Robert C. Solomon (1942-2007)

Jan 4, 2007 by

With great sadness, I post this news via Prof. Leiter's blog:

I am very sorry to report that my colleague Bob Solomon died suddenly on January 2, while travelling in Zurich.  I will link to a memorial notice as soon as one is available.  His breadth of philosophical interests was remarkable, including Continental philosophy, business ethics, Non-Western philosophy, and philosophy of mind, though it is probably fair to say that he is best known among philosophers for his seminal work on the philosophy of the emotions and on existentialism.  His 1972 book From Rationalism to Existentialism:  The Existentialists and Their Nineteenth-Century Backgrounds may still be the single best introductory text on existentialism in English, and his 1976 book on The Passions is a classic in the literature on the emotions.  He was also an enormously popular teacher and lecturer, and a member of the University's Academy of Distinguished Teachers.  (You can listen to Bob Solomon on "Philosophy Talk" radio with John Perry and Ken Taylor here.)

 

I want to extend my deepest condolences to his wife and my colleague, the philosopher Kathleen Higgins.

Indeed a great loss for continental philosophy.

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  • http://cmanncookhotmail.com Claudia Mann

    Such a shock and a loss for the academic community, as well as for the many friends Bob Solomon has made over the years. In the 1970′s Bob was the most popular professor at U. T. Austin when I majored in Philosophy. In the 1980′s, 1990′s and into the year 2000, many folks who had taken classes from Prof. Solomon were talking about him to eveyone within hearing distance. He touched so many lives in so many ways. He was a friend.
    Condolences to Ms. Higgins and Bob’s immediate family, as well as his vastly extensive family of friends and colleagues. He will be missed.

  • Seth M. Guggenheim

    I have listened for hour after hour to Professor Solomon’s extraordinary Teaching Company lectures on emotions and existentialism. Odd as it may sound, I considered him a friend whom I happened never to meet. I am very saddened to have just discovered that this exceptionally kind and humane man suffered so untimely a death. But it sounds to me as though he packed more into 64 years than most could possibly have done in one hundred. May he rest in peace. . . .