Testimonials
Testimonials: What has philosophy done for me?
CSUF Philosophy Alumni
(In the order of submission. Scroll down for the latest entry.)
Rebecca Hertsgaard
Graduation class: 1999
Adjunct Professor, Philosophy and Religion
College of the Desert
Palm Desert CA
I can testify absolutely to how philosophy has opened new worlds for not only me, but my husband, my friends, and my children. Philosophy is so significant in evaluating what i like to call "attitudes and beliefs," and perhaps finding enlightenment from questioning both, which i do through both my teaching and my hobby of writing letters to editors of all kinds of publications. There is nothing like the Socratic examination of one's life in order to have one worthy of bothering to live.
Philosophy is the best enabler: One constantly discovers how to make new friends (or enemies!) and influence people (for good or ill, in some opinions!). i simply don't know how i would live my life without questioning. This is particularly valuable when i teach religion, ethics, and Perspectives on Death and Dying. How does one deal with any of those categories without understanding the philosophy behind them? Why do humans need religion? Why be moral? Is there life after death? Is there a god? And if so, is it worthy of worship? There is, i would venture to say, not one person who has not addressed either of those questions, in some form or other. All these questions consume me on a daily basis.
So yes, philosophy is my job, but more than that, it's my LIFE.
Luis M. Magallon Garcia
Graduation class: 2008
Human Communication (Rhetorical Studies) Master’s program at CSUF.
In my life, philosophy has been a fundamental and foundational subject for two reasons. First, philosophy prepared and facilitated my studies during the Master's graduate program. The Human Communication field, as well as most other fields, depends highly on philosophy as a foundational area of scholarship. Rhetorical studies in particular borrow and contribute to fundamental readings from Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Kant, Nietzsche, etc. Contemporary rhetorical studies also rely on philosophical branches, including continental, psychoanalytic, and analytic philosophy. Across all fields, there is a major reliance and focus on exploring abstract concepts or writing logical arguments, which is taught in philosophy courses. Put simply, philosophy has contributed to my progression and understanding of Human Communication as a theory and practice.
Second, philosophy prepared me for distinct cultural and socio-political experiences. Immediately after I finished my undergraduate degree, I traveled to Mexico and Venezuela. Because of my emphasis on continental and socio-political philosophy as an undergrad, I was able to have an open-mind, acceptance, and appreciation for the cultures, societies and experiences in Mexico and Venezuela. Socio-political and continental philosophy increase awareness about ethical and tolerant acceptance of Others, which is fundamental and necessary as a practical and beautiful approach to life. Most importantly, philosophical scholarship helped me understand and respect my social environments, domestically and internationally.
Pamela Chui
Graduation class: 2010
Competitive Intelligence Analyst Assistant
I began my academic career as a Philosophy Major without any intention of pursing it as a career or applying my degree to future career plans. My immersion into Philosophy was due to an interest in the ideas and theories of previous thinkers. It never occurred to me that Philosophy would be applicable in the corporate world and it wasn’t until I applied for my current position at an insurance company that I realized how much Philosophy has helped me grow and continue to grow within my current company. I was selected for the interviewing process at my current job because I was a Philosophy major. My interviewer picked my application because it stood out amongst the other applicants, who were all Business majors. During the interview process I was able to offer a unique perspective on the business world that intrigued my interviewer. Since then I have been working for the company for seven months. My academic career in Philosophy has equipped me with the skills to communicate ideas and concepts coherently and it has been this specific skill that has aided my success in the corporate realm. The ability to understand and communicate ideas is an important aspect of Philosophical discourse, and is equally important in the business world. Other majors may equip graduates with the skills necessary to work within a corporation, but Philosophy (I believe) equips graduates with skills to progress and succeed within a corporation. In this way, Philosophy has impacted my life and career, and I know that no matter what plans I pursue in the future as long as I have the ability to critically analyze, understand, and express ideas, success and progress will follow.
René E. Beltran
Graduation class: 1979
Executive Vice President
“What are you going to do with a degree in Philosophy?” was the question I heard over and over again from friends and family. While my parents never questioned my choice of study, everyone else I communicated with wondered why I was wasting my time. I never paid much attention as I had found something I really enjoyed.
