I think the imagination helps us move out of the purely oppositional mentality and see the world in a richer and more variegated way.

If you really do want to increase women's status, you could focus on just that, but you'd probably better focus also on women's education. Access to artificial contraception, I would say, is also a very important determinant of women's status.

I think we need government to play a part in having a health policy that makes nursing care available for the increasing numbers who are going to need it.

When I came to Harvard, there were no tenured women except one, who was in a chair reserved for a woman. It's still an uphill battle, and I encountered great sexism in parts of my career, but I have to say that things are a lot better than they used to be. There are many women today doing wonderful work all over the academy.

The humanities prepare students to be good citizens and help them understand a complicated, interlocking world. The humanities teach us critical thinking, how to analyze arguments, and how to imagine life from the point of view of someone unlike yourself.

When a profession is protected by academic freedom and tenure, it tends to turn inward. To a large extent that's good.

To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world, an ability to trust uncertain things beyond your own control.