The Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture is a US$1-million award given each year to a significant individual in the field of philosophy.[1] It is awarded by the Berggruen Institute to "thinkers whose ideas have helped us find direction, wisdom, and improved self-understanding in a world being rapidly transformed by profound social, technological, political, cultural, and economic change."[2]
The Berggruen Prize was first awarded in 2016 with the overt purpose of becoming a "Nobel prize for philosophy".[3][4] The first recipient of the Berggruen Prize was the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, whose work "urges us to see humans as constituted not only by their biology or their personal intentions, but also by their existence within language and webs of meaningful relationships."[5][6][7][8][9]
In 2024, The Berggruen Institute announced the annual Berggruen Prize Essay Competition. The competition welcomes essay submissions in English and Chinese, awarding $25,000 per language category. By delving into fundamental philosophical inquiries relevant to both the present and future, it aims to broaden the scope of our quest for fresh ideas and new paradigms during unprecedented times. This contest complements the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture which acknowledges significant lifelong contributions.[14]
"whose work urges us to see humans as constituted not only by their biology or their personal intentions but also by their existence within language and webs of meaningful relationships."[15]
for "her transformative work as an academic philosopher into public debates about key questions of national and global political significance, making her one of the world's leading public philosophers."[17]
for his "radically original contributions to modern philosophy, the history of philosophy, and political thinking—making Karatani’s work particularly valuable in the current era of troubled global capitalism, crisis in democratic states, and resurgent but seldom self-critical nationalism."[21]
for how her work “provides a powerful analytical lens through which we can envision the different and intersecting ways in which our material, social, and cultural worlds produce injustice,” and has given us “original vocabulary with which to think about social power and contestation.”[22]