Born in 1954 in Greater London, Kwame Anthony Appiah established a scholarly career spanning philosophy, ethics, and political theory. Educated at Port Regis School, Bryanston School, and Clare College, Cambridge, he held faculty positions at institutions including Yale, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and currently New York University, consistently examining the intersections of identity, morality, and global citizenship.
Academic Appointments and Institutional Work
Appiah’s teaching career began at the University of Ghana in 1975. He subsequently held positions at Yale University from 1981 to 1986 and Cornell University between 1986 and 1989. Following a tenure at Duke University, he moved to Harvard University in 1991, remaining there until 2002. He served as the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University before joining New York University in 2014. In 2022, he was elected President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
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His academic output began with a doctoral dissertation focused on probabilistic semantics. His writing evolved to address race, racism, and ethical theory. Notable publications include In My Father's House, released in 1992, followed by Colour Conscious, The Ethics of Identity in 2005, and Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers in 2006. In 2008, he published Experiments in Ethics, which analyzed the role of empirical research in moral theory. Beyond non-fiction, he has authored novels including Avenging Angel, Nobody Likes Letitia, and Another Death in Venice.
Awards and Recognition
Appiah has received numerous accolades for his work. He was awarded the Ralph J. Bunche Award in 1997 and the Arthur Ross Book Award in 2007. In 2008, he received the Gittler Prize, followed by the National Humanities Medal in 2011. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2017. Later honors include the Philip L. Quinn Prize in 2020 and the Kluge Prize in 2024. He also served as a judge for the 2018 Booker Prize.
Fast facts
- Born: 1954, Greater London
- Citizenship: United Kingdom, United States
- Undergraduate Alma Mater: Clare College, Cambridge
- Current Primary Institution: New York University
- National Humanities Medal: 2011
- Kluge Prize: 2024
- Naturalized U.S. Citizen: 1997
Questions readers ask
What is Appiah's core definition of cosmopolitanism?
He defines it as universality plus difference, asserting that cultural differences deserve respect because people matter and culture matters to them, provided those differences do not harm human well-being.
Has Appiah worked outside of academia?
Yes, he is a novelist, a journalist, and has served in roles such as a Booker Prize judge and board member for various cultural organizations.
Achievements
- National Humanities Medal — 2011
- Freedom to Create Prize — 2011
- ASA Best Book Prize — 1993
- Philip L. Quinn Prize — 2020
- Held posts at Princeton University, Harvard University and Cornell University