My plan upon graduation in 1979 was to take a year off from school, work and then either to pursue a graduate degree or study law.
As it turned out I never returned to school. I visited the next annual Philosophy Symposium and found that the prospect of returning to a classroom was not exciting to me. I enjoyed the work I was doing, was good at it and loved the interaction with the people around me. I had found a home in the computer business and decided to make a career of it. I found that directly and indirectly studying Philosophy had helped me in a number of ways:
- I was able to express myself clearly and logically. In a sales environment or a business meeting my ability to construct an argument on the fly was better than those around me.
- Putting together presentations was easy. Understanding how to present a subject in such a way as to have the listener reach the conclusion I was pursuing was second nature.
- Problem solving was something I excelled at. I was always able to find a solution that worked for everyone involved.
- Seeing all sides and understanding why and how to find a middle ground with coworkers and customers came easy to me as a result of my study.
In short, my degree in Philosophy helped to prepare me for a career where my interaction with intelligent people regularly required the ability to think on my feet and negotiate successfully. In a business where you are constantly learning new technology it also helped to shape the way that I approach understanding new concepts and the ability to grasp those concepts quickly.
Kent Smith
Graduating class: 1968
Management Consultant
The discipline gave me much practice and repetition of critical thinking, these exercises enabled me to sharply come to the point or primary issue in arguments or debates throughout my life. Over the years whether I was a naval officer, law school student, parent with three kids in public schools, master of Public Administration; or Unitarian minister it seemed my grasp of academic philosophical concepts usually enabled me to be intelligent or outstanding in any venue.
Studying and living with some of the great thinkers of all time, as you do in the major, the great writings gave me deep insight to the truly important problems and aspects of life. The study of ethics, moralities, cosmology, logical/reasonable discernment, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics helped me shape and mold a successful happy life without the usual pitfalls of materialism, religiosity, nihilism so many helpless people find themselves caught up in.
Today, many of my good friends who went into the study of law, banking/business, or scientific professions and who wondered at my choice of Philosophy as a major in 1968, are flocking around enjoying the study of the Infinite and discussions of those truly important questions in life; dilemmas which come into very clear focus/import when one reaches 60 years of age!
Lastly, but I 'd be glad to talk to you about this subject any time, it has been a marvelous privilege and truly an honor to be able to study what I consider to be the most important discipline, in that it's the basis and the heart of the other disciplines in its pursuit of wisdom.
Diane Anderson
Graduation class: 1985
Financial Specialist
Corporate Collection Department
I have had an extensive career in finance, spanning over 25 years in Credit and Collections with mid-sized corporations as well as Fortune 500 companies. The writing and analytic skills I developed while pursuing my degree allowed me to have consistent success in my career. The analytic skills and confidence I built in my own abilities to collect and evaluate data in order to make practical decisions were invaluable to me when I was faced with unexpected life issues, such as surviving a massive stroke at the age of 33, and making successful decisions regarding my own treatment and care facing a recent bout with cancer. I found the study and practice of philosophy to be such an important part of the life I wish to live that I went to grad school nights, while working full time and raising my son on my own. I earned a Master's degree in Philosophy in 2004, 19 years after finishing my bachelor's degree. I could tell you all about what I do to make a living, but philosophy is what I do to make a life.
My suggestion to recent grads looking for employment, wondering what jobs to pursue, and answering questions about "why a philosophy degree" and what it offers is to focus on the skill sets you acquired studying philosophy: analytic, research, writing, communication, presentation, public speaking (symposium), etc. I know several philosophy majors who went on to finance careers and the analytic skills are an invaluable natural fit. The same can be said for those who want to go on to careers in law. Never underestimate the research and communication skills, either. To people who think those who study philosophy have their heads in the clouds and are not practical, I would argue from personal experience that the skills acquired in the pursuit of philosophy naturally lend themselves to practical applications in real life situations.
Robert Guerrero
Graduating class: 2009
Taco Bell Operations Implementation Manager
Being a philosophy major has benefited me in innumerous ways; namely, being able to communicate clearly and logically. It also enables me to become a broad business thinker, connecting each side of the business together. The instruction that a philosophy major provides pays untold dividends as it improves my thought processes, teaching me to think critically.
