Stanley Rosen

84, a College of Arts & Sciences Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, on May 4, 2014.

Rosen, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and went on to earn a PhD from the university’s Committee on Social Thought in 1955.

Rosen received several awards and fellowships to continue his philosophy studies in Europe, including a stint as a Littauer Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens; a study grant from the American Philosophical Society in Tubingen, Germany; an Earhart Foundation Research Scholarship at the University of Heidelberg; and a scholarship to conduct research at the London School of Economics.

He taught for almost 40 years in the philosophy department at Pennsylvania State University and was appointed its Evan Pugh Professor of Philosophy in 1985.

In 1994, Rosen joined Boston University as the Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy. He was known for his teachings of Hegel, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Plato. He retired in 2008 as professor emeritus and moved with his wife to Philadelphia to be closer to their daughter. The Borden Parker Bowne Professorship is now held by Charles Griswold.

During his more than five decades in academia, Rosen held 11 guest professorships at prestigious universities around the world, earned a Doctor Honoris Causa from the New University in Lisbon, and served on the editorial boards of several philosophical publications.

He wrote more than 25 books and was asked to speak at lectures and symposia around the globe. Several of his books and articles have been translated into languages such as French, Polish, Catalan, Japanese, and Chinese.

His work was and continues to be influential in the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy, rhetoric, and literary theory.

Rosen’s teachings inspired young philosophers and honed their skills as academic researchers. In a note to the Boston University philosophy community on Rosen’s passing, David Roochnik, a CAS professor and chair of the philosophy department, wrote, “For those of us who knew him well, his death is a remarkable loss. He was an extraordinary person and thinker, and we will cherish his memory. I, for one, would certainly not have become the person I am—and, dare I say it, the philosopher I am—without having studied with him.”