Sissela Bok

Sissela Bok, born 2 December 1934, is a Swedish-born philosopher and ethicist, the daughter of two Nobel Prize winners: Gunnar Myrdal who won the Economics prize with Friedrich Hayek in 1974, and Alva Myrdal who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982.

She received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology from George Washington University in 1957 and 1958, and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1970. Formerly a Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University, Sissela Bok is currently a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard School of Public Health.

Her brother, Jan Myrdal is a controversial writer and journalist. She is married to Derek Bok, former president (1971-1991) and interim president (2006-2007) of Harvard. Her daughter, Hilary Bok, is also a philosopher.

She was awarded the Courage of Conscience award on 24 April 1991 "for her contributions to peacemaking strategies in the tradition of her mother".

Books

• Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Pantheon Books, 1978; Vintage paperback editions, 1979, 1989, 1999).
• Secrets: on the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation (Pantheon Books, 1982; Vintage paperback editions, 1984, 1989).
• A Strategy for Peace: Human Values and the Threat of War (Pantheon Books, 1989; Vintage paperback edition, 1990).
• Alva Myrdal: A Daughter's Memoir (Addison-Wesley, 1991; paperback edition 1992).
• Common Values (University of Missouri Press, 1995; paperback edition 2002).
• Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment (Perseus, 1998; paperback edition 1999).
• Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide, with Gerald Dworkin and Ray Frey (Cambridge University Press, 1998).
• Exploring Happiness: From Aristotle to Brain Science (Yale University Press, 2010).

External links

• Interview with Bill Moyers on PBS' Now (video)
• The Pursuits of Happiness - Lowell Lecture, October 2003
• Transcript of interview by David Gergen on PBS' NewsHour "Mayhem" as Entertainment" 1998
• "The Pursuits of Happiness," Alumni Bulletin, Harvard University Extension School, Vol. 37, Fall 2003, pp. 3-11.
• "Rethinking the WHO Definition of Health," Working Paper, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Vol. 14, No. 7 October [2004]
• Sissela Bok: Honesty in Public Life (Real Audio from WETS FM)