Chairs

SEE NOW THE UPDATED CHRONOLOGY PAGE which is more accurate.


I think that I have now succeeded in determining the dates and names of all the chairs of the UCSD philosophy, from its founding to the present day.

1963-1966 Richard Popkin
1966-1967 Avrum Stroll (Acting Chair)
1967-1968 Richard Popkin

1968-1969 Jason Saunders
1969-1972 Avrum Stroll
1972-1976 Frederick Olafson
1976-1978 Edward Lee
1978-1982 Henry Allison
1982-1986 Georgios Anagnostopoulos
1986-1990 Paul Churchland
1990-1992 Robert Pippin
1992-1996 Richard Arneson
1996-1998 Patricia Kitcher
1998-2000 Georgios Anagnostopoulos
2000-2007 Patricia Churchland
2007-2010 David Brink

Alternatives: The New Magazine of Politics and Society

Alternatives was a journal of social and political philosophy produced "by the students of the Independent Left of the University of California, San Diego". The first issue  (March-april 1966; posted below) was edited by Andrew Feenberg and had articles by Hans Meyerhoff, Barry Commoner, Herbert Marcuse, Gunther Anders, and others.

Alternatives March-April 1966

Richard Popkin's recollections of hiring Marcuse at UCSD

The following note from Richard Popkin was posted to the guestbook over at marcuse.org. In it he describes the conditions of Marcuse's hire at UCSD. 


Posted On: August 03, 2003 09:59:06 PM
Name: richard and juliet popkin
Comments: Richard Popkin was the chair of the philosophy department at UCSD from 1963 to 1968 and took the initiative, with Avrum Stroll, to invite Herbert Marcuse, Stanley Moore, Lewis Feuer and Joseph Tussman to speak at a symposium on Marxism. This led to Marcuse's being invited to become a member of the philosophy department in 1965. Marcuse was delighted with the intellectual and natural environment in La Jolla. The philosophy department that Popkin envisaged was far more diverse than other American departments at that time. We have many memories of Marcuse and some correspondence from our interactions with Herbert, his second wife Inge and his third wife Erica Sherover.

Erica Sherover's recollection of graduate seminars with Marcuse

Erica Sherover (1938-1988) was a graduate student at UCSD in the late sixties, and in this letter to Harold Marcuse (Herbert Marcuse's grandson) she recollects philosophy seminars with Herbert Marcuse at UCSD in which they "read 150 pages of Hegel or Kant in a whole year in a two semester seminar". She married Marcuse in 1976. Her obituary ran in the New York Times.

The Churchlands' retirement message

The following message was composed by Paul Churchland at the request of David Brink and published in the UCSD Philosophy Department Newsletter Winter/Spring 2010. It contains a description of their arrival in the department in 1994, the hires that happened during their tenure, and their role in establishing the Cognitive Studies department and Science Studies Program. Happily, it also declares their intention to keep an office and continue to "haunt" the department.

A
 Retrospective
 on
 26 
Years 
at
 UCSD
 

By
 Paul
 Churchland
 

David
 (Brink)
 suggested
 that
 Pat
 and
 I
 pen
 something
 brief,
 for
 the
 Newsletter,
 given
 our
 upcoming
 retirement
 later
 this
 Spring.

 In
 truth,
 much
 the
 same
 giddy
 amazement
 attends
 our
 leaving
 our
 two
 positions
 as
 characterized
 our
 original
 arrival
 to
 them.

 The
 doors 
then
 opened
 to
 us,
both
 by
 the
department
 and
 by
 the
 campus
 academic
 community
 at
 large,
 transformed
 our
 personal
 and
 intellectual
 lives
 forever.
 
 The
 accumulated
 legacy
 of
 the
 intervening
 years
 leaves
 us
 stunned,
 even
 now,
 by
 the
 many
 marvelous
things
that
have
happened.

 Allow 
us
 a 
brief
 summary
 of
 why
 we
 are
 still
 smiling
 from 
ear
to 
ear.
 
