Avishai Margalit
George F. Kennan
Professor
School of Historical Studies

Avishai Margalit is one of the foremost thinkers and commentators on the contemporary human condition, the moral issues of our time and current problems facing western societies.  While trained as a philosopher, Margalit is highly regarded for his profound and cogent observations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the broader struggle between Islam and the West.  As the author of Idolatry (with Moshe Halbertal, 1992), The Decent Society (1996), Views in Reviews: Politics and Culture in the State of the Jews (1998), The Ethics of Memory (2002) and Occidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies (with Ian Buruma, 2004), Margalit has transformed philosophical perspectives on a range of political and societal issues.  He began his appointment as the George F. Kennan Professor in July 2006.

Ph.D., Hebrew University, 1970; Hebrew University, Lecturer, 1970-73, Senior Lecturer, 1973-80, Associate Professor and Professor, 1980-98, Schulman Professor of Philosophy, 1998-2006; Institute for Advanced Study, George F. Kennan Professor, 2006-; Visiting Scholar, Harvard University, 1974-75; Visiting Professor, Free University of Berlin, 1984-85; Visiting Fellow, Wolfson College, Oxford University, 1979-80, St. Antony's College, Oxford University, 1990; Fellow, Max Planck Institute, 1984-85; Rockefeller Fellow, the Center for Human Values, Princeton University, 1995-96; Spinoza Lens Prize, International Spinoza Foundation, 2001; Tanner Lectures, Stanford University, 2005.