S. Marc Cohen
Professor Emeritus
Department of Philosophy
University of Washington
Office:
Department of Philosophy, Box 353350
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195
Home:
3753 NE 188 St.
Seattle, WA 98155
206-365-2225
Education:
B.A., Central High School of Philadelphia, June 1958
B.A., Magna cum Laude with Honors in Philosophy, Brandeis University, June 1962
Ph.D., Cornell University, June 1967
Dissertation: “Incorrigibility, Avowals, and the Concept of Unconscious Desire”
Thesis Committee: David Sachs (chairman), Keith Donnellan, Sydney Shoemaker
Academic Awards:
National Merit Finalist, 1958
Philadelphia Board of Education Scholarship (Brandeis University) 1958-62
Louis D. Brandeis Scholarship (Brandeis University) 1961-62
Phi Beta Kappa, elected March 1962
Woodrow Wilson Fellowship (Cornell University) 1962-63
Susan Linn Sage Fellowship (Cornell University) 1963-64
Cornell Graduate Fellowship (Cornell University) 1964-65
Cornell Summer Fellowship (Cornell University) 1964 and 1965
Employment:
University of Minnesota: Instructor, 1965-67, Assistant Professor, 1967-69
Rutgers University: Assistant Professor, 1969-70
University of California, Berkeley: Visiting Assistant Professor, 1970-71
Indiana University: Associate Professor, 1971-73
University of Washington: Associate Professor, 1973-79; Acting Chair, 1974-75; Professor, 1979-2008; Chair, 1981-86; Professor Emeritus, 2009-
Professional Activities
American Philosophical Association (1967-)
Institute in Greek Philosophy (Council for Philosophical Studies), 1970
Pacific Northwest Aristotle Reading Group (co-organizer) 1977-79
Teaching and Research:
(a) Courses Taught: History of Ancient Philosophy, Plato, Aristotle, Philosophy of Mind, Logic (Introductory and Intermediate), Philosophy of Language, Introductory Ethics, Twentieth Century Philosophy, Introduction to Philosophy; Seminars in Ancient Philosophy (Plato, Aristotle), Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics, Epistemology.(b) Areas of Special Interest: Aristotle (emphasis on metaphysical topics); Plato (emphasis on metaphysical and epistemological topics in the middle and late dialogues); the Presocratics; philosophy of mind; metaphysics; epistemology.
Papers Presented:
University of Massachusetts/Amherst College, May 7, 2005: “Kooky Objects Revisited: Aristotle’s Ontology.”APA, Central Division, April 2002: “David Reeve’s (very) Substantial Knowledge,” author-meets-critics session, with Charlotte Witt and C. D. C. Reeve.
APA, Central Division, May 1996, comments on D. K.W. Modrak’s “Ancient theories of cognition.”
Ohio State University, October 1994: “Aristotle’s Alternative to Referential Opacity.”
University of Minnesota, May 1992: “Aristotle’s Alternative to Referential Opacity.”
Cornell University, April 1992: “Aristotle’s Alternative to Referential Opacity.”
APA, Pacific Division, March 1989 (with David Keyt): “Analyzing Plato’s Arguments”: a symposium with Gerasimos Santas and Martin Tweedale.
APA, Central Division, May 1987: a symposium with Herbert Granger and Gareth Matthews on recent functionalist interpretations of Aristotle’s philosophy of mind.
University of Alberta, conference on Aristotle Today, March 1986: “The Credibility of Aristotle’s Philosophy of Mind.”
APA, Pacific Division, March 1985: a symposium with Gail Fine on Plato and Aristotle on Forms and Causes.
APA, Pacific Division, March 1984: “Aristotle on the Principle of Non-Contradiction.” A symposium with Alan Code and Montgomery Furth.
APA, Pacific Division, March 1983: paper commenting on Lynne Spellman’s “Patterns and Copies: the Second Version of the Third Man.”
University of British Columbia, March 1980: “Aristotle on Matter and Individuation.”
University of Wisconsin, February 1979: “Individual and Essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics.”
Marquette University and University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, February 1979: a symposium with Joseph Owens and Montgomery Furth on “Form and Essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics.”
APA, Pacific Division, March 1977: “The Psychology of Justice in Plato’s Republic”, a symposium with John Cooper and Gerasimos Santas.
