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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

In Memoriam: John M. Cooper (1939-2022)

Brian Leiter

A longtime member of the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University, where he was emeritus, Professor Cooper was one of the leading scholars of ancient Greek philosophy of his generation.  Prior to joining Princeton in 1981, he taught at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University.  I will add links to memorial notices when they appear.  I have opened comments here for remembrances from those who knew Professor Cooper.

UPDATE:  A memorial announcement from the Princeton department here.

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7 responses to “In Memoriam: John M. Cooper (1939-2022)”

  1. Dan Frank

    John advised me at Pitt years ago. He left a permanent impression. I kept up with him over the years, inviting him to lecture wherever I happened to be. I remember a seminar he gave on Reason and Human Good in Aristotle in the mid-70s, when that excellent book appeared. I remember his handwriting weekly seminar lectures, and his robust defense of whatever position he was arguing for. I remember arguing with him about why the philosopher returns to the Cave to govern; John likened that to his chairing the Pitt department. And I remember, how can I forget, his invitation to his and Marcia’s home in Shadyside to chat about the first chapter of my dissertation. I arrived feeling full of myself and quite confident. John shredded it. It was the best and worst of times.

    I will miss John.

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  2. Stephen Pink

    John had great influence on me as a grad student and faculty specializing in Ancient Greek philosophy. Especially important for me was his work interpreting the Theaetetus on the definition of knowledge. John was one of the first to challenge Cornford's view that the classic Theory of Forms remained front and center in Plato's late work.

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  3. Hilary Kornblith

    I was on the job market for the first time in December of 1978, and I had an interview with Pitt where John was chair. At this time, interviews were held at the APA, usually in a small hotel room with a handful of department members; sometimes with only one or two. When I walked into the Pitt interview, however, there were between 15 and 20 department members. It was quite an intimidating experience. John led the interview, and he had read my writing sample carefully. We spent an hour talking about it. John would ask a question, which seemed to me to involve a misreading of something I said, and I would explain that I actually meant something quite different, and I would go on at some length to try to clarify what I meant. And then John would do the same thing with another part of the paper. After a few exchanges like this, John would start smiling as he asked what I now realized was his intentional misreading of my paper, and it put me completely at ease. We ended up having a lengthy and constructive philosophical discussion, and the time passed quickly.

    I was invited back to campus and John was a genial host. I was not altogether happy to discover that I would not be put up at a hotel, but, instead, I would be staying at John's house. This of course allowed me no down time, something I really felt I could use after a very long day. As it turned out, however, John was able to make me feel very much at home. It was a surprisingly comfortable experience.

    Over the years I would run into John periodically, and he would always stop and chat. I always enjoyed talking to him.

    My sincerest condolences to his friends and family.

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  4. Paul Guyer

    I first encountered John when I was a sophomore, in the spring of 1967: I took the first philosophy department course that he offered as an assistant professor at Harvard, on the history of ancient ethics– what would morph into "Pursuits of Wisdom" 45 years later! Waiting in the lecture room, my friends and I wondered why this apparent other sophomore strode up to the lectern — and then, at all of 27, John began speaking with the authority that a normal academic would develop only after years of practice. He was the teacher, an in cisive and brilliant one from the beginning of his career until the end. And he would always look young for his age. In my senior year, I read the "Republic" with him, and he was one of the readers for my senior thesis on Kant. When I continued on to graduate school, I decided I had to make a choice between ancient and modern philosophy, and chose the latter, but John continued to encourage and support me. Halfway through my graduate years, in 1971, he left Harvard to go to Pitt as a tenured associate professor, and two years later I followed him, of course as an untenured assistant professor. My interview experience was much as Hilary Kornblith described it, except that in my case Jerry Schneewind led the interview.
    John and Marcia's hospitality began with inviting me over for dinner while I waited for my few belongings to arrive, and went beyond that to introducing me to our colleague Pamela Foa. We courted on their front porch, poured Scotch and fed us for years, and they hosted a wonderful party for us the evening before our wedding five years later. We were in their house all the time, and have known their daughters Stephanie and Katherine since they were infants. We called them our family of choice. We were separated for a few years when I went to Chicago Circle, but when John moved to Princeton in 1981 and I moved to Penn in 1982, we were nearby again, and remained close ever since.
    John controlled his type I diabetes for 60 years, but in the past few years suffered other blows to his health, and was diagnosed with advanced cancer in the past few weeks. At the very end he was proud that it was not diabetes that would do him in! Pamela came down on Saturday, and she and I and Alexander Nehamas visited with him on Sunday. He was sedated, but Pamela was sure he knew that we were there and was pleased. He died in his sleep early Monday morning. As long as he remained conscious, he was meeting death the way a philosopher should, calmly and without fear.
    We will miss him like a member of our own family.

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  5. Rachel Barney

    this is lovely – thanks very much for posting it

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  6. Irfan Khawaja

    He was my undergraduate thesis advisor–on Aristotle. He spent an hour a week with me, every week for a full academic year (1990-91), trying to make me make sense of Aristotle. He was one of the best teachers I've ever encountered everywhere. I can't even say that I ever tried to emulate him as an instructor myself; there seemed little point in trying to ascend that particular Olympus. I live in Princeton nowadays, and had been meaning to drop him a line, but kept putting it off. I now wish I hadn't. He was an unforgettable presence. My condolences to friends and family.

    Reply
  7. Zena Hitz

    yes I agree! Thank you.

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