Main content start

Tanner Lectures

Lecture room

Photo by Christine Baker

The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society collaborates with the Office of the President to host the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Stanford.

The Tanner Lectures were established by the late American scholar, industrialist and philanthropist Obert Clark Tanner. In creating the lectureships, Tanner said, "I hope these lectures will contribute to the intellectual and moral life of mankind. I see them simply as a search for a better understanding of human behavior and human values. This understanding may be pursued for its own intrinsic worth, but it may also eventually have practical consequences for the quality of personal and social life."

Stanford is proud to be one of the nine distinguished universities to host the Tanner Lectures. The Tanner lectureships, which are comprised of annual lectures and seminars, are held at Cambridge, Harvard, Michigan, Oxford, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, the University of California and the University of Utah.

The purpose of the Tanner Lectures is to advance and reflect upon scholarly and scientific learning relating to human values. This intention embraces the entire range of values pertinent to the human condition, interest, behavior and aspiration. The lectures are published in an annual volume.

Appointment as a Tanner lecturer is in recognition for uncommon achievement and outstanding abilities in the field of human values. The lecturers themselves come from the fields of philosophy, religion, the humanities, sciences, creative arts and learned professions — or from leadership in public or private affairs. The lectureships are international and intercultural and transcend ethnic, national, religious and ideological distinctions. Past Tanner lecturers at Stanford include: Tommie Shelby, Seth Lazar, Andrew Bacevich, Danielle Allen, Jared Diamond, Dorothy Allison, Paul Krugman, Mary Robinson, Harry Frankfurt, Avishai Margalit, David Brion Davis and Glenn Loury.  

All Past Lectures

2024-25 Tanner Lecture: We Are Called to Be a Movement

Headshot of W. Barber

Our 2024-25 Tanner Lecture was given by  Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II of Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign. During this inspiring lecture, Rev. Dr. Barber will make an impassioned argument with a message that could not be clearer: It's time for change, and these times need you. 

For years Rev. Dr. Barber has been one of the country’s most gifted moral fusion organizers, strategists, and orators. He is the author of five books: White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American DemocracyWe Are Called To Be A MovementRevive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral OrganizingThe Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and The Rise of a New Justice Movement; and Forward Together: A Moral Message For The Nation.

Rev. Dr. Barber’s activism focuses on economic justice, civil rights, and building moral movements. His Tanner Lecture, “We Are Called to Be a Movement,” took place on Thursday, November 14, from 5 - 7 p.m., at Stanford Memorial Church. The discussion seminar was held on Friday, November 15, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., at the Center for Inter-Religious Community, Learning and Experiences (CIRCLE) Common Room. 

Event Details:

  • November 14, 5-7 p.m., Stanford Memorial Church
    • “We Are Called to Be a Movement”
    • Commentator: Dorian Warren, Community Change
  • November 15, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the Center for Inter-Religious Community, Learning and Experiences (CIRCLE) Common Room
    • Discussion Seminar
    • Commentators: Pamela S. Karlan, Stanford University and Melvin L. Rogers, Brown University

The Tanner Lectures are co-sponsored with the Office of the President. 

Commentator Bios:

Dorian Warren is co-president of Community Change and Community Change Action, and co-founder of the Economic Security Project. Warren taught for over a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. He's the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race, co-editor of Race and American Political Development, and has penned numerous academic articles. Dorian previously worked as a guest host and contributor at MSNBC. He sits on several boards, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Education Fund Board and The Nation Magazine Editorial Board. As a commentator on public affairs, Warren has appeared regularly on television and radio and has also written for The New York Times, Newsweek, and Ebony.com, among others.

Melvin L. Rogers is Edna and Richard Salomon Distinguished Professor, Political Science Department at Brown University. He is the author of The Undiscovered Dewey: Religion, Morality and the Ethos of Democracy (Columbia University Press) and The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought (Princeton University Press). He is also the editor of John Dewey, The Public and Its Problems (Ohio University Press), co-editor of African American Political Thought: A Collected History (University of Chicago Press), and co-editor of the book series: Oxford New Histories of Philosophy. He received the 2023 James W. C. Pennington Award from Heidelberg University for his scholarship.

Pamela S. Karlan is the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. Pam’s scholarship focuses on constitutional litigation. She is co-author of The Law of Democracy: Legal Structure of the Political Process and Civil Rights Actions: Enforcing the Constitution (two leading casebooks) as well as dozens of scholarly articles. Before entering teaching, Pam was an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Most recently, she served as the principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Past Events

Nicholas Lemann: The Transaction Society: Origins and Consequences (Tanner Lecture 2)
Date
Thursday, January 16, 2014, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Koret-Taube 130
Date
Thursday, January 16, 2014, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:
KORET-TAUBE 120
Nicholas Lemann: The Transaction Society: Origins and Consequences (Tanner Lecture 1)
Date
Wednesday, January 15, 2014, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Location:
KORET-TAUBE 130
Date
Friday, October 12, 2012, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:
Lucas Conference Room 134A, SIEPR-Landau Economics Bldg
Tanner Lectures on Human Values: William G. Bowen "The 'Cost Disease' in Higher Education: Is Technology the Answer?"
Date
Thursday, October 11, 2012, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center
Date
Thursday, October 11, 2012, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:
Lucas Conference Room 134A, SIEPR-Landau Economics Bldg
Tanner Lectures on Human Values: William G. Bowen "The 'Cost Disease' in Higher Education: Is Technology the Answer?"
Date
Wednesday, October 10, 2012, 5:30pm - 7:00pm
Location:
Cemex Auditorium, Knight Management Center
Tanner Discussion Seminar: John Cooper "Ancient Philosophies as Ways of Life"
Date
Friday, January 27, 2012, 10:00am
Location:
SIEPR Landau Economics Bldg, Room 134A, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
Tanner Lectures on Human Values: Lecture II
Date
Thursday, January 26, 2012, 5:30pm
Location:
Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford University
Tanner Discussion Seminar: John Cooper "Ancient Philosophies as Ways of Life"
Date
Thursday, January 26, 2012, 10:00am
Location:
SIEPR Landau Economics Bldg, Room 134A, Stanford, CA 94305, USA