Tanner Lecture on Human Values at University of California Berkeley – “‘D’ou venons nous?…’ Origins in the Ethical Philosophy of Bernard Williams

These lectures will explore origins in Williams ethical philosophy, in two related senses of ‘origin’. The first is the sense germane to the interpretive enterprise of tracing a thinker’s personal intellectual trajectory back to starting conceptions which can fruitfully be represented as guiding it throughout. In this regard, the thesis advanced in the first lecture […]

Tanner Lecture on Human Values at University of California Berkeley – “The Moment of Decision”

The Moment of Decision Lecture I – What is a decision? Monday, May 4, 2026 4:10 pm – 6:15 pm Alumni House, Toll Room, UC Berkeley Lecture II – The Decision in history Tuesday, May 5, 2026 4:10 pm – 6:15 pm Alumni House, Toll Room, UC Berkeley Lecture III – Seminar and Discussion Wednesday, […]

Tanner Lecture on Human Values at University of California, Berkeley

The Time of Possibility

Times of Possibility

Dignity, Rank, and Rights

Jeremy Waldron is a University Professor and Professor of Law at New York University. He is interested in liberal theories of rights, issues of economic and social justice, the political significance of moral disagreement, and the basis of our political ideals in a multicultural society. H

The Idol of Stability

STEPHEN TOULMIN is Henry R. Luce Professor at the Center for Multiethnic and Transnational Studies at the University of Southern California. He read mathematics and physics at Cambridge prior to World War II, when he did radar research and development for the Royal Air Force.

Speaking Amongst Ourselves: Democracy and Law

Seana Valentine Shiffrin is Professor of Philosophy and Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice at UCLA, where she has taught since 1992. She is the codirector and cofounder of the UCLA Law and Philosophy program. Shiffrin received her BA degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was the University Medalist. She […]

The Afterlife

Samuel Scheffler is a University Professor and Professor of Philosophy and Law at New York University, where he joined the faculty in 2008. He was educated at Harvard and Princeton, and from 1977 to 2008 he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. He works primarily in the areas of moral and political philosophy. His […]

The Weight of All Flesh: On the Subject-Matter of Political Economy

eric l. santner is the Philip and Ida Romberg Distinguished Service Professor in Modern Germanic Studies at the University of Chicago. He came to Chicago in 1996 after twelve years of teaching at Princeton University. He has been a visiting fellow at various institutions, including Dartmouth, Washington University, Cornell, and the University of Konstanz