Robbins Library Notes

As the summer winds down, here’s some food for thought:

It would not be too much to say that the passion for originality begins with modern philosophy. Each thinker is intent on developing his own system and contrasting it with previous efforts. One wants a personal stamp on what one proposes: the Bullwinkle theory of knowledge, the Basil Faulty [sic] account of moral evil. There is indeed a lot of originality in modern philosophy, a lot of novelty. Most of it has a very short shelf life, pushed aside by the new and improved. In philosophy, as in the arts, novelty is all too easily come by, but truth is neither new nor old.

– Ralph McInerney, “Philosophia Perennis“

Over the course of its over one hundred years of existence, Robbins Library has acquired several special collections. One of the more interesting of these collections contains approximately two hundred volumes of primary and secondary sources by and about Søren Kierkegaard.

In addition to works by and about Kierkegaard, this collection also includes several works by people connected with him. From Rasmus Nielsen, for example, we have, e.g., Religionsphilosophie (1869) and Mag. S. Kierkegaards „Johannes Climacus” og Dr H. Martensens „Christelige Dogmatik”: En undersøgende Unmeldese (1849). From H.L. Martensen, for another, we have an English translation of his Christelige Dogmatik (Christian Dogmatics, 1871).

In general, the collection is comprised mainly of books, but there are also several photocopies of articles by Harald Höffding, a nineteenth-century Danish philosopher and scholar of Kierkegaard. Overall, the items range in date from the 1840s to the 1960s. The primary works include the complete published writings of Kierkegaard, along with his Journals and Papers, in Danish. Additionally, there are various German, Spanish, and English* translations of a number of his individual works. The secondary literature is in Danish, German, French, and English. It is our understanding, after consulting with those versed in the literature on Kierkegaard, that this part of the collection contains a number of important secondary works, some of which influenced the young Martin Heidegger in his own studies of Kierkegaard.

All of the materials in the Kierkegaard collection have been cataloged and can be found via HOLLIS at http://discovery.lib.harvard.edu. These items will have the notation “Kierk” before the call number.

If you are interested in looking at the Kierkegaard materials, please contact me at pannone [at] fas [d0t] harvard [d0t] edu, to set up an appointment.

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*The English translations are mostly, but not entirely, those of Walter Lowrie.

Good morning, readers!

Here are the July 2009 reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.  Please let me know if you think any are worth considering for the Robbins collection.

I’m away again for the final week of summer vacation next week, so will post again on 21 August.  See you then!

Good morning, readers!

Today, I am going to start a series of occasional posts on the history of philosophy at Harvard University.  I have been doing some research about this, and I would like to share the fruits of my labor with you.  Harvard has had (and still has) a large and influential role in American philosophy, so it’s interesting to learn more about this history.
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Given the prominence and history of Harvard in American education, it is unsurprising that several famous figures have passed through the Department of Philosophy over the years.

Three of the Department’s most famous visitors are Bertrand Russell, Rudolph Carnap, and Alfred Tarski. These three taught at Harvard during the 1940-1941 academic year: Russell and Carnap in the Department of Philosophy, and Tarski in the Department of Mathematics. [1]

Yet, we may number more than philosophers among those who have passed through the Department. There are poets among these ranks, most notably Wallace Stevens (1879 – 1955) and T. S. Eliot. (1888 – 1965). Stevens attended Harvard from 1894 to 1897 as a non-degree special student, and became close to George Santayana – in fact, one of his later poems is “To an Old Philosopher in Rome,” written in homage to his old mentor. [2] Stevens maintained a life-long interest in philosophy, as evidenced in his poetry and essays. [3]

On his part, Eliot attended Harvard from 1906 to 1910, taking his A.B. in the latter year. He spent the next several years studying philosophy and traveling in Europe, submitting a dissertation in philosophy to Harvard in 1916. However, he was not awarded a Ph.D., since he did not return to Cambridge for a dissertation defense. Philosophy would be part of the fabric of Eliot’s work for much of his life.

Finally, J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 – 1967), the father of the atomic bomb, included philosophy among his studies during his undergraduate years at Harvard. Bird & Sherwin (2006) write that, as a concentrator in chemistry, he attended Whitehead’s 1924 course on the Principia Mathematica. [4]  They also include a letter of Oppenheimer’s to a friend, in which he notes that he spent a good deal of time studying in Robbins Library. [5]  Oppenheimer, a gifted polymath, retained an interest in philosophy, especially Asian philosophy, throughout his life.

