Janet Radcliffe Richards (born 1944) is a British philosopher specialising in bioethics and feminism and Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Oxford.

She is the author of The Sceptical Feminist (1980), Philosophical Problems of Equality (1995), Human Nature after Darwin (2000), and The Ethics of Transplants (2012).

[4][3] Richards is the author of several books, papers and articles, and has sat on a variety of advisory and working committees in areas of philosophy and bioethics.

[5] The book proved to be controversial within and without feminism, e.g. in regard to standards of rationality,[6] fashion and style, and her liberal stance.

[8] It was originally written as an introduction to philosophical techniques for Open University students using the controversies relating to Darwinian thinking and human nature.