Spring General Meeting
Martha Craven Nussbaum

The American Philosophical Society awarded the 2009 Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence to Martha Craven Nussbaum. The citation read “in recognition of her intellectual leadership in philosophy, law and religion, including in particular her development and application of a "capabilities approach" to justice in a variety of contexts including women's rights in developing countries and worldwide, rights of the disabled and the impaired, and rights of animal species.” The award was presented by Ellen Ash Peters, Judge Trial Referee of the Connecticut Appellate Court and Former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, and a member of the Henry M. Phillips Prize selection committee.

The Henry M. Phillips Prize recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of jurisprudence and the important publications which illustrate that accomplishment. It was established in 1888 by a gift from his sister to be used as an award to honor "real merit on the science and philosophy of jurisprudence."

Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Law School, the Philosophy Department, and the Divinity School at the University of Chicago. She received her Ph.D. at Harvard University, and has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. In the past thirty years, Professor Nussbaum has published fourteen books – four have won national prizes – and edited thirteen others. She has explored such diverse themes as the vulnerability of human development (The Fragility of Goodness, 1986); the breadth of the concept of social justice (Sex and Social Justice, 1999); the proposition that development goals must take account of human capabilities (Women and Human Development, 2000), and most recently, the distinctively American tradition of religious equality ( Liberty of Conscience, 2008). Although she shows no signs of slowing down – she currently holds contracts for at least three other books – she has established herself as one of the most influential and distinguished scholars of her generation.

The selection committee consisted of Herma Hill Kay (chairman), Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law and Former Dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley; William T. Coleman, Jr., Senior Partner & The Senior Counselor at O'Melveny & Myers; Ellen Ash Peters, Judge Trial Referee of the Connecticut Appellate Court and former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court; and Louis Pollak, Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Spring General Meeting
Jeremy James Waldron

The American Philosophical Society awarded the 2011 Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence to Jeremy James Waldron. The citation read “in recognition his intellectual leadership in political theory and legal philosophy, including in particular his exploration of such diverse themes as the nature and limits of rights supporting the institution of private property, a jurisprudence of legislation, and a defense of the equality of human beings developed out of Locke’s Christian-based theories of equality, which has brought him recognition as one of the world’s leading legal and political philosophers of his generation.” The award was presented by the Society's Executive Officer, Mary Patterson McPherson, President Emerita, Bryn Mawr College.

The Henry M. Phillips Prize recognizes outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of jurisprudence and the important publications which illustrate that accomplishment. It was established in 1888 by a gift from his sister to be used as an award to honor "real merit on the science and philosophy of jurisprudence."

Dr. Waldron is University Professor of Law and Philosophy at the New York University School of Law, and the Chichele Professor in Social and Political Theory at Oxford University.  Waldron works in the fields of political theory and legal philosophy, and his output has been prodigious.  He has explored such diverse themes as the nature and limits of rights-based arguments in support of the institution of private property (The Right to Private Property); the case for legislation as a “dignified mode of governance and a respectable source of law” (The Dignity of Legislation); a jurisprudence of legislation  (Law and Disagreement); and a defense of the equality of human beings developed out of Locke’s Christian-based theories of equality, with modern implications (God, Locke, and Equality).

The Phillips Prize Selection Committee consisted of chair Herma Hill Kay, the Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law and Former Dean of the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley; William T. Coleman, Jr., Senior Partner and Senior Counselor at O’Melveny & Myers; Ellen Ash Peters, Judge Trial Referee of the Connecticut Appellate Court and former Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court; and Louis Pollak, Judge, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Autumn General Meeting
Laurence H. Tribe

The 2013 recipient of the American Philosophical Society’s Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence is Laurence H. Tribe. The award citation reads "in recognition of his contributions to understanding the United States Constitution and the role of the Supreme Court in its interpretation; in particular his insightful analyses of Constitutional theory including his critique of a literal approach to the text of the document, exploring instead the "dark matter" of values and concepts that compose the invisible constitution, thus giving meaning to the written text, resulting in the masterful synthesis presented in his authoritative treatise, American Constitutional Law."

