Princeton professor Kwame Anthony Appiah has been awarded Brandeis University's first Joseph B. and Toby Gittler Prize, which recognizes outstanding and lasting contributions to racial, ethnic and religious relations.
The $25,000 prize honors professor Joseph Gittler -- a sociologist who taught at Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University, Duke University and other institutions -- and his mother, Toby.
Appiah, the Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Philosophy and the University Center for Human Values, specializes in moral and political philosophy, African and African American studies, and issues of personal and political identity, multiculturalism and nationalism. A Princeton faculty member since 2002, he is the author of numerous award-winning books, including "Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers," "The Ethics of Identity" and "Color Conscious: The Political Morality of Race." His latest book, "Experiments in Ethics," explores how the new empirical moral psychology relates to the age-old project of philosophical ethics.
"Appiah embodies Brandeis' and Professor Gittler's fundamental belief in the importance of freedom, community and justice, and the need for continuous questioning and revision of our moral and ethical beliefs," said Brandeis President Jehuda Reinharz.
Appiah received the prize during an awards ceremony and lecture at Brandeis on Oct. 27.