 The 
dept. 
that
 wooed 
us,
 in
 1984,
 was
 already
 well‐balanced
 in
 its
 ideological
 profile
 and
 decidedly
 gifted
 in
 its
 membership.
 
 We
 were
 proud,
 even
 chuffed,
 to
 be
 welcomed
 into
 it.
 
 It
 was
 also
 a
 profound
 pleasure
 to
 finally
 be
 back
 on
 the
 West
 Coast,
 after
 20
 years
 of 
purgatory 
Back
 East, 
in
 England,
 and
 on 
the 
snow‐driven
 Great
 Plains.
 
 But
 change
 came
 quickly.
 
 Mark
 Wilson,
 a
 gifted
 philosopher
 of
 science,
 was
 pirated
 away
 by
 Chicago,
 and
 we
 soon
 acquired
 Pat
 and
 Philip
 Kitcher
 from
 Minnesota,
 Stephen
 Stich
 from
 Maryland,
 and
 eventually,
 Sandy
 Mitchell
 from
 Pittsburgh.
 
 Francis
 Crick
 had
 made
 Pat
 an
 Adjunct
 Professor
 at
 the
 Salk
 Institute,
 and
 we
 quickly
 made
 friends
 with
 the
 neurocomputationalist
 Terry
 Sejnowski,
 the
 psychologist
 V.S.
 Ramachandran,
 and
 many
 other
 local
scholars.

Those
 early 
years
 were
 a
 time
 of
 heady
 expansion
 on
 the
 campus
 as
 a
 whole,
 and
 we
 were
 lucky
 to
 participate
 in
 the
 formation
 of
 the
 interdisciplinary 
Cognitive 
Science 
Ph.D.
 Program, 
and
indeed,
 in
 the
 founding
 of
 the
 current
 Cognitive
 Science
 Department
 itself.

 Inspired
 by
 that
 success,
 Jerry
 (Doppelt),
 Sandy,
 Philip,
 and
 I
 subsequently
 teamed
 up
 with
 our
 distinguished
 colleagues
 in
 History
 and
 Sociology
 to
 found
 the
 interdisciplinary
 Science
 Studies
 Ph.D.
Program,
 a
 program 
that
 continues 
to
thrive 
today.

 Being
 Chair
 of
 the
 dept. 
during
 that
 formative 
period
 was,
 for
 me,
 an 
(almost) 
unalloyed
pleasure.


     As 
the
 90s 
dawned,
 however,
 financial
 woes 
gripped
 the
 campus, 
retirements
 took 
many 
departmental 
icons
 from
 us 
(Zeno
 Vendler, 
Ed 
Lee,
 Fred 
Olafson,
 Avrum 
Stroll,
 Henry
Allison),
 Chicago 
lured
 Bob
 Pippen
 away,
 and
 Stich
 and
 the
 Kitchers
 were
 also
 lured
 back
 to
 their
 eastern
 roots.
 
 Later
 in
 that
 period,
 we
 even
 lost
 Nick
 Jolley
 to
 Syracuse.

 Fortunately, 
the
 people
 who 
remained, 
and 
the
 high
quality
 of
 our
 philosophy
 graduate
 students,
 made
 being
 here
 a
 reliable
 pleasure;
 our
 own
 philosophical
 research
 was
 flourishing
 as
 never
 before
 (we’ll
 spare
 you
 a
 summary);
 and
 in
 that
 period
 we
 did
 manage
 to
 convince
 David
 (Brink),
 Gila
 (Sher),
 Rick
 (Grush),
 and
 Michael
 (Hardimon)
 to
 join
 us.
 
 As
 well,
 the
 Administration
 wisely
 determined
 to
 help
 the
 department
 replace
 its
 many
 losses
 and
 regain
 its
 former
 glory.
 
 On
 the
 strength
 of
 such
 promises,
 Pat
 agreed
 to
 be
 Chair,
 and
 the
 following
 years
 saw
 a
 second
 great
 burst
 of
 hiring.
 