Laurence Tribe is currently Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School. A distinguished legal scholar and world-renowned professor of constitutional law, he has argued many cases before the Supreme Court of the United States – including the historic Bush v. Gore case in 2000 on behalf of presidential candidate Al Gore – and he has testified frequently before Congress on a broad range of constitutional issues. He has prevailed in three-fifths of the many appellate cases he has argued (including 35 in the U.S. Supreme Court). Tribe was appointed in 2010 by President Obama and Attorney General Holder to serve as the first Senior Counselor for Access to Justice. He helped write the constitutions of South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Marshall Islands. He has written 115 books and articles, including his treatise, American Constitutional Law, cited more than any other legal text since 1950. Among his most acclaimed books are The Invisible Constitution: Inalienable Rights (2008), a powerful account of constitutional interpretation that goes beyond the words of the text to explore the unwritten values and concepts that give it meaning; God Save This Honorable Court: How the Choice of Justices Shape Our History (1985), a critique of judicial restraint which argues that adherence to the constitutional text abdicates judicial responsibility; Constitutional Choices (1986), an appraisal of the Supreme Court’s approach to "balancing of costs and benefits" in cases involving issues of governmental authority and individual rights and advancing the claim that this approach ignores the historic role entrusted to the Court by the Constitution; and Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (1992), a challenge to the inevitability of permanent conflict on the policy of abortion which tries "to lay the groundwork for moving on" by examining the competing interests of the woman and the unborn children as well as the strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the argument as well as assessing the role judges should play in umpiring the political struggles over these issues. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2010.

The Henry M. Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence was established by a gift in 1888 from Emily Phillips of Philadelphia in memory of her brother who had been a member of the Society since 1871. During the first century of the prize it was awarded for the best essay of real merit on the science and philosophy of jurisprudence. From 1986 to 1997, this award recognized the most important publication in the field within a five-year period. In 1999, the criteria for the prize were raised to recognize outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of jurisprudence. In the 125 years since its inception, the Society has bestowed the prize only 25 times.

The selection committee consisted of Herma Hill Kay (chair), Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley; Geoffrey C. Hazard, Miller Professor of Law, University of California Hastings College of Law, Trustee Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Director Emeritus, American Law Institute; Ellen Ash Peters, Judge Trial Referee, Connecticut Appellate Court, Former Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court; Kathleen Sullivan, Partner, Chair of National Appellate Practice, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; and David S. Tatel, United States Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Spring General Meeting
Patricia M. Wald

The 2007 recipient of the American Philosophical Society's Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is Patricia M. Wald for her paper "International Criminal Courts: Some Kudos and Concerns." It was presented at the Society's Autumn General Meeting in November 2004 and published in the June 2006 Proceedings.

Patricia M. Wald was Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the U.S. Department of Justice from 1977 to 1979. She then presided at the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals for twenty years, serving as the Chief Judge for five years. From 1999 to 2001, she served as a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague, a position appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General. It is from that experience that her paper begins. Judge Wald provides a candid yet comprehensive analysis of the complexities of international criminal courts and their attempts to provide a forum to address and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity. She describes the development of the varied international courts, the problems that plagued these endeavors, and how the experiences of these previous courts are continually evolving into a more effective process, although one that is still "having a stormy adolescence." The final section of her paper discusses the creation of the new International Criminal Court (ICC), a permanent court that would not need to be reinvented for each new controversy. The United States was initially very much involved in setting up the ICC, but when the Bush administration came on board it withdrew and has adamantly opposed involvement in the court. Judge Wald looks at both sides of the argument and fully details the implications and unfortunate consequences if the United States continues to refuse to participate.

Judge Wald is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Open Society Justice Initiative, for which she was chairman. She recently served on the President's Commission on Intelligence Capabilities, the independent body that examined U.S. intelligence gathering in light of the war in Iraq. She was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2000.

The Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is awarded annually to the author of a paper in the humanities or jurisprudence read at a meeting of the Society. It was established in 1982 by a gift from the widow of Henry Allen Moe to honor the longtime head of the Guggenheim Foundation and president of the American Philosophical Society from 1959 to 1970. It pays particular tribute to his firm commitment to the humanities and those who pursue them.

