Ruth Chang asks why some choices are so hard — and what that means for the human condition.
Why you should listen
When Ruth Chang graduated from college, she was presented with a choice: Should she pursue a career in philosophy, or a career in law? Soon after finishing Harvard Law School and dipping her toe in the legal world, she regretted her decision and switched paths. She went off to Oxford University to study philosophy and has been a philosopher studying choice, freedom, value and action ever since.
Chang's research focuses on decision-making and the human condition: How do we exercise our freedom through the choices we make? She studies the relationship between reason and value, and how we navigate the sea of pros and cons as we make decisions that shape our lives.
Ruth Chang’s TED Talk
More news and ideas from Ruth Chang
We humans
Art is art, and other of this week’s comments
July 2, 2014
This week’s virtual mailbag included a personal take on why we should teach creativity, and the accusation that a TED speaker might just be "philosophically redundant."
Continue readingWe humans
What happens when hard choices are made for us?
June 18, 2014
Philosopher Ruth Chang celebrates the hard choices that allow us to write the story of our own lives. But what of those who aren’t free in the first place?
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