Notes:

[1.] For those who are curious, the Harvard President’s Report for 1940-41 lists their respective courses, along with enrollment numbers: http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/refshelf/AnnualReportsCites.htm#tarHarvardPresidents.

[2.] A copy of this poem can be found at http://englishhistory.net/keats/old-phil.html.

[3.]  See Stevens, W. (1997).  Wallace Stevens: Collected Poetry and Prose.  New York: Library of America.

[4.] Bird, K. & Sherwin, M.J. (2006).  American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.  New York: Vintage Books, 34-35.

[5.] Bird & Sherwin (2006), 35.

Good morning, readers! Welcome back after several weeks of vacation!

Today’s post is about a review of Web browsers in PC Magazine that I found via “American Libraries Direct.” Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, Safari are all reviewed — both with a short review and with a more detailed review. Pros and cons are listed for each.  It’s useful when comparing which browsers you might want to use.  (For the record, I remain a firm believer in the Firefox browser.)

Enjoy!

Good morning, readers!  Here’s this week’s installment:

• Simon Critchley discusses the relevance of Heidegger here, here, and here. (A hat-tip to Bookforum.com for these.)
• The June 2009 book reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews are in.
• Update: I received word this morning about new changes to Project MUSE:

“– A ‘Search this Journal’ search box. This search box appears on each journal’s home page, on the Table of Contents (TOC) of each issue, and on each article. The ‘Search This Journal’ feature enables a user to quickly check all issues of the journal in MUSE, with a single search, for all articles in that journal pertaining to a particular subject.

– Summaries (abstracts) for articles. MUSE now provides a link for the summary of each article. Users know that the ability to scan summaries of articles is essential to determining which articles are relevant to their research. That ability is now available in MUSE. The Summary links appear on the TOCs and in search results, next to the article format options of HTML and PDF.

New Option for Custom Print
–Custom Print is a service provided by Sheridan Press that allows a user to click on a link from MUSE and purchase an article or groups of articles for the purpose of creating a custom publication. MUSE is one of the first online providers to activate this service. The user may choose either print or electronic format for the purchased articles. At this time, articles contained in ‘The American Indian Quarterly’ published by the University of Nebraska Press are the only articles in MUSE for which this option is available. On the article page, look for the link ‘Custom Print’ to initiate the transaction.

MUSE on Facebook
MUSE has been on Facebook for some time now, but we just secured our own URL and wanted to pass the word on to MUSE users. Find MUSE at www.facebook.com/ProjectMUSE. Become a fan of MUSE! You can also follow us on Twitter, @ProjectMUSE.”

I will be on vacation starting next and will be away for two weeks.  I’ll resume posting on 24 July.  Until then, have a happy and safe Fourth of July, and I’ll see you when I return!

Good morning, readers!

I came across this article yesterday while browsing through bookforum.com — “Thomas Aquinas would have loved genetics” — and found it fascinating.  I think you might, as well.

Next week, readers, I will be posting on Thursday, because of the July 4 holiday.  See you then!

The intellectuals: in God’s menagerie, are they necessary?  For what?  Are they mediators or producers?  If the latter, what do they produce? The word?

– Lesek Kolakowski, Modernity on Endless Trial.

I will be out next Friday, so next week’s post will be on Thursday morning.  See you then!

Good morning, readers!

Lots of great items in this week’s Library News & Notes. Some of the most interesting include:

• A Bing/Google comparison
• “The end of theory in science?”
• “How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data”
• “58 Essential Resources For Every Mac Geek”
• More on Twitter and Wolfram|Alpha

Enjoy!

Good morning, readers!

For your reading pleasure this week:

The new May 2009 reviews from Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews are now available.   There’s quite a variety of philosophers and topics covered this month — Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, al-Kindi, Simplicius, Epictetus, the liar paradox, the will, aesthetics, and more.  Are any of these worth considering for the Robbins collection?

I came across this article, “The Case for Working With Your Hands,” by Matthew Crawford, several days ago, via Brian Leiter and a few friends posting it on Facebook.  It’s a very thoughtful and profound essay, on work, education, and where our culture places its priorities.

Next week, we’re back to our regular Friday posting schedule.  See you then!