The selection committee consisted of chairman Richard Herr, professor of history emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, Christopher Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and History at Harvard University, and Elfriede R. Knauer, consulting scholar for the Mediterranean Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Spring General Meeting
Caroline Humphrey

The 2008 recipient of the American Philosophical Society’s Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is Caroline Humphrey for her paper “Alternative Freedoms.” It was presented at the Society’s Spring General Meeting in April 2005 and published in the March 2007 issue of the Society's Proceedings.

In the paper Dr. Humphrey uses her experience in Russia to analyze the ideas of freedom held by ordinary Russians and to question the belief of Western leaders that their conceptions of freedom are applicable worldwide. She analyzes the ideas of freedom held by ordinary Russians and identifies three different concepts of freedom that, although derived from the past, were still present under the Soviet regime: svoboda, the individual freedom that came with the acquisition of privileged social status; mir, the freedom enjoyed through membership in one’s community; and volya, the emotional drive for self fulfillment. of these is identical to the Western belief in individual political freedom, though svoboda is the closest. Since the end of the Soviet regime, political and cultural developments have introduced the population to Western ideas of freedom, but ordinary Russians have come to perceive this imported version of svoboda as a cover for new forms of privilege. As they struggle for meaning in their everyday lives, they often turn to the self respect of their volya, their free will. From this analysis Professor Humphrey concludes that our sermons on freedom will ring hollow in regions of the world that differ from us culturally.

Caroline Humphrey is University Professor of Asian Anthropology at Cambridge University, where she has headed the Department of Social Anthropology since 2001. She developed an interest in Russia as an exchange student in anthropology at Moscow State University, studying there in 1966-67 and again in 1974-75. In those years she managed to get permission to study a collective farm in Siberia and became one of a handful of scholars allowed to do research in Russia at that time. This led to her first book Karl Marx Collective: Economy and Society in a Siberian Collective Farm.

Since then Dr. Humphrey has conducted research throughout Asia, including studies of pastoralism and trade in northeastern Nepal; the religion and rituals of the Jains of Rajasthan in western India; and the shamanism of the Daurs in Inner Mongolia. A remarkable social anthropologist with an impressive command of languages, she has achieved an intimate association with and understanding of Russian and central Asian societies.

The co-founder and former director of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, Dr. Humphrey also helped organize "Environmental and Cultural Conservation in Inner Asia", a broad comparative study of the management of pastoral economies in Russia, Mongolia and China. Her many honors include the Staley Prize in Anthropology, the Royal Anthropological Institute's Rivers Memorial Medal and the Heldt Prize. Dr. Humphrey’s most recent book is The Unmaking of Soviet Life: Everyday Economies after Socialism (2002). Her current projects include a book on Mongolian historical consciousness and a collaborative project on post-socialist urban development in Asia. She was elected an international member of the American Philosophical Society in 2004.

The Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is awarded annually to the author of a paper in the humanities or jurisprudence read at a meeting of the Society. It was established in 1982 by a gift from the widow of Henry Allen Moe to honor the longtime head of the Guggenheim Foundation and president of the American Philosophical Society from 1959 to 1970. It pays particular tribute to his firm commitment to the humanities and those who pursue them.

The selection committee consisted of chairman Richard Herr, professor of history emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley; Christopher Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and History at Harvard University; and Elfriede R. Knauer, consulting scholar for the Mediterranean Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Autumn General Meeting
Barbara Mittler

The 2009 recipient of the American Philosophical Society’s Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is Barbara Mittler for her paper “Popular Propaganda? Art and Culture in Revolutionary China.”  It was presented at the Society’s Spring General Meeting in April 2007 and published in the December 2008 issue of the Society's Proceedings.

In her paper, Barbara Mittler addresses the question why the items of propaganda of Mao’s time, a tragic period of suffering, are now popular in China, and the figure of Mao himself, once a monster, has become a mythical figure.  This, she argues, goes against the general response to propaganda that it is to be scorned and mistrusted.  From her experience in China especially interviewing artists and musicians, she proposes various reasons.  The use of art and music in Maoist propaganda did not reject Chinese tradition but brought it to the countryside (people read Confucius or heard Chinese opera who would never have done so).  People found pleasure in this learning experience, many of them able to look beyond the Maoist criticism to the value of the works.  Some of her interviewees credited participation in activities during the Great Leap Forward with starting them on careers in music and painting that would never have been open to them otherwise.

