A portion of professor Martha Nussbaum’s Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy will be donated to the UChicago Law School and the Department of Philosophy to fund an annual award for a graduate student pursuing interdisciplinary scholarship in one of the two fields.  

The Kyoto Prize is awarded annually by the Inamori Foundation to three scholars who have contributed to the betterment of society in their respective studies of advanced technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. Each category is divided into four subfields, with a winner chosen from a different subfield each year. For this reason, the thoughts and ethics subset of arts and philosophy is awarded only once every four years. 

Nussbaum, the current Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, was recognized for her new theory of justice that accounts for marginalized peoples who are deprived of opportunities to develop their capabilities in society, and her proposals for how to apply this theory. 

Winners were announced in June and formally awarded on November 10 in Kyoto. Each of the three laureates is awarded a diploma, a 20-karat gold medal, and 50 million yen ($472,000). Roboticist Takeo Kanade won the advanced technology award in information sciences, and immunologist Tasuku Honjo won the basic sciences award in life sciences.