 Clark
 Glymour,
 Nancy
 (Cartwright),
 Bill
 (Bechtel),
 Jonathan
 (Cohen),
 Don
 (Rutherford),
 Eric
 (Watkins),
 Craig
 (Callender),
 Sam
 (Rickless),
 Dana
 (Nelkin),
 and
 Chris
 (Wuthrich)
 came
 in
 a
 steady
 rush,
 and
 the
 department’s
 reputation
 shot
 back
 up
 again.
 
 With
 the
 recent
 arrivals
 of
 Monte
 (Johnson),
 Clinton
 (Tolley),
 and
 now
 Saba
 (Bazargan),
 we
 are
 once
 again
 made
 whole.
 
 We
 wouldn’t
 trade
 this
 dept.
 for
 any 
other 
in 
the 
world.


     And
 we
 won’t.
 
 Except
 for
 summer
 holidays,
 Pat
 and
 I
 will
 remain
 in
 San
 Diego
 and
 continue
 our
 research
 and
 writing
 in
 your 
extended
 and 
uniquely 
valuable
 company.

 David 
has
 kindly
 promised
 us 
a
 joint
 office 
in 
the
 dept.,
 as 
long 
as 
resources
 permit,
 and
 we 
will 
continue 
to 
haunt
 the 
dept.’s 
Friday
colloquiums.

 There 
is 
too 
much 
here
 to
 ever 
walk 
away 
from.
 
May 
your 
own
 time 
here 
at 
UCSD
 be 
as
rewarding 
to 
you 
as 
ours 
has 
been 
to 
us.


The New Left and the 1960s: Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse Volume Three (ed. D. Kellner)

The third volume of Douglas Kellner's edition of the Collected Papers of Herbert Marcuse (London and New York, 2005), entitled Herbert Marcuse: The New Left and the 1960s is rich in precious documentary sources on Marcuse's tenure in the Philosophy Department at UCSD, including:

1. "Reflections on the French Revolution" (p. 41-46), a widely circulated set of comments on the May 1968 French student uprising. According to Kellner, "Professor Herbert Marcuse was in Paris when the current French crisis began, between May 6 and May 12. On returning, he spoke about his impressions of the French situation to several hundred students and faculty members at The University of California at San Diego where he teaches philosophy" (p. 40-41).

2. "A September 12, 1968 letter from Herbert Marcuse to the University of California, San Diego faculty senate, on Czechoslovakia and Vietnam" (p. 118-119 and n.1). Addressed to Walter Munk.

3. "A July 19, 1968 testimony from the University of California at San Diego Department of Philosophy on Herbert Marcuse's seventieth birthday" (p. 119-120 and n.2). It is not clear who the author was, and the entire speech is in third person and speaks for the department as a whole. The statement shows how staunchly the Philosophy Department supported Marcuse. I plan to comment on the statement at greater length later.

4. "Translation of a September 18, 1968 letter from T. W. Adorno to the University of California, San Diego, Department of Philosophy on Herbert Marcuse" (p. 120-121 and n.3). The letter is addressed to Jason Saunders.

5. "The 'interview with Dr. Herbert Marcuse by Harold Green'...broadcast on San Diego KFMB-TV on February 25, 1969" (p. 128-136).

6. "'A Conversation with Herbert Marcuse'...a transcript of a P.B.S. interview with Bill Moyers on March 12, 1974" (p. 154-164). The interview was conducted in the library of Marcuse's La Jolla home.

7. "'Thoughts on Judaism, Israel, etc., ...'...published in a University of California San Diego Jewish student publication L'Chayim (Winter 1977)" (p. 179-191).

8. An Afterword by George Katsiaficas entitled "Marcuse as Activist: reminiscences on his theory and practice" (p. 192-203). Katsiaficas was a graduate student of Marcuse's at UCSD.

J.-P. Sartre's and T. W. Adorno's letters of reference to UCSD about Marcuse

Many famous philosophers, including J.-P. Sartre and T. W. Adorno, wrote letters to the UCSD department chair in favor of Herbert Marcuse. I have not been able to locate either of the two letters referred to in this post (but am working on it).

The first is a testimony about a letter written by Jean-Paul Sartre, mentioned in Jim Miller's 2003 essay "Just another day in paradise?" (p. 397, footnote 412; see bibliography tab for details).

