Maurice Alexander Natanson (November 26, 1924 – August 16, 1996) was an American philosopher "who helped introduce the work of

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

and

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 ...

in the United States". He was a student of

Alfred Schutz Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interlu ...

at the

New School for Social Research The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...

and helped popularize Schutz' work from the 1960s onward. During his career he taught at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

, the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research, the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, the

University of California at Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

where he helped establish the

History of Consciousness History of Consciousness is the name of a department in the Humanities Division of the University of California, Santa Cruz with a 50+ year history of interdisciplinary research and student training in "established and emergent disciplines and fiel ...

graduate program. He was a visiting professor at the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

and

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. A captivating speaker, Natanson delivered the inaugural Alfred Schutz Memorial Lecture, "Alfred Schutz: Philosopher and Social Scientist" (1995) and the

Aron Gurwitsch Aron Gurwitsch (russian: Аро́н Гу́рвич; 17 January 1901, Vilnius, Vilna Governorate – 25 June 1973, Zurich) was a Litvak American phenomenologist. Work Gurwitsch wrote on the relations between phenomenology and Gestalt psychology ...

Memorial Lecture "Illusion and Irreality" (1983) at the annual meetings of the

Society for Phenomenology & the Human Sciences A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societi ...

in 1995. Natanson was born in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn. He died from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

on August 16, 1996, at age 71.

Works

Natanson was the author of numerous works including: *''A Critique of Jean-Paul Sartre's Ontology'' (1951) *''Literature, Philosophy and the Social Sciences'' (1962) *''The Journeying Self: A Study in Philosophy and Social Role'' (1970) *''Edmund Husserl: Philosopher of Infinite Tasks'' (1973) *''Phenomenology, Role and Reason'' (1974) *''Anonymity: A Study in the Philosophy of Alfred Schutz'' (1986) *''The Erotic Bird: Phenomenology in Literature,'' (1998) and editor of ''Essays in Phenomenology'' (1966) *''Phenomenology and the Social Sciences'' (volumes 1 and 2) (1973). Natanson also edited ''The Problem of Social Reality'', volume I of the collected papers of

. The Husserl book won the

National Book Award for Philosophy and Religion These authors and books have won the annual National Book Awards, awarded to American authors by the National Book Foundation based in the United States. History of categories The National Book Awards were first awarded to four 1935 publications ...

in 1974. A ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' in honor of Natanson, ''The Prism of the Self'', published in 1995 (edited by Steven Calt Crowell), includes contributions from Fred Kersten, Lester Embree,

Lewis Gordon Lewis Ricardo Gordon (born May 12, 1962) is an American philosopher at the University of Connecticut who works in the areas of Africana philosophy, existentialism, phenomenology, social and political theory, postcolonial thought, theories of ...

, Thomas Luckman, Richard Zaner, Nobuo Kazashi, Michael McDuffie, Gail Weiss, and

Judith Butler Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler ...

References

External links

Photographs of Maurice Natanson from the UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
1924 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American philosophers Academics from New York (state) Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from prostate cancer People from Manhattan Phenomenologists University of California, Santa Cruz faculty University of Houston faculty University of North Carolina faculty Writers from Brooklyn Yale University faculty {{US-philosopher-stub