Aric Villarreal
Graduation class: 2001
Government librarian with Boulder Labs in Boulder, CO
My first philosophy course at CSUF was' Rationalism & Empiricism', taken during the Fall of 1998, with Dr. Frank Verges. I was drawn to philosophy upon reading Nietzsche at some point during my six-year stint in the Marines, and upon taking that first CSUF philosophy course, I had no idea what I was getting into. Eventually, I changed my major from political science to history to philosophy, and I graduated in the Spring of 2001 with a 3.9 in that major. I moved on to receive an M.A. in the Interdisciplinary Program in Comparative Cultural and Literary Studies at the University of Arizona, upon defending my thesis 'The Concept of Myth in Horkheimer and Adorno's Dialectic of Enlightenment', then earned another M.A. in Library Science from the same institution. I am now a government librarian with Boulder Labs in Boulder, CO, at which certain divisions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Institute of Science and Technology, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration are located, supporting their research.
The breadth and rigor of the CSUF philosophy department was what drew me in. I was able to take courses in almost every tradition, era, and geographic focus of philosophy--Ancient, Medieval, Asian, and Analytic philosophy, Epistemology, Existentialism, Postmodernism--you name it. My professors were superb as teachers and thinkers, clarifying some initially daunting concepts, and inspired me and my fellow students to think more deeply about problems and issues. They were very accessible as well, and class sizes were small, facilitating some intense discussions. It was an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
It would be a cliché to mention that studying philosophy helped me develop the critical thinking skills and scholarly habits that would become useful in subsequent endeavors, though that is true. I developed the habits of thinking, while at CSUF, that allow me to not take what is commonly passed around as 'wisdom' for granted, and to contextualize what goes on around me, making for passionately engaged citizenship, and (I at least hope) a more sympathetic understanding of those whose experiences and attitudes are vastly different from my own.
Brandon Hurley
Graduation class: 2008
Business Owner
Artistic Engineering
Participation in the CSUF philosophy program was a positively humbling experience, to say the least. The greatest insight, perhaps, coming as a result of the subject matter's unwavering insistence that my original questions not only evaded answering, but were the wrong questions altogether.
Tamara Nguyen
Graduation class: 2009
Law School Student
One semester from graduating with a Criminal Justice degree, I decided to take a Philosophy class and immediately became obsessed with it. I ended up extending my stay at CSUF for an additional 2 years to obtain a degree in Philosophy. A degree in Philosophy helped me in many ways that other areas of studies cannot. I developed analytical skills, writing skills, and further, speaking skills. I became actively involved with the Philosophy Department and took on a role as vice-President in Philosophy club, helped plan the annual symposium, while juggling other on campus leadership roles such as being Chair for the Council of Honor Societies. I love the Philosophy Department because everyone in there provides their students with genuine attention and care. While I was completing my undergrad work in Philosophy, I got to know the professors well and realized that a well-knit department with caring professors is fundamental in driving the students to excel. With a strong backbone, I ended up succeeding after I left CSUF.
I embarked on a journey on my own to Beijing, China after I graduated from CSUF. The skills I obtained in Philosophy traveled with me as well. I engaged with others and processed information actively and efficiently. I realized that these valuable skills are applicable in every aspect of life. Further, I received some valuable advice from the department including: 1) always read with a pen/pencil, 2) do not simply listen, but engage (active listening), 3) be precise in conveying one’s ideas, and 4) when it comes to writing - edit, edit, edit…I hope those who are currently completing the Philosophy major know what a huge asset the Philosophy major is.
Jon Trerise
Graduation Class: 2000
Assistant Professor of Philosophy in Coastal Carolina
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies
I came to CSUF in 1997 as a major having discovered philosophy (as a discipline) at Fullerton Community College. In 2010 I started a position as an Assistant Professor (tenure track) at Coastal Carolina University.
I agree with what some others say regarding the practicality of philosophy for virtually any work environment, though I am of course an academic. Without question, the analytic, historical, and critical skills that philosophy helps one develop are intrinsically and instrumentally valuable. So studying philosophy is valuable independent of pursuing a career explicitly within philosophy.
