James Nickel

James W. Nickel is an American philosopher and author. He is a professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at the University of Miami Law School.

Nickel is most known for his book, Making Sense of Human Rights (1987, 2nd ed. 2007) and as the author of the "human rights" entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He has published more than 100 essays and reviews in philosophy and law, and his articles have been published in academic journals including the Columbia Law Review, Human Rights Quarterly, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and Philosophy and Public Affairs. Moreover, his essay, Poverty and Rights, won the 2004 Essay Prize from the Philosophical Quarterly.

Education and career Nickel received his bachelor's degree from Tabor College and his PhD in philosophy from the University of Kansas. His first teaching job was in 1968 at Wichita State University. In 1982 he joined the University of Colorado Boulder, where he served as Professor of Philosophy until 2002, Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy from 1982 to 1986, and Chair of the Department of Philosophy from 1992 to 1996. From 2003 to 2008, he was Professor of Law in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. He then served as Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of Miami from 2009 to 2018, and has since been Professor Emeritus there. and Georgetown University Law School from 2008 to 2009.

Awards and honors 1972–73 – Research Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities 1976–1977 – Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies 1978 – Mellon Summer Fellowship, Aspen Institute, Aspen, CO. 1978–79 – Fellow, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle, NC 1981 – Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship, Rockefeller Foundation 1988–89, 1996–97 – Faculty Fellowship, University of Colorado 2004 – Visiting Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University 2018 – Henkin Lecture, "What Future for Human Rights?’’, University of Miami Law School