Comments on: Jerry Cohen is dead http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/ Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:39:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: carolina http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285882 carolina Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:16:56 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285882 bullshit the world is full of indeed, but compassion, now that's a rare (& often unsought for) creature. remembering mr cohen is remembering that humour, precision, intellectual honesty & daring, fun, clarity, compassion, joy in pleasures, pleasure within humanity, & the freedom to say this is who i am & this is what i believe (absolutely not saying this is who i am & thus this is who is right) plus the ability to love & be loved . . . now that is cool. so under the pavings still is the beach. bullshit the world is full of indeed, but compassion, now that’s a rare (& often unsought for) creature. remembering mr cohen is remembering that humour, precision, intellectual honesty & daring, fun, clarity, compassion, joy in pleasures, pleasure within humanity, & the freedom to say this is who i am & this is what i believe (absolutely not saying this is who i am & thus this is who is right) plus the ability to love & be loved . . . now that is cool.
so under the pavings still is the beach.

]]> By: Chris Brooke http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285774 Chris Brooke Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:36:44 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285774 The Acknowledgments to Colin Kidd's recent, excellent book, <i>Union and Unionisms: Political Thought in Scotland 1500-2000</i> contains this snippet: *** My daughter’s first question on arrival at All Souls was: ‘Does this College have cheerleaders?’ Special thanks, therefore, to Gerry Cohen who improvised an All Souls cheerleaders’ routine to amuse my children. *** The Acknowledgments to Colin Kidd’s recent, excellent book, Union and Unionisms: Political Thought in Scotland 1500-2000 contains this snippet:

*** My daughter’s first question on arrival at All Souls was: ‘Does this College have cheerleaders?’ Special thanks, therefore, to Gerry Cohen who improvised an All Souls cheerleaders’ routine to amuse my children. ***

]]> By: Geoffrey Brahm Levey http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285694 Geoffrey Brahm Levey Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:02:32 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285694 I met Jerry once only -- and it was memorable. The year was 1994 or 95, and he had invited me to lunch at All Souls on the day, as it happened, that the Queen Mother was visiting the College. As we walked to the dining hall, he tapped every colleague we came upon on the shoulder and asked: "Excuse me, but are you the Queen Mother?" This continued until he did so to a middle-aged woman who responded indignantly "Do I look like the Queen Mother?" Jerry looked perplexed and wounded: perplexed that anyone could not see the humour in his stunt, and wounded that he'd evidently caused some hurt. The lunch discussion ranged widely over many political issues, but none more passionately by him than the modern Jewish condition. A few days later, a card arrived carrying the image of R.B. Kitaj's oil and charcoal, "The Jew, etc...", inscribed with humble thanks for the lunch. The very inverse of who owed whom. On the eve of his funeral, one realizes, again, that the College of which he was a star fellow could not be more appropriately named. I met Jerry once only—and it was memorable. The year was 1994 or 95, and he had invited me to lunch at All Souls on the day, as it happened, that the Queen Mother was visiting the College. As we walked to the dining hall, he tapped every colleague we came upon on the shoulder and asked: “Excuse me, but are you the Queen Mother?” This continued until he did so to a middle-aged woman who responded indignantly “Do I look like the Queen Mother?” Jerry looked perplexed and wounded: perplexed that anyone could not see the humour in his stunt, and wounded that he’d evidently caused some hurt. The lunch discussion ranged widely over many political issues, but none more passionately by him than the modern Jewish condition. A few days later, a card arrived carrying the image of R.B. Kitaj’s oil and charcoal, “The Jew, etc…”, inscribed with humble thanks for the lunch. The very inverse of who owed whom. On the eve of his funeral, one realizes, again, that the College of which he was a star fellow could not be more appropriately named.