Jamie Schumacher
Graduation Class: 2001
Executive Director, Northeast Community Development Corporation
I graduated from California State University Fullerton in 2001 with a degree in philosophy and art. I’ve incorporated my degree into my work by creatively applying my analytic skills: I help nonprofits and small businesses, particularly arts organizations, be innovative in the work they do and the tools they use to do it.
Philosophy, analytic philosophy in particular, was something I thought could be applied to any profession. I gained practical experience in the business world while I was at CSUF, and my degree in philosophy simply enhanced my work. Thoughtful employees and a philosophical work ethic are a great fit for most professions - even creative ones. :)
Sandra Woloschuk
Graduation Class: 2010
Southern California Edison, TP&S
Program/Project Analyst
There have been numerous occasions where I have had to explain to people why I chose to study Philosophy. I always respond by saying that it was one of the most valuable decisions I have ever made.
Currently, I work as a project analyst for Southern California Edison. People may wonder how a degree in Philosophy could ever prepare someone for such a career; however, I constantly find myself applying the tools I learned while at Fullerton. As a philosophy major, I learned how to analyze and synthesize complex information as well as communicate complex ideas to a large audience effectively and efficiently.
I benefited a great deal from studying the philosophy curriculum at Cal State Fullerton because of the complex analytical tools I garnered while there. Now having started a great career path within a great company, I can honestly say that it was due to the rigor, rhetoric, and skills I acquired while studying philosophy at Cal State Fullerton.
Andrew Lopez
I just wanted to talk about these “ear worms” that have been stuck in my head. I took Ethics and Epistemology with Dr. Battaly. Ever since I’ve been saying to my students, when I’m trying to give them a very brief description of something, I describe it as a “quick and dirty” account. Matt Calarco often describes various things in metaphysics as chunky soup. So I tend to say that too. But the best is what I took from Shari in her Kant and the 19th Century course. It took a long time for it to click, but finally I got what was meant by the phrase, ‘The logically necessary conditions for the possibility of experience’. And I use it a lot in my courses. I had one instructor who asked me “How is the grading going?” He told me he was looking at the essays and he didn’t know if the students were plagiarizing or what, he said, “They are using this one phrase, I don’t use it, and I don’t know where they’re getting it from”. I said, “They’re getting it from me”. Yeah, that is the phrase I use the most…Thanks Shari.
Christine Schaffler
Graduation Class: 2010
I graduated in 2010. Hi, Professor Lee. Honestly, I don’t remember anything you guys have told me, but it’s all in there. I can’t remember the specifics but I feel like it built a foundation for me. I’m a nurse now, I work in substance abuse. I’m not just a nurse, I’m a philosopher nurse. I feel like I use a lot of that with my patients, in treating my patients. So, I just want to thank you guys!
Teri Merric
Professor of Philosophy
Azusa Pacific University
Associate Director of Research
Women in Science and Humanities (WISH) Project
When I entered the program, I was in my thirties with four school age sons and working part-time. For this reason, I could only take one class a semester and typically a night course. One of the things that I am most grateful for is that fact that students and faculty routinely went out after class to continue talking about all things philosophical. At the time, Professor Frank Verges was obsessed with Rorty. So I spent many wonderful nights with Frank and fellow students discussing whether Habermas’ Kantianism was a sufficient and more attractive alternative to Rorty’s relativism. In addition to my professors—Frank, Merrill Ring, David Depew, and Craig Ihara—treating us students as peers in the practice of philosophy, I loved that there was little to no emphasis on policing what counts as a ‘proper’ philosophical inquiry. I recall a course in philosophy of biology co-taught by David and biology prof. Bruce Weber. The assigned texts included works by Turgenev, Darwin, Skinner, Dawkins, and Lewontin. As I told Craig over the phone, I would never have considered pursuing a PhD in philosophy had it not been for the encouragement and joy I experienced studying with faculty and my philosophy classmates at CSUF.
Thank you, thank you.
