Sissela Bok

Sissela Bok
Born
Sissela Myrdal

(1934-12-02) 2 December 1934 (age 90)
Sweden
Alma materGeorge Washington University
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern Philosophy
SchoolContinental
Main interests
Ethics

Sissela Bok (born Myrdal; 2 December 1934) is a Swedish-born American philosopher and ethicist, the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners: Gunnar Myrdal who won the Economics prize with Friedrich Hayek in 1974, and Alva Myrdal who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She is considered one of the premier American women moral philosophers of the latter part of the 20th century.[1]

Biography

Bok received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from George Washington University in 1957 and 1958, and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1970. She worked at Simmons University (1971–72), the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (1975–82), Brandeis University (1985–92), and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health (1993–2022).[2][1]

Bok is married to Derek Bok, former president (1971–1991, interim 2006–2007) of Harvard. Her daughter, Hilary Bok, is also a philosopher. Her brother, Jan Myrdal, was a political writer and journalist.

Bok was awarded the Orwell Award in 1978 for Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life.

Bok was awarded the Courage of Conscience award on 24 April 1991 "for her contributions to peacemaking strategies in the tradition of her mother."[3]

Books

  • Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Pantheon Books, 1978; Vintage paperback editions, 1979, 1989, 1999).
  • Secrets: on the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation (Pantheon Books, 1982; Vintage paperback editions, 1984, 1989).
  • A Strategy for Peace: Human Values and the Threat of War (Pantheon Books, 1989; Vintage paperback edition, 1990).
  • Alva Myrdal: A Daughter's Memoir (Addison-Wesley, 1991; paperback edition 1992).
  • Common Values (University of Missouri Press, 1995; paperback edition 2002).
  • Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment (Perseus, 1998; paperback edition 1999).
  • Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide, with Gerald Dworkin and Ray Frey (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
  • Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science (Yale University Press, 2010).[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Sissela Ann Bok encyclopedia.com
  2. ^ Boston, 677 Huntington Avenue; Ma 02115 (2020-10-09). "Sissela Bok, MA, PhD". Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Retrieved 2024-02-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List". Archived from the original on February 14, 2009.
  4. ^ Thomas Nagel (December 23, 2010). "Who Is Happy and When?". The New York Review.[dead link‍]
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