About

Professor Sam Berstler is associated with the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). The school emphasizes the importance of humanities in addressing major civilizational problems, fostering human understanding, and developing well-rounded individuals. SHASS's research spans ethical, social, economic, and human dimensions of global challenges, aiming to integrate scientific and technical knowledge with humanistic scholarship. The school is committed to training exceptional graduate students and providing critical skills and methodologies to MIT's undergraduates, contributing to a broad understanding of shared human history and moral development. As part of MIT's broader mission, Professor Berstler's work aligns with the school's focus on human-centered thinking, societal impact, and addressing pressing global issues through interdisciplinary research and education.

Selected publications

• Conversation’s Seedy Underbelly

  Journal of Moral Philosophy · 2024-05-02

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract I provide an opinionated discussion of two recent volumes on the structure, ethics, and politics of bad conversations. In Just Words (2019), Mary Kate McGowan argues that despite our best intentions, we sometimes inadvertently bring oppressive norms to bear on our interactions. In Grandstanding (2020), Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke argue that the human desire to cut a good moral figure before others systematically distorts moral discourse. Though their authors have different political outlooks, both books converge on a similar theme: conversational bad behavior isn’t always just morally obnoxious. It can be silencing.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Talking about <i>Talking About</i>

  Inquiry · 2024-08-13

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• <i>Conversational Pressure: Normativity in Speech Exchanges</i>

  The Philosophical Review · 2022-07-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Awards & honors

• Nobel Laureates: 11
• Pulitzer Prize winners: 6
• Guggenheim Fellows: 54
• John Bates Clark Medal winners: 15
• MacArthur Fellows: 20