Kwame Anthony Appiah

Kwame Anthony Appiah is a captivating and well-informed intellectual who invites us to challenge tangible and perceived limitations that separate us and embrace our shared humanity. Named as one of Foreign Policy's 100 most influential public intellectuals and honored as a "Great Immigrant" by the Carnegie Corporation, Appiah has also received the National Humanities Medal from the White House. He is a professor at NYU, though he has previously taught at prominent universities, including Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Duke, and the University of Ghana. Each week, in his "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine, Appiah reflects on ethical dilemmas faced by readers. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the President of PEN American Center, a human rights organization with a rich history. He currently holds the position of Chair of The Man Booker Prize. In Cosmopolitanism, Appiah offers a manifesto for a world where identity is utilized as a weapon and where differences contribute to pain and suffering. This work earned the prestigious Arthur Ross Book Award, which is given annually to the best book on international affairs. In The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen, Appiah explains how honor has driven moral progress in the past and could do so again in the future. The book has been referred to as "indispensable" by Walter Isaacson, the biographer of Steve Jobs. In addition, Appiah has recently published works such as As If Idealization and Ideals, a study of the role of ideals in human progress; Mistaken Identities, a further examination of topics covered in his popular BBC series; and The Lies That Bind, a brilliant analysis of the nature and history of the identities that shape us. Appiah was born in London to a father from Ghana and a white mother - and raised in Ghana before receiving his education in England at Cambridge University, where he earned a Ph.D. in philosophy. As a scholar in African and African-American studies, he has established himself as a widely respected intellectual. His book In My Father's House and his collaborations with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including The Dictionary of Global Culture and Africana, are considered significant contributions to the African struggle for self-determination. In 2009, Appiah was featured in Astra Taylor's documentary Examined Life alongside other leading contemporary philosophers such as Martha Nussbaum and Slavoj Zizek.