As professor of literature Carlos Blanco, who was on the budget committee when Marcuse's promotion came up, recalls in an interview dated August 19, 2002, that the committee, in order to make it crystal clear that Marcuse was more than qualified to not only continue on at UCSD, but be promoted as well, asked for assessments of Marcuse from all over the world. Jean-Paul Sartre, for example, wrote, "Why are you asking me about Herbert Marcuse? Don't you know who he is?"

Douglas Kellner in the third volume of his edition of the Collected Works of Herbert Marcuse (2005, p. 120-121; see bibliography tab for details) has translated a letter of recommendation written by Theodor W. Adorno (1903-1969) to Jason Saunders, then chair of the Philosophy department at UCSD.

            September 18, 1968
          

            Professor Jason L. Saunders, Chairman
            Department of Philosophy
            University of California
            San Diego, California 92037 [sic]

My Dear Professor Saunders:

    With sincere thanks I acknowledge your letter of August 21 and thank you for the confidence which it expresses.

     It is with the greatest joy that I express my opinion about Herbert Marcuse, for many years my colleague at The Institute for Social Research, and my old friend. I have the highest opinion about his intellectual qualities as well as his humane and moral integrity. His power of thought and intellectual energy, his opposition to all the "mechanisms of stupefication" [sic] to which we are exposed today, speak for themselves. There is no particular need to acknowledge and comment on his fame. For myself, I can only say that during the course of a life-long friendship, his outstanding productive abilities have proved themselves without any sign of a diminution of his intellectual powers. And, my vote should perhaps have a certain weight inasmuch as I have known him and thought so highly of him for a long time, and long before world-wide recognition thrust his name into prominence. But, I can most emphatically assure you that even that recognition has not spoiled him in the slightest, and that he has not changed at all. He is altogether without conceit and without pretension, as only truly great men can permit themselves to be.

     Perhaps I should add that Herbert is, as I am myself, opposed to the violence which manifests itself as one form of the universal repression which we both fear. His sense of reality and his profound sense of humor protect him from evaluating any movement out of proportion to the actual balance of power. He has maintained his independence from the so-called extra-parliamentary opposition in Germany as publicly and as unflinchingly as he has opposed the threatening reaction in the Western World, and just as he has always opposed the Communist terror. He and I are in agreement in our fundamental positions, although these have developed independently. Thus, I do not feel that I am a blind partisan when I speak so strongly on his behalf. I must say that his age certainly presents no difficulty; I have never yet seen a man of 70 who in every aspect, and to an almost unbelievable degree, has so preserved his youth.

     These words represent my spontaneous reaction to your letter. Should there be any need for document [sic] which would be something more of the character of a formal statement and which should be written in English, please let me know as soon as possible. Of course, I would reply immediately. I hope with all my heart that this letter will serve your purpose.

With very best wishes, I remain devotedly,

Theodor W. Adorno

Marcuse's Presidential Address to the Pacific APA, 1969

Here is a link via the indispensable marcuse.org to Herbert Marcuse's Address to the American Philosophical Association at its Forty-third annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, March 28, 1969, entitled: "The Relevance of Reality".
     The paper begins with Thales, the original philosopher according to the Aristotelian tradition. Yet the paper is through and through focused on the present and concrete proposals for change.

Marcuse in America- Exile as Educator

Recent article by Charles Reitz in Fast Capitalism 5.2 (2009) argues that Marcuse was a decisive influence on post-war Academia in the US, especially through the invention and advancement of "critical theory". He also discusses Marcuse's impact on academic philosophy in the following paragraph.

