Gwen Bradford, an associate professor of philosophy at Rice University in Houston, Texas, was awarded the 2017 Book Prize from the American Philosophical Association. The award is given every other year to a young scholar who is the author of the best book on philosophy published over the past two years.
Dr. Bradford was honored for her book Achievement (Oxford University Press, 2017). The chair of the prize committee stated that Dr. Bradford “offers a lucid and groundbreaking account of the nature and value of what the prize recognizes. An achievement is when someone succeeds in bringing about a goal, in the face of difficulty, as a result of knowing what they’re doing. Since difficulty calls for effort and a distinctively human exercise of the will, achievement contributes to a life lived well. Gwen Bradford’s thinking in this book represents an elegant proof of concept.”
Dr. Bradford joined the faculty at Rice University in 2010. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto in Canada. Dr. Bradford holds two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.