UCSD Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Frederick Olafson has died. The following is a message from his son:
I'm sorry to report that Frederick Olafson has died. He passed away quietly at about 7:30 on Tuesday evening at a San Diego Hospice unit in Carlsbad. He was 87.
A distinguished scholar and author, Professor Olafson taught at Vassar, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Harvard before joining UCSD's philosophy department in 1971. He remained there until his retirement in 1991 -- including a period as department chairman in the '70s -- and returned in the mid '90s to lead seminars.
His numerous books include Principles and Persons: An Ethical Interpretation of Existentialism (1967), Ethics and Twentieth Century Thought (1973), The Dialectic of Action: A Philosophical Interpretation of History and the Humanities (1979), Heidegger and the Philosophy of Mind (1987), What Is a Human Being? A Heideggerian View (1995) and Naturalism and the Human Condition: Against Scientism (2001).
Professor Olafson is survived by his three sons. His ashes will be scattered by his children in a private ceremony. A memorial service is planned for the fall.
Links to some of Professor Olafson's many papers are available through
philpapers.