The other main point she makes applies to the broader Chinese society as a whole.  The glorifying of the Maoist period is a response to the new society that has emerged as China introduces its form of capitalism, with the scene of extravagant wealth falling into a few hands.  The new world makes Mao’s dedication to the common man seem a heroic age.  This is useful knowledge, a valuable perception of the gut feeling of ordinary people in China to the current regime.

Barbara Mittler, since receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg (Germany) in 1994, has been a member of the Institute of Chinese Studies at the same institution.  She was first employed through a project sponsored by the German Research Foundation, later (since 1996) as an Assistant Professor, yet later again (since 1999) as an Associate Professor. Starting in October 2002, she was on research leave, originally for three years, on a Heisenberg Scholarship by the German Research Foundation. During this time, she was affiliated with the Institute of Chinese Studies and the Center for Gender Studies at Marburg University, as well as the Centre d'Etudes de la Chine moderne et contemporaine in Paris. She resumed teaching as a Full Professor at the University of Heidelberg in 2004.  Her former desires to become a practicing musician led her to explore Chinese avant-garde music and fueled her passion for Chinese culture.  She is a member of the Selection Committee for German Scholarships by the Rhodes Trust, a member of the Senate committee for International Affairs, and a Principal Investigator and Member of the Steering Committee in Cluster of Excellence “Asia and Europe, Shifting Asymmetries in Cultural Flows.”

Endowed by Edith N. Moe in 1982, the prize honors Henry Allen Moe, paying particular tribute to his firm commitment to the humanities and those who pursue them. Early in his career, Dr. Moe became president of the Guggenheim Foundation, and for the next forty years shaped and ran the organization to become one of the nation’s chief benefactors of creative scholars, scientists, and artists.  Dr. Moe served as president of the American Philosophical Society from 1959 to 1970.

The selection committee consisted of Richard Herr (chair), Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley; Kezia Knauer, Consulting Scholar, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; and Christopher Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and History, Harvard University.

Spring General Meeting
Clyde Barker

The American Philosophical Society’s 2010 Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities is awarded to Clyde Barker in recognition of his Jayne Lecture delivered to the members of the Society on November 9, 2007, and published in the Society's Proceedings, March 2009, entitled "Thomas Eakins and His Medical Clinics."

The central theme of Barker’s paper is a great American painting, Thomas Eakins’ The Gross Clinic (1875). Barker shows that the characteristics ascribed to Eakins by his contemporaries – boorish, eccentric, outrageous – had a secure basis in fact. Moreover, he exploits contemporary accounts in order to understand the background both of this painting and of another of Eakins’ masterpieces, The Agnew Clinic (1889). He shows how both portraits reflect their subjects – the flamboyant Gross, the "Emperor of American Surgery," and the aloof, patrician Agnew. Between the painting of the two pictures occurred the revolution brought about by the acceptance of antiseptic surgery, largely through the efforts of the Scotsman Joseph Lister. Gross was contemptuous of this innovation, whereas Agnew embraced it wholeheartedly. Another change was the growing use of electric rather than natural light in operating rooms. The pictures reflect these changes as much as the character and style of the subjects. Gross, dressed in ordinary clothes, dominates the frame as he gestures rhetorically in a dark operating room; Agnew, dressed in a white surgical smock, stands to the left of the frame under a strong electric light. Barker has much to say on other aspects of Eakins: the sexual scandals, his exploration of photography, and the effect of his personality on those closest to him. While Barker claims "no expertise as an art critic or art historian," this wonderful study will surely enter the literature on Eakins and on the history of American painting.

Clyde F. Barker was appointed to the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1966.  Since then he has been Chief of Transplantation Surgery, Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, John Rhea Barton Professor, chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Director of the Harrison Department of Surgical Research.  Dr. Barker’s research interests have been primarily in transplantation, especially transplantation of the kidney and pancreas and of isolated pancreatic islets.  He has authored more than 400 scientific papers.  He is recognized as one of the leading investigators in the transplant field in the United States. He initiated the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s transplant program in 1966 and is credited with building it into the largest and most successful program in the area.  Dr. Barker was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1997 and has served as its Vice President since 2005.

