Sissela Bok (born Myrdal; 2 December 1934) is a Swedish-born American philosopher and
ethicist An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and (importantly) is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgment. Following the advice of ...
, the daughter of two
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
winners:
Gunnar Myrdal
Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( ; ; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish economist and sociologist. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences along with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money a ...
who won the
Economics prize with
Friedrich Hayek
Friedrich August von Hayek ( , ; 8 May 189923 March 1992), often referred to by his initials F. A. Hayek, was an Austrian–British economist, legal theorist and philosopher who is best known for his defense of classical liberalism. Haye ...
in 1974, and
Alva Myrdal
Alva Myrdal ( , ; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso García Robles, received the Nobel Peace ...
who won the
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...
in 1982.
Biography
Bok received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from
George Washington University
, mottoeng = "God is Our Trust"
, established =
, type = Private federally chartered research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $2.8 billion (2022)
, preside ...
in 1957 and 1958, and her Ph.D. in philosophy from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1970. Formerly a professor of philosophy at
Brandeis University
, mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts"
, established =
, type = Private research university
, accreditation = NECHE
, president = Ronald D. Liebowitz
, pro ...
, she is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow at the
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies,
Harvard School of Public Health
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...
.
Bok is married to
Derek Bok
Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University.
Life and career
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and siste ...
, former president (1971–1991, interim 2006–2007) of Harvard. Her daughter,
Hilary Bok
Hilary Bok (born 1959) is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Bioethics and Moral & Political Theory at the Johns Hopkins University. Bok received a B.A. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1981 and her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1991.
...
, is also a philosopher. Her brother,
Jan Myrdal
Jan Myrdal (19 July 1927 – 30 October 2020) was a Swedish author known for his strident Maoist, anti-imperialist and contrarian views and heterodox and highly subjective style of autobiography.
Family
Born in Bromma, Stockholm, in 1927, Jan ...
, was a political writer and journalist.
Bok was awarded the
Orwell Award
The NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language (the Orwell Award for short), is an award given since 1975 by the Public Language Award Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English ...
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."
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
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, 2010).
References
External links
*
The Pursuits of Happiness - Lowell Lecture October 2003
n PBS' NewsHour "Mayhem" as Entertainment" 1998
Alumni Bulletin, Harvard University Extension School, Vol. 37, Fall 2003, pp. 3–11.
"Rethinking the WHO Definition of Health" Working Paper, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Vol. 14, No. 7 October
004Sissela Bok: Honesty in Public Life (Real Audio from WETS FM)at alumni.ecolint.net
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bok, Sissela
1934 births
20th-century American philosophers
Continental philosophers
American ethicists
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Harvard School of Public Health faculty
Living people
Swedish emigrants to the United States
American women philosophers
21st-century American philosophers
Swedish women writers
American non-fiction writers
20th-century American women writers
American women non-fiction writers
Fellows of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
21st-century American women