1966. ** Watson, R.A. The breakdown of Cartesian metaphysics. - Atlantic Highlands (N.J.) : Humanities press intern., 1987. - XII, 240 p. Bibliogr.: p.&nbsp;223-235. Name ind.: p.&nbsp;237-240.<ref>For reviews, see: * Alan Hausman ([[Ohio State University]]) [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2215767 reviewed] in [[Noûs]] Vol. 27, No. 2 (Jun., 1993), pp. 272-275. * [http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/1519/Breakdown%20of.htm Brothers Judd review: Richard A. Watson. The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics (1987)]</ref> ** RICHARD A. WATSON. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r9d_bApUpicC The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics]. [[Hackett Publishing]] Company, 1998. {{ISBN|9780872204065}}<ref>A reissue of the Humanities Press Edition of 1987.</ref> *''Representational Ideas from Plato to Patricia Churchland'' ([[Kluwer Academic Publishers]]) *''Under Plowman's Floor'' *''The Runner'' *''The Longest Cave'' (with [[Roger W. Brucker]]) (hb Alfred A. Knopf, pb Southern Illinois University Press) * The high road to Pyrrhonism / Ed. by Watson R.A., Force J.E. - San Diego: Hill, 1980. - XIV, 385 p. - (Studies in Hume a. Scott. philosophy; 2) Indices.: p.&nbsp;369-385.

=== Articles === *Watson is the author of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] article on Descartes.<ref name="Britannica"/> * "Berkeley in a Cartesian Context". // Revue Internationale de Philosophie 65 (1963), 381–94.<ref>A section on Berkeley in R.A.Watson's book "The breakdown of Cartesian metaphysics" constitutes a revised and completed variant of this paper.</ref> * "[[bishop Berkeley|Berkeley]] in the [[Cartesianism|Cartesian]] Tradition." Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 48 (1963):587-97. * "The Breakdown of Cartesian Metaphysics." [[Journal of the History of Philosophy]] 1 (1963):177-97. * [https://www.pdcnet.org/enviroethics/content/enviroethics_1979_0001_0002_0099_0129 "Self-Consciousness and the Rights of Nonhuman Animals and Nature"]. [[Environmental Ethics]] (1979) Vol. 1, N 2. pp. 99-129. * "What moves the mind: An excursion in Cartesian dualism". [[American Philosophical Quarterly|Amer. philos. quart.]] - Oxford, 1982. - vol. 19, N 1. - p.&nbsp;73-81. * "Shadow History". [[Journal of the History of Philosophy]] (1993) Vol. 31, N 1. - pp. 95-109. * "Having ideas". [[American Philosophical Quarterly|Amer. philos. quart.]] - Oxford, 1994. - Vol. 31, N 3. - P. 185–198. * "Malebranche and Arnauld on ideas" // [[The Modern Schoolman|Mod. schoolman]]. - Saint Louis, 1994. - Vol. 71, N 4. - P. 259–270.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Notes== *{{Cite web|url=http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/11388.aspx|first=Jessica |last=Daues |title=Campus Author: Richard A. Watson |date=April 2, 2008|publisher=Washington University in St. Louis}}

==External links== *{{Cite web| url = http://www.richardwatsonbooks.com/| title = Richard Watson's Home Page | accessdate = 27 July 2010}} * [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-A.-Watson/e/B000AP7U7Q/ref=sr_tc_2_rm?qid=1330978005&sr=1-2-ent Amazon's Complete Selection of Richard A. Watson's Books] * {{cite web |url=http://www.richardwatsonbooks.com/newsletter.htm |first1=Richard |last1=Watson |title=Autobiography |date=March 31, 2012 |access-date=2012-03-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715183540/http://www.richardwatsonbooks.com/newsletter.htm |archive-date=2011-07-15 |url-status=dead}}

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Richard A.}}

[[Category:1931 births]] [[Category:2019 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American philosophers]] [[Category:21st-century American philosophers]] [[Category:American male non-fiction writers]] [[Category:American speleologists]] [[Category:Critics of animal rights]] [[Category:Descartes scholars]] [[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]