In my estimation, Marcuse’s efforts to deprovincialize U.S. culture have actually led to a recovery of philosophy in the post-60s United States academic context, especially among a new generation of scholars in the humanities and social sciences who are more conscious than ever of issues arising from conflicts involved in the context of our political, moral, and academic culture. After WW II, logical positivism had attained a near monopoly in U.S. graduate schools of philosophy and generally prevailed as the underlying scholarly methodology within the undergraduate curricula as well. European approaches such as phenomenology, existentialism, Marxism, and critical theory tended to be severely marginalized, especially at the most prestigious private and the largest state universities. Although Marcuse died in 1979, for me it is impossible to believe that the philosophical upheavals which developed throughout the 1980s in the American Philosophical Association, for example, splitting “analysts” and “pluralists” were not substantially due to his influence. My personal supposition is that the APA’s own kind of Positivistenstreit could not have occurred apart from Herbert Marcuse’s immense impact in One-Dimensional Man. This was republished in 1991 with a new introduction by Douglas Kellner: further testimony to its ongoing pertinence to continuing controversies. See also Marcuse’s (1969b) APA address “The Relevance of Reality” which vividly demonstrates his radical and heretical stance vis à vis U.S. academic philosophy. Marcuse called for a rethinking of the relevance of reality in four key areas of philosophy: 1) linguistic analysis, emphasizing a new, more political linguistics; 2) aesthetics, emphasizing the nexus of artwork and society; 3) epistemology, moving towards a historical understanding of transcendent knowledge; and 4) the history of philosophy itself, emphasizing the internal relationships linking theory of knowledge (and hence theory of education) to the theory of government and the theory of politics since Plato: “authentic democracy presupposes equality in the ways, means, and time necessary for acquiring the highest level of knowledge” (Marcuse 1969b).

The 1969 referred to is Marcuse's Presidential Address to the Pacific APA: “The Relevance of Reality” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association. 1968-69.

On the founding of the department

Richard Popkin wrote the following article for inclusion in: The Centennial Record of the University of California, 1868-1968.  From it we can establish:

• The exact date of the founding of the department (July 1, 1963)
• The founding members: Richard Popkin, Jason Saunders, and Avrum Stroll
• The next hired members: Paul Henry, Herbert Marcuse, and William Bartley
• The beginnings of the graduate program in 1963-1964 (9 students); the fist Ph. D. candidacy (1965) and first graduate degree awarded (M.A. in June 1965) 
•  The beginnings of the undergraduate program in 1963-1964
• The early emphasis on history of philosophy and social-political philosophy

Philosophy: The Department of Philosophy was formed on July 1, 1963, with the appointment of Professors Richard H. Popkin (chairman), Jason L. Saunders, and Avrum Stroll. In 1964-66, Professors Paul Henry, Herbert Marcuse, Associate Professor William W. Bartley III, and some temporary members were added to the staff.
     Graduate instruction began in the academic year 1963-64 with nine graduate students. In 1964-65, there were 22 graduate students and in 1965-66, there will be more than 40. In January, 1965, the department received authorization for its M.A. and Ph.D. programs. In May, 1965, its first student was advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and in June, 1965, its first M.A. degree was awarded.
Undergraduate instruction began in 1964- 65, when the first freshman class was admitted. The department, in cooperation with the Department of Literature, offered the freshman humanities course to the entire freshman class (176 students). An elective introductory course was also offered to 16 freshmen in the spring of 1965. In 1965-66, the department will participate in both the freshman and sophomore humanities course in Revelle College, as well as offering elective philosophy courses at the sophomore and junior levels.
     The curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate level is designed to emphasize the history of philosophy, political and social thought, and the widest possible variety of philosophical approaches. It is hoped thereby to provide students with a solid foundation and to encourage them to do independent, imaginative, mature, and self- critical work in philosophy.
     In its first two years, the department has also sponsored a public symposium on The Relevance of Philosophy Today, a campus-wide symposium on Marxism, a lecture series on Galileo (in conjunction with the Department of Literature), and a departmental col- loquium on Contemporary European Philosophy. The editorial office of the Journal of the History of Philosophy is in the department. The department has also initiated a cooperative graduate program with the Irvine campus.
-RICHARD H. POPKIN

Source: The Centennial Record of the University of California, 1868-1968. A Centennial Publication of the University of California. Compiled and Edited by Verne A. Stadtman and the Centennial Publications Staff. Link to HTML version at the University of California History Digital Archives:
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~ucalhist/general_history/campuses/ucsd/departments_p.html#philosophy