Danielle S Allen

Troubled by the fact that so few Americans actually know what it says, Danielle Allen, a political philosopher renowned for her work on justice and citizenship, set out to explore the arguments of the Declaration of Independence, reading it with both adult night students and University of Chicago undergraduates. Keenly aware that the Declaration is riddled with contradictions--liberating some while subjugating slaves and Native Americans--Allen and...

"American education as we know it today - guaranteed by the state to serve every child in the country - is still less than a hundred years old. It's no wonder we haven't yet agreed exactly what role education should play in our society. In these Tanner Lectures, Danielle Allen brings us much closer, examining the ideological impasse between vocational and humanistic approaches that has plagued educational discourse and offering a compelling proposal...

"Danielle Allen revisits Rawls' landmark A Theory of Justice to make the case that justice, which she defines as the necessary conditions for human flourishing, requires the protection of political equality or the ability of all people who wish to participate in the political process, to do so on an equal footing. She argues that Rawls, and other thinkers in his wake who focused on protection of individuals from intrusion of the state, as well as...

Bringing together reporting, profiles, memoir and criticism from The New Yorker to present a bold and complex portrait of black life in America, told through stories of private triumphs and national tragedies, political vision, and artistic inspiration throughout history.