UChicago Philosopher Agnes Callard Receives 2020 Lebowitz Prize

Agnes Callard photo by Eddie Quinones

For University of Chicago philosopher Agnes Callard, becoming someone is an extended learning process—a project of self-transformation that hinges not on specific rational decisions, but on aspiring to new values.

She introduced that idea in Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming, a 2018 book that one reviewer called “deep and broad in its philosophical reach.” That reviewer was Laurie Paul, the Yale University scholar with whom Callard now shares the 2020 Lebowitz Prize, awarded in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of philosophy.

'Road Map' to Recovery Report: 20 Million Coronavirus Tests Per Day Needed to Fully Open Economy

Danielle Allen

Political philosopher and historian of political thought Danielle Allen is the lead author of the 'Road Map' to Recovery Report and will be this year's speaker for the Virtual Berlin Family Lecture series about "Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus" to be held on May 12, 13, 19, and 20 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. CT. During the course of four lectures, she explores the distinctive challenges posed to democracy by the emergency conditions brought by a global pandemic, as well as the specific resources the U.S. Constitutional system has for achieving resilience in the face of this existential threat. Allen will focus on how we can integrate health, economic, ethical, and democratic objectives in our response to COVID-19.

Humanities Professor Receives the AAP Prose Excellence Award in Classics

Book cover of Pindar, Song, and Space

Richard Neer seeks a more holistic approach to scholarship by embracing multiple disciplines. Through the book Pindar, Song, and Space: Towards a Lyric Archaeology (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019), which Neer co-authored with Leslie Kurke, the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, the authors integrate poetry, performance, and the built environment in ancient Greece, combining literary and art-historical analysis with archaeological and epigraphic materials. In recognition of their innovative scholarship, Neer and Kurke recently received the Association of American Publishers 2020 Prose Excellence Award in Classics for Pindar, Song, and Space.

How Do We Live Online? Virtual Philosophy Discussion Tackles Big Questions

Agnes Callard photo by Eddie Quinones

For three hours, the usernames flitted up the screen. There were University of Chicago students, as always. But joining them were visitors from Texas and Arizona, from Ireland and Germany and Australia. There were teens, middle-aged men and women—and at least one septuagenarian.

This was the online debut for Night Owls, the popular philosophy discussion series started by Assoc. Prof. Agnes Callard. Since 2017, the UChicago scholar has operated the late-night, on-campus event, gathering hundreds to talk about everything from love and divorce to violence and death.

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