Professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas, in Austin, notable scholar, successful writer, Robert Solomon passed away on the 2nd of January this year. May rest in peace.
His work is comprised of more than 40 published books, focused on ethics and the philosophy of emotions. You may know him from a cameo appearance in R. Linklater’s movie Waking Life, where he discusses existentialism. I listened to a few of his lectures, plus an interview on the radio show Philosophy Talk and appreciated his poised, erudite discourse.
I remember discovering that Jacques Derrida was still alive, only to have him die literally a couple of days later. A friend of mine changed her name on my cell to ‘Derrida’, and started sending me messages under his name. It was Derrida’s ghost, sad and funny.
I wish there were more academics like him. He seemed so gentle. He not only was good for philosophy but also as a representative of academics. (Too many of which seem to be assholes or make public opinion of philosophy worse).