World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Kwame Anthony Appiah

クワメ・アンソニー・アピア

Kwame Anthony Appiah

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1954-05-08 （London, England）
Nationality
British, American
Languages
English
Residence History
Kumasi, Ghana (raised) → London, England (childhood) → New York City (Manhattan), United States → Pennington, New Jersey, United States

Career

Occupations
philosopher, writer, university professor
Active Years
1981-
Affiliations
New York University (Professor of Philosophy and Law), Princeton University (Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy), Cornell University (faculty), Yale University (faculty), Harvard University (faculty), Fordham University (Bacon-Kilkenny Professor of Law), University of Ghana (faculty)
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (member), American Academy of Arts and Letters (member; elected President in 2022), American Philosophical Society (member), Royal Society of Literature (fellow)
Influenced By
W. E. B. Du Bois, Classical Greek thinkers (e.g. Diogenes)

Education

Clare College, University of Cambridge
Philosophy
Degree: BA (First Class)
Period: 学士課程（年不詳）
Country: United Kingdom
BA (First Class honours)
Clare College, University of Cambridge
Philosophy
Degree: PhD
Period: 博士課程（〜1981）
Year of Graduation: 1981
Country: United Kingdom
PhD thesis: Conditions for Conditionals

Awards

Herskovits Prize
1993
Work: In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture
Organization: African Studies Association
Result: 受賞
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
1993
Work: In My Father's House
Organization: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (The Cleveland Foundation)
Result: 受賞
Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize
2008
Organization: Brandeis University
Result: 受賞
Arthur Ross Book Award
2007
Work: Cosmopolitanism
Organization: Council on Foreign Relations
Result: 受賞
National Humanities Medal
2012
Organization: United States (White House)
Result: 受賞
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
2017
Organization: Royal Society of Literature
Result: 選出
John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity
2024
Organization: Library of Congress
Result: 受賞
New Jersey Council for the Humanities Book Award
2011
Work: The Honor Code
Organization: New Jersey Council for the Humanities
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture

1992 academic nonfiction (culture/philosophy)

A philosophical examination of African culture and identity, discussing colonial and postcolonial contexts.

cultureidentitypostcolonialism
Translations
  • In My Father's House (translations available)

Color Conscious (with Amy Gutmann)

1996 political philosophy / ethics

Discusses race and political morality, examining racial issues from public policy and justice perspectives.

racejusticepublic policy

The Ethics of Identity

2005 ethics / philosophy

Examines how personal self-conception and social identities affect ethical life.

identityethicsself
Translations
  • Spanish translation: La Ética de la identidad

Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers

2006 ethics / political philosophy

Argues for a cosmopolitan view balancing universality and cultural difference and explores obligations to others.

cosmopolitanismuniversality vs differenceethics
Translations
  • Spanish translation: Cosmopolitismo: la ética en un mundo de extraños

Experiments in Ethics

2008 ethics

Surveys the relevance of empirical (psychological, experimental) research to ethical theory.

ethicsempirical researchmoral psychology

The Honor Code: How Moral Revolutions Happen

2010 cultural history / ethics

Analyzes how moral revolutions, especially changes in honor codes, occur using historical cases.

moral revolutionshonorsocial change

The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity—Creed, Country, Color, Class, Culture

2018 social philosophy / thought

Reconsiders identities of creed, country, color, class and culture and how they bind or divide people.

identitysocial bondsdiversity

Bibliography

  • Assertion and Conditionals
  • For Truth in Semantics
  • Necessary Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy
  • In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture
  • Color Conscious
  • Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
  • Experiments in Ethics
  • The Honor Code
  • The Lies That Bind
  • Novels: Avenging Angel; Nobody Likes Letitia; Another Death in Venice

Adaptations

  • Documentary appearances (e.g. Examined Life)

Translations by Author

  • Bu me b?: Proverbs of the Akans (co-edited/translated work)

Translations of Works

  • Cosmopolitanism (translated into Spanish and other languages)
  • The Ethics of Identity (translated into Spanish and other languages)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly yet accessible expository prosecombines philosophical argument with cultural examples
Recurring Motifs
identityrace and culturecosmopolitanism

Legacy

Appiah is a public intellectual influential in contemporary ethics and political philosophy, especially on identity and cosmopolitanism. He is known both for scholarly work and widely accessible writings and media appearances.

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • American Philosophical Society
  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • Royal Society of Literature

In Popular Culture

  • Contributed to PBS documentary 'Prince Among Slaves'
  • Appeared in Astra Taylor's documentary 'Examined Life'
  • Contributor and later sole writer for The New York Times Magazine column 'The Ethicist'

Quotes

  • Postmodern culture is the culture in which all postmodernisms operate, sometimes in synergy, sometimes in competition; and because contemporary culture is, in a certain sense, transnational... postmodern culture is global — though that emphatically does not mean that it is the culture of every person in the world.
    Source: Essay / academic writing (cited 2009) (2009)

Trivia

  • Enstooled as Nkosuahene (a Ghanaian chieftaincy title) in 2016.
  • Naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1997.
  • Partner Henry Finder is an editorial director at The New Yorker; they maintain a small sheep farm near Pennington, NJ.