Seven-Plus Years at the American Philosophical Society

Abstract: In my first, 2017 report to the Membership of the American Philosophical Society, I wrote, “As the Society enters its 275th year, it is more important than ever that it sustains and enhances its mission of promoting useful knowledge through its membership activities, support of scholarship and research, and educational outreach. The widespread public disregard for knowledge, science, scholarship, research, and plain facts is both frightening and challenging. Thus, there is a demonstrable need for the Society—and in fact, for all the institutions that maintain and produce knowledge—to celebrate and advance their values, missions, and activities.” These same challenges are, perhaps, more serious now than seven years ago. They have been compounded by threats to our democracy.