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A well-known expert on Kant's philosophy of religion, Professor Pasternack spent his career at Oklahoma State University. There is an obituary here. Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Pasternack or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.
(Thanks to Dai Heide for the opinter.)
How very sad — so sorry to hear this. I encountered Lawrence last year at a conference on Pascal, and afterward we corresponded on nondoxastic faith in Kant. His comments were enormously rich and detailed, and we were looking forward to more discussion after he got further into the book on Kant's philosophy of religion that he was working on — a book that now, presumably, will not be completed. Fortunately, his excellent completed work remains with us.
I had Professor Pasternack for three courses at Oklahoma State University. His work as a scholar is well-known, but he was also an incredible instructor, mentor, and storyteller. His lectures were lively, and he had a knack for presenting materials in a way that was interesting, often humorous, and approachable, without doing damage to the complexity of the texts being covered. He was generous with his time as well, always marking up papers with thoughtful feedback, while also taking a genuine interest in his students, their lives, and the organizations of which they were a part. My time spent with him was one of the main motivating factors in my decision to pursue philosophy further, and for that I am grateful.
I was a fellow graduate student with Lawrence at Boston University–and he will be missed by all that knew him. As a graduate student, he was very much the epitome of the aspiring philosopher. Invariable, the greeting "how are you doing?" was met with deep introspection and detailed answer. He was an especially keen participant in graduate student poker games, which I believe provided good training for beating the house at Vegas, whenever he ventured there. Condolences to his survivors.
Very sad to hear this. Dr. Pasternack instilled a passion for philosophy in countless undergraduates over his many years at OSU. He was a brilliant scholar and an energetic teacher, always happy to carry the conversations back to his office. He will be missed by the department and the students at OSU and by the many alums he mentored over the years.
I echo all of this. Such a great teacher, and a great human being.
I only encountered Dr. Pasternack once, at a subsidiary Kant Society meeting organized by Andrew Chignell in 2023 at the Eastern APA. The paper I was presenting, on Thomas Wizenmann's critique of Kant's argument for the postulates (God, immortality), turned out to also be targeting an interpretation of Kant that Pasternack had defended, but which I was unaware of. As an audience member, he make extremely helpful comments and asked a good question, and afterwards he followed up with more. I found him to be incredibly gracious and intellectually open-minded. It's very sad to lose someone like him from the profession at such a relatively young age.
I'm very saddened to hear about Lawrence. We overlapped for one year and it was great knowing him at BU when I was just beginning. As Thornton said he breathed philosophy — and Kant in particular — and combined straightforward friendliness with a slightly removed and wry perspective. It's heartening to read how much his students loved him.
We met at Boston University and were roommates in Vienna. I always admired Lawrence's intellect and integrity, and appreciated our talks about Kant and Pascal. But we were just as likely to talk about more ordinary loves. Twenty years ago he tried to teach me how to count cards. When I visited last summer he tried to get me interested in Boom Beach. Neither stuck. But we always shared a love of dogs and teaching. It was nice to see his thoughtful scholarship recently recognized. I hope the book he just finished is published. Mostly I'll miss my friend.
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