]]> By: josh http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285555 josh Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:27:51 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285555 Thanks for this, and for your reminiscence elsewhere, Chris. I can only echo others' sadness and shock -- and add that, while I only met Jerry Cohen a handful of times, since hearing of his death and revisiting some of his more personal pieces, I've realized that he was one of my favorite people that I've met (I imagine this is true for many who knew him, whether well or slightly); it's bitter to realize this only retrospectively. I'd also like to add that, while he was always rigorously and sometimes fearsomely sharp, one of the things that was crucial to his personality and his effect on people was that he was a man of deep feeling, and able to express that feeling with unusual directness and lack of mawkishness. I remember running into him on a morning bus from Oxford to Heathrow once. Not only did he remember me from a single conversation several years earlier; as he looked out the window he launched into a reflection on the beauty of clouds, and how one can only really appreciate how wonderful they are when one has reached a certain age, and feels life drawing to a close. It's terribly poignant to remember that moment now. (Thankfully there's also the memory of Jerry doing his imitation of Stalin, complete with rubber Stalin mask, to balance it out.) Thanks for this, and for your reminiscence elsewhere, Chris.
I can only echo others’ sadness and shock—and add that, while I only met Jerry Cohen a handful of times, since hearing of his death and revisiting some of his more personal pieces, I’ve realized that he was one of my favorite people that I’ve met (I imagine this is true for many who knew him, whether well or slightly); it’s bitter to realize this only retrospectively.
I’d also like to add that, while he was always rigorously and sometimes fearsomely sharp, one of the things that was crucial to his personality and his effect on people was that he was a man of deep feeling, and able to express that feeling with unusual directness and lack of mawkishness. I remember running into him on a morning bus from Oxford to Heathrow once. Not only did he remember me from a single conversation several years earlier; as he looked out the window he launched into a reflection on the beauty of clouds, and how one can only really appreciate how wonderful they are when one has reached a certain age, and feels life drawing to a close. It’s terribly poignant to remember that moment now. (Thankfully there’s also the memory of Jerry doing his imitation of Stalin, complete with rubber Stalin mask, to balance it out.)

]]> By: Sarah Song http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285519 Sarah Song Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:03:15 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285519 I took Jerry's M.Phil course in 1997 - none of us had seen that combination of brilliance and kindness before. I hadn't and haven't laughed as much in a philosophy seminar. And there was the seminar he gave on humor. It wasn't until his 60th birthday celebration at Yale that I learned of his love for Judy Garland songs when he led the audience on a sing-along. What a voice, what a mind, a huge loss for us all. I took Jerry’s M.Phil course in 1997 – none of us had seen that combination of brilliance and kindness before. I hadn’t and haven’t laughed as much in a philosophy seminar. And there was the seminar he gave on humor. It wasn’t until his 60th birthday celebration at Yale that I learned of his love for Judy Garland songs when he led the audience on a sing-along. What a voice, what a mind, a huge loss for us all.

]]> By: Mark Bevir http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285511 Mark Bevir Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:40:31 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285511 Like Daniel Weinstock and John Gardner, I sat in admiration through the star wars seminar of 1986. By then I had already taken Jerry's M.Phil course. His intelligence and humor were always apparent. I'd also like to mention his determined and at times almost brutal pursuit of clarity and rigor even when dealing with students. The harshness of his intellect sometimes obscured the kindness about which others have already rightly written. But, for me at least, it was for many years just as inspiring. Like Daniel Weinstock and John Gardner, I sat in admiration through the star wars seminar of 1986. By then I had already taken Jerry’s M.Phil course. His intelligence and humor were always apparent. I’d also like to mention his determined and at times almost brutal pursuit of clarity and rigor even when dealing with students. The harshness of his intellect sometimes obscured the kindness about which others have already rightly written. But, for me at least, it was for many years just as inspiring.

]]> By: Melissa Williams http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285468 Melissa Williams Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:44:25 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285468 Jerry Cohen was so full of life that it's impossible to fathom the spark leaving him. He was a mass of energy that sent out flashes -- of philosophical brilliance; of humane kindness, especially where his students were concerned; of wit that left your belly aching from the laughter. His love of humanity, of philosophy, of life itself, were infectious. We're fortunate that he left so much of himself in his articles and books. I'm especially glad that he finished Rescuing Justice and Equality before leaving us. He was in Toronto only last fall -- another thing I'm grateful for -- and gave us his lecture on conservatism, punctuated with songs and the exegesis of their lyrics as an integral part of his philosophical argument about particular value. That evening, at the dinner in his honour, he serenaded us with songs from "My Fur Lady," the Canadian musical produced by the Red and White Revue at McGill in 1957. (I can't find information about whether he was involved in writing or performing it, but he certainly knew his lines, five decades later.) The next morning, as a warm-up to a seminar on his book on Rawls, he performed a pantomime of the distinction between analytic and continental philosophy. There's no one like him in the world. It's smaller without him in it. Jerry Cohen was so full of life that it’s impossible to fathom the spark leaving him. He was a mass of energy that sent out flashes—of philosophical brilliance; of humane kindness, especially where his students were concerned; of wit that left your belly aching from the laughter. His love of humanity, of philosophy, of life itself, were infectious. We’re fortunate that he left so much of himself in his articles and books. I’m especially glad that he finished Rescuing Justice and Equality before leaving us.

