Reckoning with Our Racial Past: A Conversation with Kwame Anthony Appiah and Adolph Reed Jr.

Point/Counterpoint Series: Fall 2021

Progress? Is the world a better place today than it was fifty years ago? Will it be better yet in another fifty years? In this year’s series, we examine such questions by focusing on two pressing and controversial issues of the day. First, the question of whether (and which) reckonings with our racial history are necessary for progress. And second, whether (and which) limitations on speech—in the public arena, in higher education—would improve our democracy.

This year’s Point/Counterpoint series is organized by Lawrence Douglas (Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought), Alexander George (Philosophy), and Nishi Shah (Philosophy).

A renowned ethicist and professor of philosophy and law at NYU, Kwame Anthony Appiah is known for his innovative work in the field of cultural differences and political philosophy. Raised in Ghana and educated at the University of Cambridge, Kwame has witnessed a broad spectrum of the social, economic, and political forces that shape ethics in this age of international exchange.

Adolph Reed Jr. is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught at Howard, Yale, and Northwestern Universities, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the New School for Social Research. He has been a Carnegie Corporation Scholar of Vision (2002–03), John J. McCloy ’16 Visiting Professor at Amherst College (1998–99) and the inaugural Scholar in Residence, McKenna Center for Leadership, St. Francis Xavier University, November 2019. Learn more about Point/Counterpoint: https://www.amherst.edu/news/events/v...