I don't believe that anybody who was in serious difficulty should think of writing to the new york times and waiting, perhaps months for an answer. The main function of the column is to get out ideas for thinking about the big things that happen in everybody's life. What do you think is the next undervalued moral revolution on its way? I should have a standard answer to that, ah, but i don't. If that takes hold, it will be huge revolution in the moral life of our society.
Born to a Ghanaian father and British mother, Kwame Anthony Appiah grew up splitting time between both countries — and lecturing in many more — before eventually settling in America, where he now teaches philosophy at New York University. This, along with a family scattered across half-a-dozen countries, establishes him as a true cosmopolitan, a label Appiah readily accepts. Yet he insists it is nonetheless possible to be a cosmopolitan patriot, rooted in a place, while having obligations and interests that transcend one’s national identity.
He joins Tyler to discuss this worldly perspective and more, including whether Africa will secularize, Ghanian fallibilism, teaching Jodie Foster, whether museums should repatriate collections, Karl Popper, Lee Kuan Yew, which country has the best jollof rice, the value of writing an ethical advice column, E.T. Mensah, Paul Simon, the experience of reading 173 novels to judge the Man Booker prize, and what he’s learned farming sheep in New Jersey.
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Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded June 12th, 2019 Other ways to connect