Reed College, November 1976: “Essentialism in Aristotle.”
University of Victoria, April 1976: “Essentialism in Aristotle.”
APA, Eastern Division, December 1975: paper commenting on M. Wedin’s “αυτα τα ισα and the Argument at Phaedo 74b7-c5.”
University of Washington, June 1975: “Essentialism in Aristotle.”
University of Wisconsin, April 1975: “Essentialism in Aristotle.”
APA, Western Division, April 1974: a symposium with T. Penner on “Platonic Forms and Incorrigible Experiences.”
APA, Western Division, May 1973: paper commenting on Michael Loux’s “Aristotle on Transcendental Ambiguity.”
University of Iowa, November 1972: “Quantification and Opacity.”
University of Washington, February 1972: “Quantification and Opacity.”
West Coast Greek Philosophy Conference (at UCLA), March 1971: “Plato’s Method of Division” (comments on a paper by Julius Moravcsik).
Stanford University (Hume Society), Winter 1971: “The Logic of the Third Man.”
University of California, Berkeley, Winter 1971: “The Logic of the Third Man.”
Indiana University (Mahlon Powell Lecture), November 1970: “The Logic of the Third Man.”
Institute in Greek Philosophy (at Colorado College), July 1970: “The Logic of the Third Man.”
University of Massachusetts, April 1970: a symposium with G.E.L. Owen and Robert Turnbull on Plato’s Parmenides.
Dartmouth College, Winter 1969: “Socrates on the Definition of Piety: Euthyphro 10A-11B.”
University of California, Irvine, Winter 1969: “Socrates on the Definition of Piety: Euthyphro 10A-11B.”
APA, Western Division, May 1968: paper commenting on Robert Audi’s “Intentionalistic Explanations of Actions.”
Indiana University, Winter 1968: “Avowals and Unconscious Desires.”
Minnesota Philosophical Society, Autumn 1967: “Avowals and Unconscious Desires.”
University of Minnesota, Summer 1967: “Avowals and Unconscious Desires.”
University of Minnesota, April 1966: paper commenting on Richard Rudner’s “Translatability and the Idea of No Social Science.”
University of Minnesota, January 1965: “Do I Know What I Want?”
Books:
Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy, co-edited with P. Curd and C.D.C. Reeve (Hackett: Indianapolis, 1995) pp. 786.Ammonius on Aristotle’s Categories (with G.B. Matthews), translation and notes (Duckworth: London, and Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1991) pp. 170.
“Accidental Beings in Aristotle’s Ontology,” forthcoming in Reason and Analysis in Ancient Greek Philosophy: Essays in Honor of David Keyt, ed. by G. Anagnostopoulos and F. D. Miller, Jr.(Springer, 2013).
“Alteration and Persistence: Form and Matter in the Physics and De Generatione et Corruptione,” chapter in Oxford Handbook of Aristotle, ed. by C. Shields (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 205-226.
“Aristotle’s Substance,” in Themes in Ancient and Modern Philosophy, ed. by J. G. Hernandez (Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 2009) 37.
“Substances,” chapter in A Companion to Aristotle, ed. by G. Anagnostopoulos (Oxford: Blackwell, 2009) 192-212.
“Kooky Objects Revisited: Aristotle’s Ontology,” Metaphilosophy 39 (2008) 3-19.
“Aristotle’s Metaphysics, Book Kappa” (with G.B. Matthews), hypertext analysis with notes and commentary, in Project Archelogos.
“Hylomorphism and Functionalism,” in Essays on Aristotle’s De Anima, ed. by M. Nussbaum and A. Rorty (Oxford University Press, 1992) 57-73.
“Analyzing Plato’s Arguments” (with David Keyt), in Methods of Interpreting Plato and his Dialogues, ed. by J. Klagge and N. Smith (Oxford University Press, 1992) 173-200.
“The Credibility of Aristotle’s Philosophy of Mind,” in Aristotle Today, ed. by Mohan Matthen (Edmonton: Academic Printing and Publishing, 1987) 103-125.
“Aristotle on the Principle of Non-Contradiction,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 16 (1986) 359-370.
“Aristotle and Individuation,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, suppl. vol. 10 (1984) 41-65.
“Individual and Essence in Aristotle’s Metaphysics,” Paideia (1978) 75-85.
