Kara Richardson

Kara Richardson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University, affiliated with Women's and Gender Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto (2008), with a dissertation on Avicenna’s metaphysics of agency. Her research focuses on medieval Aristotelians (Avicenna, Aquinas, Suarez) and early modern philosophy (Descartes), emphasizing metaphysical questions about causality, teleology, and agency. She regularly teaches courses on the history of philosophy and the philosophy of feminism.

Her recent scholarly work includes analyses of final causality in Suarez, teleology in Avicenna, and the Principle of Sufficient Reason in medieval thought. She has presented at institutions like Yale University, University of Toronto, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Richardson served as Department Chair of Philosophy (2021–2023) and currently chairs the College of Arts and Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee (2024–2025).

Her publications span peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Theoria, British Journal for the History of Philosophy) and edited volumes like The Cambridge Critical Guide to Suarez. She is a reviewer for Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie and has reviewed grants for the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Theology, Science, and Knowledge project.