Beata Bujalska Kramer
Graduation Class: 2007
I graduated in 2007 and there’s one thing I just wanted to add. I think my love of symbolic logic, which I still use in my career, by the way has to do with the Philosoraptor, so thank you Heather (Battaly). Heather had this great teaching method where she would become the Philosoraptor to explain logic. To this day it is something that I carry with me. It was a really great way to learn something that was very difficult so thank you for that! It’s a wonderful department. I remember all the undergrads, all of us in the community going to the APA Conference in Portland and San Francisco and the department partly funding us so that we’d have that experience and really build a community. It built a love for philosophy and love for our professors, that they took care of us in that way. It was really great. Thank you so much for organizing this, it’s really wonderful.
Michael S. Langford, Esq.
Almost everything in life requires critical analytical thinking no matter what you do. Professor Evan once told me, “Philosophy is weightlifting for the mind. Learning is a lifelong process.” You have to have strong analytical skills to solve the never-ending problems in law and life.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. When I was a student people said, “How are you going to get a job with a Philosophy degree?” My sheepish response was, “I’m a double major Philosophy & Criminal Justice. I’m going to law school.” The funny thing is that after I graduated from law school, the managing partner at what was then the most elite firm in Orange County saw on my resume that I had a degree in Philosophy. He then asked me, “Can you explain Kant’s categorical imperative?” I managed to explain what I knew about it and he hired me that day. The people who said, “You’ll never get a job with a Philosophy degree and that studying Philosophy was useless” turned out to be completely wrong.
I do think that students should have a double major. I taught Evidence and Criminal Law for 21 years as a law professor before I retired. It’s always good to have a fallback position.
Brian McNally
Graduation Class: 1990
I came to CSUF in 1987 not knowing what my future would hold or what I wanted to be. That quickly changed after attending Al Flores’ Philosophy of Mind class. Al was an inspiring person and invited us to talk during his office hours. It was a generous offer, and I abused his kindness with daily visits. In reflection, I think he was a bit annoyed with my many freshman questions, but nevertheless, Al patiently spoke with me and even encouraged me to pursue a philosophic education. He argued that philosophy prepares you for both everything and nothing specific. This opened my eyes to ideas, possibilities, and opportunities like no other major. After a semester of vagrancy hanging around his office, he decided I could be useful and as Chair he offered me a job to be the assistant in the department to help Elaine, Margret and help the professors with various office duties. This event sealed the deal… I was hooked. The job working in the office allowed me time with faculty and students alike, providing time to make lifelong friendships and it set me in the direction of an examined life.
Some random memories of being a student and working in the department… in no particular order.
I was tasked to help John Cronquist open his office door after a big earthquake in 1988, that caused mountains of papers and books to collapse, sealing his office shut. After hours of work, we persisted finally opening the door to the biggest mess I had ever seen but the end result was John and I became friends. I remember helping with his charming child Cathy while he taught class.
I recall David Depew’s advice that I was far too productive to be a philosopher, and that if I wanted to control the world, I should consider Marketing as a major but if I wanted to criticize those in power then philosophy would be just fine. I also thank him for a lifelong love of Aristotle and Plato, whom I still read and teach today in China. I also was eternally grateful to David who provided a view that Christianity was not at odds with a modern scientific life.
I will always remember Merrill’s class on the philosophy of language class, because he recommended me as tutor for other general ed students in his other classes helping them with written homework. This is what led me to realize I enjoyed teaching. I recall being the only boy in Betty Safford’s Philosophy of Feminism class was the first time I had the courage to talk to girls. Betty later confided to me secretly, that I was the only student who passed the class with an A and further encouraged me to pursue teaching. I remember hanging out with Cornell West in 1989 when he asked me to take him to the LAX Airport after our Symposium. We talked for hours when he asked to see The Watts Towers in Los Angeles. We had soul food for lunch while he told me stories of being the student of Richard Rorty and I told him about a new invention – email. I helped him make an account and we became friends. He taught me being a Philosophy was pretty cool. I have many other stories that I could share but time is limited, and this is already far too long.