“Essentialism in Aristotle,” Review of Metaphysics 31 (1978) 387-405.
“Plato’s Method of Division,” in Patterns in Plato’s Thought, ed. by J.M.E. Moravcsik (Dordrecht: Reidel, 1973) 181-191.
“The Logic of the Third Man,” Philosophical Review 80 (1971) 448-475.
“Socrates on the Definition of Piety: Euthyphro 10A-11B,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 9 (1971) 1-13; reprinted with minor alterations in The Philosophy of Socrates, ed. by G. Vlastos (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971) 158-176. Reprinted in Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, ed. by R. Kamtekar (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) 35-48.
“The One and the Many” (with G.B. Matthews), Review of Metaphysics 21 (1968) 630-655.
“Wants and Lacks” (with G.B. Matthews), Journal of Philosophy 64 (1967) 455-456.
Reviews:
Substantial Knowledge: Aristotle’s Metaphysics, by C.D.C. Reeve, Philosophical Review 111 (2002) 452-455.Practices of Reason: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, by C. D. C. Reeve, Religious Studies Review 21 (1995) 135.
Primary Ousia, by Michael Loux, Philosophical Review 102 (1993) 397-399.
Substance and Essence in Aristotle, by Charlotte Witt, Philosophical Review 101 (1992) 838-840.
Parmenides, Plato, and the Semantics of Not-Being, by F. J. Pelletier, Religious Studies Review 18 (1992) 229.
Aristotle’s First Principles, by T. H. Irwin, Religious Studies Review 17 (1991) 257.
Aristotle’s Metaphysics: Books Zeta, Eta, Theta, and Iota, by Montgomery Furth, Journal of the History of Philosophy 26 (1988) 312-313.
Divine Substance, by Christopher Stead, Nous 16 (1982) 334-339.
Socrates, Philosophy in Plato’s Early Dialogues, by Gerasimos Santas, Philosophical Review 90 (1981) 153-157.
The Concept of Pleasure, by David L. Perry, Philosophical Review 78 (1969) 386-390.
Encyclopedia entries:
"Aristotle’s Metaphysics” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).The World Book Encyclopedia: entries on Presocratics, Zeno of Elea, Zeno of Citium, Thales, Averroës, Diogenes, Cynic philosophy, Epictetus, Hedonism, Neoplatonism, Leucippus, Peripatetic philosophy, Plotinus, Pyrrho of Elis, Pythagoras.
Departmental Service:
Colloquium Committee (Chair), 1973-74, 1976-77, 1982-83
Computer Committee, 1986-2008
Graduate Affairs Committee, 1988-97
Graduate Admissions Committee (Chair), 1986-97
Graduate Placement Committee, 1986-95
Executive Committee, 1981-97
Curriculum Committee, 1981-97
Peer Review Committee, 1992-95
Acting Chair, 1974-75
Chair, 1981-86
Director of Graduate Studies (1986-1997)
College and University Service:
Chair, Policy Advisory Board, Center for the Study of Capable Youth (1990-2000)
Chair, search committees for chairs of Departments of Classics (1976), Linguistics (1979), Anthropology (1983, 1984), Near Eastern Language and Literature (1987), Comparative Literature (1996)
Evaluation of the Department of History for the Humanities Program (1978)
College Council (Spring 1977, 1992-96)
Senate Grievance Committee, 1978-80
Vice-President of Phi Beta Kappa (Alpha of Washington), 1995-97.
Service to the Profession:
APA Nominating Committee (Pacific Division), 1975-76
APA Program Committee (Pacific Division), 1977-80
APA Executive Committee (Pacific Division), Chairman, 1989-92
Reviewer for Philosophical Review, Phronesis, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Philosophical Research Archives, Noûs, Review of Metaphysics, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Cornell University Press, University of Chicago Press, Random House.
Editor for Hackett Publishing Company (Aristotle: Selections, by G. Fine and T. Irwin).
Referee for tenure and promotion cases at the following colleges and universities: Alberta, Amherst, Arkansas, California (Berkeley), California (Riverside), Colorado, Cornell, Illinois (Chicago), Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Puget Sound, Reed, Rutgers, Southern California, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin.
Evaluator of grant proposals for ACLS, NEH, Fulbright, Guggenheim.
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