Marvin Farber (December 14, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and educator.

Early life and education

He was born in Buffalo,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents Simon and Matilda (Goldstein) Farber. He was the second oldest of their 14 children. One of his brothers was pathologist and cancer researcher Sidney Farber. Initially a music student at the University of Buffalo, but he transferred in 1920 to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, graduating ''summa cum laude'' with his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1922. He earned his Ph.D. in 1925 at Harvard. He also attended German universities of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, and Freiburg, studying under

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

, Heinrich Rickert, and

Ernst Zermelo Ernst Friedrich Ferdinand Zermelo (, ; 27 July 187121 May 1953) was a German logician and mathematician, whose work has major implications for the foundations of mathematics. He is known for his role in developing Zermelo–Fraenkel axiomatic se ...

, among others.

Career

Farber taught for a year at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

between his studies in Germany. He then taught at his initial alma mater, the University at Buffalo, from 1927 to 1961 and 1964–1974; during the interim, he was Chairman of the Department of Philosophy at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. After his first year at University of Buffalo, he was appointed Assistant Professor. He founded the journal ''

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research ''Philosophy and Phenomenological Research'' (''PPR'') is a bimonthly philosophy journal founded in 1940. Until 1980, it was edited by Marvin Farber, then by Roderick Chisholm and since 1986 by Ernest Sosa. It considers itself open to a variety ...

'' in 1940 and was its editor until 1980. He was Chairman of the Department of Philosophy from 1937 to 1961. He was designated

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 1974 and retired in 1977.

Personal life and demise

He died in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

after months of serious illness. He was survived by his loving wife Lorraine and three children, Lawrence, Roger and Carol.

Honors and awards

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

, 1944–45 * Docteur de l' Universitė de Lille, 1955 * President, American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), 1963

Bibliography

* '' Naturalism and Subjectivism'', 1959 * ''

Phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

and Existence: Toward a Philosophy within Nature'', 1967. * ''The Search for an Alternative: Philosophical Perspectives of Subjectivism and

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

'', 1984. * ''The Foundation of Phenomenology:

and the Quest for a Rigorous Science of Philosophy'', 2006.

Notes

External links

''Journal of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research''
at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

Catalog of Marvin Farber papers
at the University at Buffalo 1901 births 1980 deaths Jewish American academics Jewish philosophers Harvard University alumni University at Buffalo faculty 20th-century American philosophers People from Buffalo, New York 20th-century American Jews {{US-philosopher-stub