All in all, over my life I held many different career pursuits all of which I felt philosophy prepared me for everything and nothing as Al had promised. My experience has been vast and diverse having worked in digital publishing, starting a venture capital funded internet company, teaching college and consulting in China for the last 15 years. This education provided me career opportunities and economic freedom to travel to all corners of the world. This long, strange career path was made possible by the perspectives, ideas and insights given by my education in Philosophy. My memories of my time learning Philosophy are a source of immense pleasure. In all, I thank the faculty of the time 87-90 including David (Depew), Craig (Ihara), Jim (Hofmann), Mike (Russell), Merrill (Ring) Al (Flores), Gloria (Rock), Betty (Safford), John (Cronquist), and Pete (Dill). All of them inspired me in different ways for which I am eternally grateful.
Joe Hwang
Graduation Class: 1980
So, during my time at CSUF, I mentioned I knew a bunch of conservative Calvinist philosophy students. We were friends despite the deep differences in our beliefs. Anyway, one of them in particular, Aaron, was somewhat close to Professor Frank Verges. I had never taken a class with Professor Verges, but I came to know of him through other students. The first time I ever heard about Professor Verges was through Aaron. It went something like this:
Aaron and I were smoking a cigarette together on campus. I asked him if he had class that day. He said that he had class with "Verges" earlier (that's how Aaron referred to him), and that after class, he spent about an hour engaged in an intense discussion with him. "Verges was talking and shouting with his teeth clenched *like this* <Aaron mimics Frank>, and he kept moving towards me with his hands up by my throat, as if he wanted to strangle me, but was trying hard to restrain himself." I was shocked. I said to Aaron that I was sorry that he had such an unpleasant encounter. Aaron said to me "Oh no, it was great. That's just Verges. He takes philosophy very seriously."
Brian Julian
Graduation Class: 1980
Wow, that was a great education! I was so fortunate to be able to study philosophy at Fullerton. As many warned me, it didn’t prepare me for a job……but it really helped prepare me for LIFE, which is (perhaps?) even more important. I was in no position to pick a career when I was 19 anyway. Some young people are; I wasn’t. After graduating, I loved working with disabled people for 5 years, and this led me to go back to CSU Long Beach for training in physical therapy, and I’ve had an excellent career. I continue to practice physical therapy even now in retirement, and I expect to continue until I croak.
I studied with wonderful professors at Fullerton, including Frank Verges, Craig Ihara, John Cronquist, Gloria Rock, Richard Smith, David Depew, Merrill Ring, and Betty Safford. They always took us young people seriously, treated us with respect and kindness, and emphasized developing skills in careful, open-minded thinking, logical and respectful argument, and clear writing with an organized and logical progression of thought. Lots of writing! What a great college education!
A couple books I’ve read in the past year reminded me strongly of my time in philosophy at CSU Fullerton. I found “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, to be a most challenging book! But it was totally fascinating and the material seems to me vitally important if we are to hope for a better world with improved communication and peace among both individuals and nations. This book seems to me like an owner’s manual for the human mind…..I was issued a human mind, but never before was actually given my owner’s manual! I was highly motivated to read this book carefully, and I’m sure I need to read it again sometime. Reading it and grappling with the material, I felt that this was the most “intellectually engaged” I had been in at least 20 years. And this reminded me of Fullerton, where I was intellectually engaged pretty much ALL the time!
The other book was “Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos,” by Dennis Overbye. This book is a tour of scientific personalities, theories, and discoveries of 20th century astronomy and particle physics—quasars, black holes, the big bang, quarks, and so on……the imponderably big and the infinitesimally tiny. What was the nature of the universe one trillionth of a second after the big bang? And an awful lot changed between that time and one full minute after the big bang. Would the universe eventually collapse, perhaps to repeat the process all over again; or would it continue expanding for all eternity?
In philosophy, I used to greatly enjoy grappling with the giant metaphysical questions, including whether there was some kind of “God” at work in the universe, or whether mind and consciousness could be reduced to brain functions versus having some kind of separate status as a different kind of “stuff” in the universe, or whether the unspeakably large and small things that astronomers and physicists study are in some sense the same. So this book really rekindled this sense of wonder that I used to experience so regularly while studying philosophy. It was fun to revisit these questions whilst reading this book, even though I rarely grapple with such questions anymore—a long time ago, I decided that I could not know the answers to such questions, and furthermore that other human beings probably couldn’t know these things, either. I adopted the belief that these imponderables would remain great mysteries, and that the appropriate attitude on my part is to have a sense of wonder and reverence for the great mysteries of existence. I have little interest when some other human seems to think that they have all the answers to these great questions, and it puzzles me why so many people seem to have such a strong need for such answers. But that’s a question for psychologists, not philosophers.
