Richard Lara

Background and Education:
Dr. Richard Lara is an American philosopher and politician. He was born In Los Angeles, California, and he grew up in Huntington Beach. He attended the University of California, Irvine, where he earned a BA degree in philosophy and history. After working in the private sector at an investment firm, he matriculated at Indiana University, Bloomington where he earned MA degrees in philosophy and history. While at Indiana University, he won a DAAD scholarship that paid him to study in Leipzig, Germany. He also won an Indiana University Graduate Exchange Fellowship that paid him to conduct research in Berlin for one year. He stayed on in Berlin to earn his Ph.D. in German philosophy from the Free University at Berlin, Germany.

Philosophical Research:
His doctoral dissertation, “Reason, Values and the Cultivation of Body and Life," examines the theory of reason developed by Friedrich Nietzsche as it relates to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and to various themes in the Western Philosophical tradition. The dissertation argues that the purpose of reason is not, as many philosophers have thought it to be, to discover absolute truth or knowledge but rather “to cultivate all of the life to which the earths is host.” Dr. Lara’s views on human reason lay the foundation for an interpretation of the history of Western Civilization that views the Bill of Rights and the Constitution as the philosophical “offspring” of Western Civilization’s “long labor of love.” This labor begins in Europe’s prehistory, during which Western humanity exists in a “state of nature.” In the state of nature, human beings achieve two important goals. First, they acquire the ability to interact effectively with nature; second, they acquire the ability to organize themselves into political collectives. The emergence of the political collective, in ancient Greece and Rome, marks the culmination and the end of life in the state of nature, but it also marks the inception of a new stage of development in which human beings create and learn to live according to a more advanced system of values. This new stage of development unfolds in three transformations that correspond, roughly, to the middle ages, the enlightenment, and the age of democracy. Dr. Lara has a broad background in philosophy, and his researches have taught him a deep respect for the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution.

Current Activities:
Richard Lara has taught philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Golden West College, and Orange Coast College. He has served as Chairman of the Citizens Participation Advisory Board, and was a candidate for Congress in California's 46th Congressional District. He is currently studying law.

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