Joseph margolis biography

Joseph Margolis

For the American politician, see Joseph Margolis (politician).

American philosopher (1924–2021)

Joseph Margolis

Margolis at Temple University, 2007

Born

Joseph Zalman Margolis


(1924-05-16)May 16, 1924

Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

DiedJune 8, 2021(2021-06-08) (aged 97)
Alma materDrew University (BA)
Columbia University (MA, PhD)
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
SchoolHistoricism
Pragmatism

Main interests

Relativism, Western philosophy, philosophy of art, history, aesthetics

Notable ideas

Culturally emergent entities, the Flux, robust relativism,[1] second-natured selves[2]

Joseph Zalman Margolis (May 16, 1924 – June 8, 2021) was an American philosopher. A radical historicist, he authored many books critical of the central assumptions of Western philosophy, and elaborated a robust form of relativism.

His philosophical affinities included Protagoras, Hegel, C. S. Peirce, Dewey, Wittgenstein, W.V. Quine, and Foucault.

Biography

Joseph Margolis

Aesthetics for Birds

What follows is a guest post by Andrea Lorenzo Baldini(Nanjing University) talking about the life and philosophy of the recently passed Joseph Margolis(Temple University)

The philosopher of art Joseph Margolis passed away on June 8th of this year. I received the news about his passing while I was riding the subway on my way to a meeting with one of my students. The sad update was mentioned in an email that a common friend sent to me. Joe, as we usually called him, was 97 years old, born on May 16, 1924. He received his PhD from Columbia in 1953, where he met – among others – the influential philosopher and art critic Arthur Danto. He started teaching at Temple University in 1968, and would never retire.

The news hit me hard: after reading the email, I missed my subway stop not once, but twice, ending up being a bit late for my meeting. My mind started running faster than the train I was on, and years of memories started rushing through my head. I couldn’t hold my tears, just as I can’t while writing these few words to remember and celebrate one

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EJPAP – This is going to be an informal conversation about the history of American philosophy, about yourself in the history of American Philosophy. Basically, we have four parts of the interview. When and how you encountered pragmatism and what interested you in it, if you think there is an American tradition of philosophy, and then about yourself in this tradition. And then your view about the prospect of the future, your prophecies. It is part of your profile to have a clear view of the future, it is quite distinctive of you, as far as I can see. You are the most prophetic thinker. So, let’s start from the beginning. Your recollection about what was pragmatism when you were an undergraduate and then a graduate student, what was possible to study and where, whether you encountered pragmatism at that time.

Joseph Margolis – I think that I knew almost nothing about pragmatism until I went to Columbia University in 1947, if I am not mistaken. That was pretty close to Dewey’s death. He lived a few years beyond that but I actually heard him lecture at Columbia on his 90th bi

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