Tanner Lectures

Tanner Lectures

The Tanner Lectures are a distinguished series of public lectures in the United States and abroad founded to advance discussion of human values, inviting scholars to address profound questions about human life. Founded by Obert C. Tanner, the series has been hosted by institutions such as University of Utah, Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Oxford, attracting speakers from across the intellectual world. Over decades the series has featured contributions intersecting with figures associated with Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, MacArthur Fellowship recipients and leaders from institutions like Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of California, Berkeley.

History

The origins trace to a gift by Obert C. Tanner in 1970 intended to create a forum similar to established lecture series at Harvard University and Yale University where visitors such as T. S. Eliot, Martin Luther King Jr., Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and John Rawls had earlier set intellectual precedents. Early years saw lectures held at venues like Oxford University colleges and American research centers including University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. The series expanded geographically and thematically, aligning with other major forums such as the Gifford Lectures and the Nobel Prize lectures, while occasionally intersecting with figures associated with the Royal Society and members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Purpose and Themes

The stated aim emphasizes exploration of human values through interdisciplinary inquiry, inviting speakers from fields linked to philosophy, literary criticism, history, law, psychiatry, and neuroscience—often represented by scholars affiliated with Oxford University, Cambridge University, Yale University, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Themes have included ethics in the tradition of Immanuel Kant, political thought echoing concerns from the American Revolution and French Revolution, cultural criticism resonant with figures like T. S. Eliot and Edward Said, as well as scientific reflection in the lineage of Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, and Alan Turing. Lectures have addressed subjects connected to the work of editors and institutions such as The New York Times, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Nature, and Science.

Notable Lecturers and Lectures

Lecturers have included leading intellectuals with affiliations to Harvard University and Oxford University such as Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Judith Butler, Martha Nussbaum, Amartya Sen, Noam Chomsky, Jürgen Habermas, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Terry Eagleton, Richard Rorty, Stanley Cavell, Susan Sontag, Derek Parfit, Paul Ricoeur, Cornel West, Seymour Martin Lipset, Daniel Kahneman, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Simon Schama, E. O. Wilson, Paul Krugman, Marshall McLuhan, Clifford Geertz, Jacques Derrida, Homi K. Bhabha, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Ernest Gellner, Alasdair MacIntyre, Isaiah Berlin, Germaine Greer, Helen Vendler, Luce Irigaray, Judith Butler, Cornelius Castoriadis, Seyla Benhabib, Avishai Margalit, and Roger Scruton among others. Specific lectures have influenced debates alongside works such as A Theory of Justice, The Second Sex, Orientalism, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, The Uses of Literacy, The Interpretation of Dreams, The Selfish Gene, and The Wealth of Nations through cross-referential engagement by subsequent scholars at institutions like Columbia University, Brown University, and University of California, Los Angeles.

Organization and Administration

Administration is overseen by host institutions and coordinating committees drawn from universities such as University of Utah, Yale University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University. Funding and endowment management involve foundations and boards similar to those governing MacArthur Foundation grants and university chairs named after benefactors such as Obert C. Tanner. Selection committees often include members of scholarly societies like the American Philosophical Society, British Academy, Royal Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and coordinate logistics with departments of philosophy, history, law, literature, and psychology at host universities.

Publication and Availability

Lectures have been published in formats including monographs, edited volumes, and journal special issues by academic presses linked to Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, Princeton University Press, and Yale University Press. Some lectures appear in periodicals associated with The New Yorker, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, Philosophy and Public Affairs, and The Journal of Philosophy. Libraries at institutions such as Library of Congress, Bodleian Library, Harvard Library, Yale Library, and British Library hold archival materials and transcripts, while university archives at University of Utah and participating hosts provide access for researchers and students.

Category:Lecture series