Are You a Christian or a Methodist?

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Marriage across different religions seems especially common in west africa. Why is that? And have those background cultural factors in some way shaped your own views? That's a good question, i think. As long as you agree about that, the rest is kind of details. The idea that you get in early christianity that it's incredibly important to insist on a long, long list of beliefs,. Some of which are philosophical and impossible to understand.

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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Recorded June 12th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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