He was in Toronto only last fall—another thing I’m grateful for—and gave us his lecture on conservatism, punctuated with songs and the exegesis of their lyrics as an integral part of his philosophical argument about particular value. That evening, at the dinner in his honour, he serenaded us with songs from “My Fur Lady,” the Canadian musical produced by the Red and White Revue at McGill in 1957. (I can’t find information about whether he was involved in writing or performing it, but he certainly knew his lines, five decades later.) The next morning, as a warm-up to a seminar on his book on Rawls, he performed a pantomime of the distinction between analytic and continental philosophy.

There’s no one like him in the world. It’s smaller without him in it.

]]> By: John Gardner http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285455 John Gardner Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:30:04 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285455 I hadn't spent much time with Jerry lately - worse luck - but he and I would frequently travel between London and Oxford together in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it was on those trains that I had my finest education as well as my wildest entertainment. His most memorable greeting: 'Garboing today, Gardner?' His funniest mockery of his own vast erudition: 'Wasn't it Pound who said (that's Ezra, not Roscoe) ...?" Like Daniel Weinstock, I had first been introduced to Jerry the Philosopher at the Star Wars seminar in 1986. He was a model to me from the start because of the close integration of his thought with his life (and all set against the incongruous backdrop of the Old Library at All Souls!) It was only a year or two later that I began to have enough philosophical discrimination to appreciate that he was also one of the greats. And such a kind one. He gave me, as he gave so many, endless support in the early years, when I was his very junior colleague. His detailed comments gently disagnosed the precise quality and quantity of my stupidity, and made me laugh too. I was achingly sad as I cycled up the High Street this morning, past the windows of Jerry's former room at All Souls, and past the spot where I often used to see him dismount from his own bike wearing his woolly hat and his cycle clips. What a guy. I hadn’t spent much time with Jerry lately – worse luck – but he and I would frequently travel between London and Oxford together in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it was on those trains that I had my finest education as well as my wildest entertainment. His most memorable greeting: ‘Garboing today, Gardner?’ His funniest mockery of his own vast erudition: ‘Wasn’t it Pound who said (that’s Ezra, not Roscoe) …?”

Like Daniel Weinstock, I had first been introduced to Jerry the Philosopher at the Star Wars seminar in 1986. He was a model to me from the start because of the close integration of his thought with his life (and all set against the incongruous backdrop of the Old Library at All Souls!) It was only a year or two later that I began to have enough philosophical discrimination to appreciate that he was also one of the greats. And such a kind one. He gave me, as he gave so many, endless support in the early years, when I was his very junior colleague. His detailed comments gently disagnosed the precise quality and quantity of my stupidity, and made me laugh too.

I was achingly sad as I cycled up the High Street this morning, past the windows of Jerry’s former room at All Souls, and past the spot where I often used to see him dismount from his own bike wearing his woolly hat and his cycle clips. What a guy.

]]> By: Fabien Tarrit http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285449 Fabien Tarrit Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:22:39 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285449 I am deeply sad and surprised of his death. I met him first in Oxford in 2005 while I was writing my phd on his relation to Marxism. I had sent him eleven questions. He took me in a office and left me with his answer to my questions in 32 points. Yet we only could discuss on six of them. He had such a great intellectual involvement and a very subtle sense of humor. I am deeply sad and surprised of his death. I met him first in Oxford in 2005 while I was writing my phd on his relation to Marxism. I had sent him eleven questions. He took me in a office and left me with his answer to my questions in 32 points. Yet we only could discuss on six of them. He had such a great intellectual involvement and a very subtle sense of humor.

]]> By: K http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285444 K Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:03:05 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285444 Terrible news. I was just re-reading something of his today. Terrible news. I was just re-reading something of his today.

