Prof Nabs $200K Grant For Research on Ethics

A Harvard professor of economics and philosphy will receive a $200,000 prize from an Italian auto corporation for his contribution to the study of ethics, the corporation announced earlier this week.

Lamont University Professor Amartya K. Sen will fly to Turin in March to receive the Fiat Group's Senator Giovanni Agnelli International Prize for the Ethical Dimension in Advanced Societies.

Sen, who teaches the popular Core Curriculum course, Moral Reasoning 36, "Facts and Ethics," said he did not know what he would do with the money.

Sen said that he was delighted to win the award, even thought he was not very familiar with it.

"The only thing I knew about the award was that Isaiah Berlin received it two years ago," Sen said, referring to a retired Oxford University professor.

Sen's colleagues yesterday characterized him as a distinguished scholar who effectively combines different disciplines into his studies.

"He is a fine person and a superb professor. If they were looking for someone with excellent criterion in both philosophy and economics, they found him," said Alford Professor of Moral Philosophy Thomas M. Scanlon.

Sen has authored a number of books on economics and philosophy, including On Ethics and Economics, The Standard of Living and Commodities and Capabilities.

In a press release, Fiat described Sen as an "untypical" character among contemporary academics.

"He is a highly learned scholar in his field and at the same time one of the leading figures in a wider intellectual debate," the release said. "He is both and economist of a remarkable technical competence and an authoritative contributor to contemporary discussion of epistemology and ethics."

The prize, which was established in 1987, seeks "to strengthen public thought and action concerning the ethical problems that confront us," according to Fiat.