Anyway, it was quite exhilarating to grapple with these great questions when I was studying philosophy at CSU Fullerton, and I really think it helped train my mind to deal with the much more practical questions of day-to-day life, questions that sometimes can seem almost as slippery as the great imponderables. My 19-year-old self-consciously knew that before I went into philosophy—that grappling with philosophical questions would train me to better grapple with the questions and issues of life. That is why I chose to study philosophy. And it worked. Thank you!!!
Jeff Vanderpool
I would like to share my memory of a consequential remark made almost half a century ago.
I retired from CSUF in 2018, after more than 30 years of teaching classes in both Philosophy and Liberal Studies. But I first came here as an undergraduate in 1974. I was initially an English major, but I changed over to history after my first year. During this time, I took an Intro to Philosophy course and liked it enough to sign up the next semester for another, more challenging class: Merrill Ring’s course in Greek Philosophy. I was enthralled from the start and was even toying with the idea of majoring in Philosophy. (Note: In those ancient days, currently unknown practices such as taking classes purely out of interest, or even changing your major multiple times, were possible in that tuition was $95 a semester.)
Of course, it’s one thing to enjoy a subject, and quite another to be any good at it. I had the interest, but did I have the aptitude and potential to practice philosophy? I decided that my performance in Merrill’s class would determine the matter for me.
Merrill assigned a lengthy term paper to be submitted at the end of the semester, and I worked very hard on it. When he returned the papers on the last day of class, I was thrilled to have received an “A.” Further, on the back of the paper, Merrill had written some very nice complimentary remarks, the last of which I can repeat word for word after nearly fifty years: “I look forward to your future work.”
Well, that was it – from that point on I was an aspiring philosopher. And while I was greatly influenced by passionate professors like Merrill and Craig Ihara and David Depew and Gloria Rock and Richard Smith and John Cronquist and many others, it was this simple statement that served as my initial inspiration. I very much wanted to impress with my future work.
I got my degree at CSUF, went on to grad school at UCR, and started teaching in 1986. When asked about my profession, I would typically respond that I was fortunate enough to get paid to talk about ideas – what could be better than that? It was a richly satisfying way to spend a few decades. But as I look back over half a century, it is interesting to consider that, to a large degree, this narrative was initiated by a single comment from a singular professor. Thank you, Merrill.
Thus, this memory ends with a warning to you current and future teachers: be very careful what you say. And a question suggests itself: did I make the right decision all that time ago?
Mahesh Ananth
Graduation Class: 1992
Let me bookend this. On the one end, I was here when John Cronquist was trying to convince many of us that the local Carl’s Jr. was involved in sugar tampering with their sugar packets. This seemed to engulf John endlessly. At the other end there was Frank Verges aggressively going after anyone who had a view of the OJ case that was different from his. So in between these bookends I have a couple of interesting stories.
One day one of the fellow students came up to me and said, “I wasn’t in the class.” I said, “Hey, he’s going to talk about Kant’s teleology, and I said, “Oh I’m there!”. So, I did all the readings and I went to the class. I didn’t know the structure of the class, didn’t know how it was unfolding but I wanted to come listen to this and I just sat in the back. David (Depew) comes in and starts to ask a few questions and its dead silent, not a word. You could tell he was puzzled that there wasn’t any response so he started to engage the text that they were reading and then he asked a few more questions…not a word. He sits there. He’s tapping his foot and then he asks one more question that had to be as hand holding as could be, not a word. Then he just taps his foot a couple more times and he gets up and walks out of the room. I was sitting in the back and it was so quiet. Ten minutes go by and he doesn’t show up, he doesn’t come back in. I said to the person sitting next to me, in my richest California vocabulary, “What’s going on dude?” He goes, “I don’t know”. That was the first sound that came out of the room. Then one of the students in the front of the class said “I’ll be back.” She goes away and she practically hand holds David back into the class from his office. He comes back in and he sits down and he was huffing and puffing like a kid. I’m sitting back and I’m going “What’s going on here?” His glasses slip down and he looks out and said “This is really important stuff”. Then he says to the class “If you don’t want to do this, I do” and he just dives straight into a fantastic lecture.