Endowed by Edith N. Moe in 1982, the prize honors Henry Allen Moe, paying particular tribute to his firm commitment to the humanities and those who pursue them. Early in his career, Dr. Moe became President of the Guggenheim Foundation, and for the next forty years shaped and ran the organization to become one of the nation’s chief benefactors of creative scholars, scientists, and artists.  Dr. Moe served as President of the American Philosophical Society from 1959 to 1970.

The Moe Prize Selection Committee consists of chair Christopher Jones, George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and History at Harvard University; Louis Begley, novelist and former partner at Debevoise & Plimpton; and Elfriede R. Knauer, Consulting Scholar of the Mediterranean Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Spring General Meeting
William Chester Jordan

The 2012 recipient of the Henry Allen Moe Prize is William Chester Jordan for his paper entitled "Count Robert's 'Pet' Wolf," read at the Society's meeting April 23, 2010, and published in the Society's Proceedings, December 2011.

William Chester Jordan's paper on Count Robert of Artois touches on both an unusual moment in history and the overarching themes of both physical and psychological subjugation practiced by the medieval rich and powerful.  Count Robert, a nephew of Saint Louis of France, implicitly rejected his uncle's teachings (put forth in works known as the Instructions and Teachings of Saint Louis) by indulging in the more traditional aspects of courtly life such as hunting and keeping a fool.  Among his unusual indulgences was a 'pet' wolf which the keeper often allowed to roam about the countryside, terrorizing the populace both physically (killing more than twenty of the peasants' livestock in the spring of 1302 alone) and psychologically (in an ironic twist of Aesop's famous fable of mice belling the cat).  This paper gives us a brief glimpse into the lives of both subject and subjugator in medieval Europe and the role wolves played in reality and as symbol.

Christopher Jones, Chair of the Moe Prize Selection Committee, stated while presenting the prize that: "this is a splendid and original paper on Saint Louis of France's eccentric nephew, Count Robert of Artois. Count Robert kept an unusual pet, a wolf, and amused himself by letting it terrorize his peasants.  Though he 'belled' the wolf, he did so not to warn the unwary (as the mice hoped to do in Aesop's famous fable), but to increase the beast's power to cause terror.  This elegant and concise essay considers how wolves were generally regarded in the High Middle Ages, the particular dangers created by 'lone wolves,' and (since lone wolves were sometimes rabid) the horrifying effects of rabies in a world where there was no known remedy other than cauterization.  The paper is vivid, erudite, and at the same time a timely lesson about the ways by which the medieval rich and powerful could keep the poor in psychological subjection."

William Chester Jordan received a Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1973 and has remained at Princeton throughout his career.  Professor of History since 1986 and current Chair of the Department of History, he also served as Director of the Davis Center for Historical Studies from 1994-99.  Dr. Jordan is a master medievalist. Beginning as a historian of the state, he has consistently made the development of the central political and social institutions of the great feudal monarchies the core of his work.  Thorough investigations in the French national and provincial archives have enabled him to shed new light on classic subjects as diverse as the military organization of the Crusades and the dissolution of serfdom.  At the same time, however, he has never lost sight of the many thousands of medieval people who had to forge communities and ways of living outside the central institutions of the great states, and sometimes in sharp opposition to them.  His work on the lives of serfs, Jews and women in the Middle Ages applies to new sources, new problems, and unstudied social groups the same expert craftsmanship exhibited in his work on the state.  His book on the famine of the fourteenth century is a still broader account of the social and human consequences of catastrophe.  Jordan’s wide historical sympathies, remarkable linguistic gifts, and eloquence in speech and writing have won him an international reputation, and his rigorous undergraduate and graduate teaching has led brilliant younger scholars to devote themselves to careers in the field.  Dr. Jordan was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2000.

Endowed by Edith N. Moe in 1982, the prize honors Henry Allen Moe, paying particular tribute to his firm commitment to the humanities and those who pursue them. Early in his career, Dr. Moe became president of the Guggenheim Foundation, and for the next forty years shaped and ran the organization to become one of the nation’s chief benefactors of creative scholars, scientists, and artists.  Dr. Moe served as president of the American Philosophical Society from 1959 to 1970.

The selection committee consisted of Christopher Jones (chair), George Martin Lane Professor of the Classics and History, Harvard University; Louis Begley, Novelist, Retired Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton; and Elizabeth Cropper, Dean, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art.