Forward Media

Kwame Anthony Appiah

"for forging a code of ethics to fit a globalized world.

Philosopher, Princeton University | Princeton, N.J.

Once described as "our postmodern Socrates," Kwame Anthony Appiah has this year turned to the big subject of the social uses of honor around the world: His 2010 book, The Honor Code, documents how it has been used to bring about "moral revolutions" -- the end of abhorrent practices such as slavery and foot-binding -- in the past, and how it can be used to end present evils such as honor killings. "You have to figure out how to get honor to concede to morality," the Princeton University professor said recently. "My thought is: Don't abandon honor; reshape it." It's this unabashedly activist posture that sets Appiah -- who wrote an eloquent letter nominating Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Prize -- apart from many of his colleagues. In fitting abstract concepts to the changing demands of the modern world, he is trying to make philosophy relevant again.


Reading list: American Grace, by Robert Putnam and David Campbell; Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen; Fault Lines, by Raghuram Rajan.

Best idea: The World Health Organization's "Global Patient Safety Challenge," led by Atul Gawande.

Worst idea: The proposal, introduced at the United Nations, to prohibit "defamation of religion."

China or India? Neither.
Kindle or iPad? iPad."