Arthur Ripstein

Arthur Ripstein is Professor of Law and Philosophy and University Professor. He was appointed to the Department of Philosophy in 1987, promoted to Full Professor in 1996, appointed to the Faculty of Law in 1999, and appointed to the rank of University Professor in 2016. He was awarded the Killam prize in humanities in 2021.  He served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy 2011-14 and as Acting Chair 2018-19 and 2024-25.  He received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s degree in law from Yale, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Manitoba.

Professor Ripstein’s research and teaching interests include torts, legal theory, political philosophy and Kant. In addition to numerous articles in legal theory and political philosophy, he is the author of Kant and the Law of War (Oxford 2021), Rules for Wrongdoers (Oxford 2021),  Private Wrongs (Harvard 2016), Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy (Harvard 2009) and Equality, Responsibility and the Law (Cambridge 1999). He is editor of Ronald Dworkin (Cambridge 2007) and co-editor of Waheed Hussein’s posthumous book,, Living with the Invisible Hand, (Oxford University Press, 2023), Law and Morality (Toronto 1996, second edition 2001, third edition 2007), and Practical Rationality and Preference (Cambridge 2001). He was awarded a Killam Fellowship in 2016, and the Killam Prize in 2021, both by the Canada Council for the Arts. He served for 15 years as Associate Editor of Philosophy and Public Affairs. He is a former Associate Editor of Ethics and the Canadian Journal of Philosophy, serves on the editorial board of Legal Theory, and is Advisory Editor of the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. His popular work has appeared on Ideas on CBC Radio One.

Video:

Kissel Lecture at Harvard University, “Perpetual War or Perpetual Peace?”

Lecture at University of Girona, “A Wrong Personal to You.”

Lecture at Oxford University, “Philosophy as Jurisprudence”

Frankfurt Lectures 2024, I. The Idea of the Public  II. Giving Laws to Ourselves

Audio:

Society for Applied Philosophy Annual Lecture, King’s College London, “Reclaiming Proportionality.” An interview with Ripstein about the lecture.

Listen to Ripstein’s Tanner Lectures on Human Values  “Rules for Wrongdoers,” and “Combatants and Civilians” delivered at Berkeley in April 2019, together with comments from Christopher Kutz, Oona Hathaway, and Jeff McMahan. Read the Transcripts 1 and 2.

Listen to an interview with Ripstein about the Killam prize on CBC Radio Ideas (interview starts at 24:00)

Listen to Ripstein Kant and Private Law on the Private Law Podcast

Listen to Ripstein on Kant and the Law of War on the Conversations on Globalization and Law Podcast

Listen to Ripstein on Kant and the Law of War on the Political Theory Review Podcast

Listen to Ripstein on Kant and the Law of War on the Journal of the History of Philosophy Podcast

Interviews:

Read an interview with Ripstein in Noesis (Interview begins on p. 48)

Read an interview with Ripstein about graduate supervision.

Education:

B.A. (Hons.) – University of Manitoba (1981)

M.A. – University of Pittsburgh (1984)

Ph.D. – University of Pittsburgh (1986)

M.S.L. – Yale Law School (1994)

Awards and distinctions:

Killam Prize for the Humanities, Canada Council for the Arts 2021 (Annual Award “awarded to active Canadian scholars who have distinguished themselves through sustained excellence, making a significant impact in their respective fields.”)

Howard L Beck, QC Chair, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 2021.

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award (Annual University-Wide award for one faculty member in humanities or social sciences, 2019).

Tanner Lecturer, University of California Berkeley (Annual Lecture Series, 2019)

University Professor (Special rank reserved for 2% of tenured research faculty, 2016)

Killam Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts (two year research fellowship 2016)

Faculty Award, University of Toronto Alumni Association (Annual Award given to one faculty member across the University for Excellence in Research and Teaching over an extended period, 2012.)

Canadian Philosophical Association Book Prize (Biennial prize 2011)

Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (2010)

Inaugural Nicholas Hoare/Renaud Bray Book Prize of the Canadian Philosophical Association (2001)

Connaught Fellowship, (2000)

Rockefeller Visiting Fellowship, Princeton University (1995-1996)

Selected Publications:

Kant and the Law of War (Oxford University Press, 2021)

• Oxford University Press released published a companion volume of essays about it, with Ripstein’s replies The Public Uses of Coercion and Force: From Constitutionalism to War edited by Ester Herlin-Karnell and Enzo Rossi (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021).

Rules for Wrongdoers (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Private Wrongs (Harvard University Press, 2016).

• Read Scott Hershovitz’s review in the Harvard Law Review.

Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 2009).

• Read Allen Wood’s Review in Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. 
• Read Nick Sage’s Review of Freedom and Force, (a book about Ripstein’s work) in the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence. 

Equality, Responsibility and the Law (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

• Read Richard Arneson’s review in the Canadian Journal of Philosophy.

Looking for a different Ripstein instead?

• Read about Mexican filmmaker Arturo Ripstein.
• Read about Arthur Ripstein’s mother, Ellen, who was a spy and later Canada’s first woman stockbroker.
• Watch the other Ellen Ripstein, his cousin the crossword puzzle solver, win the world crossword championship.
• Learn about the Ripstein Procedure.