Jerry Cohen valedictory lecture

by Chris Bertram on May 2, 2008

Many of his friends. colleagues and former students were present at a wonderful performance from Jerry Cohen (G.A. Cohen) yesterday. Jerry is retiring as Chichele Professor and gave his valedictory lecture. Here Jerry recreates Isaiah Berlin explaining the influence of the altogether neglected Samuel von Pooped on the totally forgotten Herman von Supine.

{ 9 comments }

1

Jesus Silva 05.02.08 at 6:40 am

Do you have a transcript of the lecture? Any notes?
Sounds really interesting.

2

praisegod barebones 05.02.08 at 6:54 am

I love the picture, but had so hoped that it was going to be a YouTube video

3

Chris Bertram 05.02.08 at 6:57 am

Well I think someone was _supposed_ to film it, but I’m told they didn’t. A pity, because it would have been great on YouTube.

4

Jon Pike 05.02.08 at 8:53 am

This looks like Jerry was on good form. I hope it’s not lost to posterity: there should be more Jerry Cohen on Youtube (that is, more than none). For slightly less entertaining Cohen, there’s a podcast at Philosophy bites.

But when is the appointment of his successor announced?

5

Matt 05.02.08 at 11:06 am

Jerry Cohen was indirectly responsible for my having access to several bottles of really very nice scotch a few years ago. For this alone I’m grateful to him, though now I have had, through no fault of my own, a taste for expensive scotch instilled in me and therefore believe that justice demands that I be compensated for this. I hope he’d agree.

6

Celso 05.02.08 at 6:08 pm

I saw Cohen in Oxford once, he’s brilliant, and I think his is the best systematic account of Marx’s Philosophy of History. I’m not sure I like everything he wrote on Justice, though.

Does anyone has a transcript?

7

Nick Kelly 05.04.08 at 2:53 am

I was at this lecture and it was probably the funniest and most entertaining lecture I’ve ever seen. He spent almost the whole lecture imitating philosophers from his life – including a drop dead impersonation of Isaiah Berlin as well as his imagined confrontation between a pedantic old-school English philosopher and American philosopher. It was a classic performance – I hope someone filmed it.

8

Nick L 05.04.08 at 12:54 pm

I especially liked the impression of a pedantic british linguistic philosophy, which bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain Mr Dawkins…

9

mijnheer 05.06.08 at 2:40 am

Today, May 5th, is Karl Marx’s 190th birthday.

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