Philosopher Wins $50,000 Hiett Prize


Scott Samuelson, associate professor of philosophy and humanities at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, is the 2015 recipient of the Hiett Prize in the Humanities. The Hiett Prize is awarded by the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, whose purpose is “enrich and deepen lives through the wisdom and imagination of the humanities.” According to the Dallas Institute website,

The Hiett Prize in the Humanities is an annual award aimed at identifying candidates who are in the early stages of careers devoted to the humanities and whose work shows extraordinary promise and has a significant public component related to contemporary culture. The opposite of a lifetime achievement award, the Hiett Prize seeks to encourage future leaders in the humanities by 1) recognizing their early accomplishment and their potential and 2) assisting their ongoing work through a cash award of $50,000. The Hiett Prize was endowed by Kim Hiett Jordan, a Lifetime Board Member of the Dallas Institute, to honor her parents, who inspired in her a lifelong love of learning.

Professor Samuelson’s recent book is The Deepest Human Life: An Introduction to Philosophy for Everyone.  (You may recall his essay in The Atlantic, “Why I Teach Plato to Plumbers,” and his piece in The Chronicle, “Finding Philosophy,” both discussed here at Daily Nous previously.) He received his PhD in philosophy from Emory and was an undergraduate at Grinnell. The prize will be awarded at an event in November.

Here’s Professor Samuelson giving a TEDx talk, “How Philosophy Can Save Your Life”, earlier this year:

(via Scott Newstok)

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