]]> By: Thom Brooks http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285442 Thom Brooks Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:48:00 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285442 A great man who will be sorely missed. My own small tribute is here: http://the-brooks-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/obituary-g-cohen-1941-2009.html A great man who will be sorely missed. My own small tribute is here:
http://the-brooks-blog.blogspot.com/2009/08/obituary-g-cohen-1941-2009.html

]]> By: Shapour Etemad http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285440 Shapour Etemad Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:14:41 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285440 Heard of sad news 24hours ago when back to office from sad events on Tehran streets.Have been thinking about him since yesterday. Never met him,but have been reading his works during the past 30years and have been inspired in various ways by his robust words and arguments. I will be missing him. Heard of sad news 24hours ago when back to office from sad events on Tehran streets.Have been thinking about him since yesterday. Never met him,but have been reading his works during the past 30years and have been inspired in various ways by his robust words and arguments. I will be missing him.

]]> By: David Estlund http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285434 David Estlund Thu, 06 Aug 2009 05:28:29 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285434 I owe Jerry Cohen a lot for, among other things, his early support of my career. I mention this because I'm not alone. I recounted that story and thanked him publicly at the beginning of my talk at the January Oxford conference in his honor. Many other such testimonials begin those recorded talks, all available for download here: http://mediaplayer.group.cam.ac.uk/pod/mode,vpodcast/domain,itunesucategory/cat,Social.Science.110,Political.Science.101/feed.rss Friends and admirers might enjoy browsing through the beginnings of those talks for some moving stories about the way Jerry affected the lives of these scholars. When we lose a Jerry Cohen, I can't help but wonder whether the next generation of philosophers (that's us) can somehow carry the load forward: His moral conviction, his red-hot analytical mind, his crucial comedian's sense of perspective, his affectionate but uncompromising fostering of students from several generations, and, above all, his intellectual honesty. He said that he felt more than adequately well-thanked and honored, which is comforting, but the real tribute might be to turn this trepidation (if you share it with me) about whether we're up to the task, into a commitment to try, somehow, in our own way. As of today, there's no one like Jerry Cohen. But I hope we've learned from him, and I hope, at least collectively, we can keep some of that red-hot philosophical intelligence alive. I owe Jerry Cohen a lot for, among other things, his early support of my career. I mention this because I’m not alone. I recounted that story and thanked him publicly at the beginning of my talk at the January Oxford conference in his honor. Many other such testimonials begin those recorded talks, all available for download here:

http://mediaplayer.group.cam.ac.uk/pod/mode,vpodcast/domain,itunesucategory/cat,Social.Science.110,Political.Science.101/feed.rss

Friends and admirers might enjoy browsing through the beginnings of those talks for some moving stories about the way Jerry affected the lives of these scholars.

When we lose a Jerry Cohen, I can’t help but wonder whether the next generation of philosophers (that’s us) can somehow carry the load forward: His moral conviction, his red-hot analytical mind, his crucial comedian’s sense of perspective, his affectionate but uncompromising fostering of students from several generations, and, above all, his intellectual honesty.

He said that he felt more than adequately well-thanked and honored, which is comforting, but the real tribute might be to turn this trepidation (if you share it with me) about whether we’re up to the task, into a commitment to try, somehow, in our own way. As of today, there’s no one like Jerry Cohen. But I hope we’ve learned from him, and I hope, at least collectively, we can keep some of that red-hot philosophical intelligence alive.

]]> By: Rob http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285432 Rob Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:56:36 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285432 Cohen's "Deeper into Bullshit" is in <i>Contours of Agency: Themes from the Philosophy of Harry Frankfurt </i> (MIT, 2002) and <i>Bullshit and Philosophy</i> (Open Court, 2006). Cohen’s “Deeper into Bullshit” is in Contours of Agency: Themes from the Philosophy of Harry Frankfurt (MIT, 2002) and Bullshit and Philosophy (Open Court, 2006).

]]> By: Alex Leibowitz http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/05/jerry-cohen-is-dead/comment-page-1/#comment-285430 Alex Leibowitz Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:18:34 +0000 http://crookedtimber.org/?p=12371#comment-285430 NPTO -- do you have a citation for the article on bullshit in France? I would love to get a copy of that. NPTO —do you have a citation for the article on bullshit in France? I would love to get a copy of that.

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