Richard A. Falk
Richard Anderson Falk is an American international law scholar, jurist, author, peace activist, and human rights defender born in New York City on November 13, 1930.
Educated at Yale Law School and Harvard Law School, Falk has worked across several overlapping domains — legal scholarship, economics, university teaching, and the advocacy of human rights — bringing a range of disciplinary perspectives to questions of international order. His career has unfolded primarily in English, the language in which he has written and taught throughout his professional life.
Falk has received both a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Susan Strange Award, recognitions that reflect his contributions to international law and to the broader study of global politics. His work consistently engages the intersection of law, peace, and human rights.
Quotes by Richard A. Falk
When I told my son that I had to give a talk about my work to non-mathematicians, he warned me that regular people don’t think like mathematicians.
Looked at objectively, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of civilian deaths resulting from political violence are produced by what should be understood as “state terror.” Terrorism also serves as an excuse to avoid diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of conflict.
There is no effort to acknowledge some equivalent accountability by associating “terrorism” with all violence that is deliberately aimed at civilians, either directly or as foreseeable effects of violent acts, whether the actor is a non-state individual or group or the state.
I once got a call from a bank, asking me to compute a mortgage, since their computers were down. This was a very depressing moment.
When Daniel Gorenstein was chair, he did mathematics from 5am to 12noon, spending the second half of his working day on administration. When I was chair, I also spent half of my time on research: every other minute.
Nothing is more important than restoring a high degree of autonomy to educational experiences so that those who grow up in this society and troubled world have the best available tools to grasp the challenges that imperil our national and human future.
The central task of our time is to evolve a new system of world order based on principles of peace and justice.
American special relationships with Israel and Saudi Arabia blind us to their dreadful encroachments on human rights, as well as confer impunity on their leaders with respect to accountability for crimes against humanity.
The Method of Bisection is a sophisticated version of a tool used in fifth grade called “Guess and Check”.
I don’t like to end my talk with a 700 million dollar loss, even if it shows the importance of Numerical Analysis.