I have to say that as a wanna be philosopher that was such a moving moment for me. It was wonderful to see. Maybe it was a form of extremism, I don’t know, we’ll find out tomorrow.
Merrill Ring, Emeritus Professor
Does anyone remember what the biggest crowd we ever had at a symposium was? 1974, Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings of Don Juan, the Yaqui Way of Knowledge. We had it in the gymnasium, so many people came. Wilfrid Sellars, one of the most eminent American philosophers was here to hear Carlos Castaneda. I think the teachings of Don Juan now is rated to be fiction and not actual research.
Second thing, did you know, do you remember that once upon a time the Philosophy department was part of a Super department? This is not about the symposium, it is about the department. The Dean decided that two small departments and even the Humanities needed help so he created, for one year (I was Chair at the time) the Department of Humanities. Which included Philosophy, Religious Studies and Linguistics. It was a very strange year being Chair in that department. Actually, he fixed things. He reorganized the Religious Studies department, made it a very competitive department. He moved the Linguistics department over to English.
There was a problem I had that year. There was a professor of linguistics who the English department refused to accept. He used to hang his jock strap on a clothesline in his office, bothering the female graduate students no end. I’ll add this story about him. He was also one of the two most prolific publishers on the faculty. Of course, if you just counted total number, it’s true but his publications were about this long (gestures a very small length). He wrote a letter to the Daily Titan complaining about the rest of us faculty members that we didn’t publish enough. One professor of History came up to him and said “Alan, some asshole is writing letters to the editor in your name.”
Mike Pettus
Graduation Class: 1972
I was here on campus, I think it was 1970, when we had the Fullerton protests, or riots, or whatever you want to call it. I was working part-time in the drama department and I was a video technician. We heard something was going on so me and the other guy that was working there took this video tape recorder which was about 4 feet by 2 feet, you know, old technology, to the roof of the Humanities building and we caught the whole thing on tape. The whole event, the police, the students and everything. I learned a lot from that experience about politics. That tape became a great focus. I went back to work a few days later. I was in the back of the TV studio working on some things and the Fullerton police showed up. They said “we understand there’s a tape”. I said “yeah there is”. They said “Can we have it?”. I gave it to them. They said “Is this the only copy?” I said, “Oh no”. “There’s many copies and they’ve been put away in all kinds of interesting places, I don’t even remember.” They were very upset. That was a very polarized time. That was an event I’ll never forget, being on the roof of the Humanities building.
Kevin Hauser
Graduation Class: 2003
Hi, my name is Kevin, I graduated in 2003. The way I said that, it sounded like a support group. I don’t have a drinking problem. First thing that popped into my mind, Merrill used to give extensive comments on our papers. One of the final comments was very blunt. He said, “We’ll have to see, Kevin, whether we will be able to make a professional Philosopher out of you or you will simply be an eccentric intelligence.” The Jury is still out, obviously. That was a memorable paper.
The other thing I was reminded of is Heather Battaly’s Epistemology class. It was me, John Vu, and Kim ?? The counterexamples in class, as some of you know, are just fantastic, the barns and the cows… We just couldn’t hold it together when we got to Alvin Plantinga’s Epistemically Serendipitous Adhesion. So, apparently some leech gets on you that gives you good beliefs and you have to figure out if they’re actual. So yeah, I handled it really well. It left me with a lasting impression that Analytic Epistemology and high comedy are similar.
Craig Ihara, Emeritus Professor
I remember introducing a philosopher I really admired, Alasdair MacIntyre. I set out to do the introduction by telling a story about Confucius who had just come back from visiting Lao Tzu and his students were saying “What do you think about Lao Tzu?”. To make this story short he said, “Lao Tzu is like the dragon, he surpasses my understanding.” I said to the audience, “I want to introduce you today to an American dragon, Alasdair MacIntyre. Alasdair MacIntyre came up and said, “Well, I’ve never been compared to a mythological beast before.”
One of the student commentators at that symposium so impressed MacIntyre that he wrote him a letter of recommendation to grad school!
