b. 1956
Michele Moody-Adams is an American moral and political philosopher best known for her work on moral relativism, moral progress, and the relationship between culture and ethical judgment. She is a professor at Columbia University and has served as Dean of Columbia College, the first African American and first woman to hold that position. Her philosophical work critically examines how cultural context shapes moral reasoning while defending the possibility of cross-cultural moral evaluation.
Authored 'Fieldwork in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture, and Philosophy' (1997), a major critique of moral relativism
Served as Dean of Columbia College, first African American and first woman in the role
Developed a sustained philosophical account of moral progress and its conditions
Contributed feminist and anti-racist critiques to mainstream analytic moral philosophy
Advanced philosophical analysis of moral responsibility and the limits of moral imagination across social differences