Onora O’Neill wins Berggruen Prize for philosophy

LOS ANGELES – British philosopher Onora O’Neill has won the $1 million Berggruen Prize for philosophy and culture.

The prize was announced Tuesday by the Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute, which calls O’Neill “one of the world’s most eminent moral philosophers.”

It cites her work on issues such as trust in institutions, bioethics, human rights and international justice.

In a video, the 76-year-old Cambridge professor says she’s “pleased, astonished and delighted” by the prize. She says philosophy is “about trying to have clear and tough argument about things that matter.”

O’Neill is a member of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords and chaired the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Berggruen Prize is awarded to those who “have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world.”

The prize was first awarded last year to Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor.