Paul Piccone (January 17, 1940 – July 12, 2004) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...

philosopher,

critical theorist A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from socia ...

intellectual historian Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

, and most notably the founder and long-time editor of the journal ''Telos''. He was born in

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to a family that emigrated to

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

in the mid-1950s. In 1968, he and others started the journal ''Telos'', which he edited until his death in 2004. He completed a doctorate in philosophy at

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

in 1970. He then taught at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

until 1977.

Life

Piccone was born in L'Aquila, Italy on January 17, 1940. He immigrated to the United States with his family at age 14, and they settled in Rochester, New York. After undergraduate studies at

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

, he did his doctoral work in philosophy at SUNY-Buffalo where he received his Ph.D. in 1970. He was appointed to a position in the Department of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, and published ''Telos'' from his office there until he was denied promotion and tenure in 1977. Following a tumultuous administrative and legal struggle to reverse that decision, he left the Midwest to set up shop in New York's East Village in the 1980s.

''Telos''

For over three decades, ''

Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of a work of human art. Intentional actualization of potential or inherent purpose,"Telos.''Philosophy Terms'' Retrieved 3 May 2020. ...

'' survived as an independent "quarterly journal of critical thought" under his editorship. However during the 1980’s the journal gave up its left political orientation.

Death

Not long after turning 60, Piccone contracted a rare form of cancer during 2000. He battled it successfully for many long months, but on July 12, 2004, he died at age 64.

Bibliography

Books

* '' TELOS: A Journal of Critical Theory'', Paul Piccone, ed., nos. 1-127. * ''Towards a New Marxism'', Paul Piccone and Bart Grahl, eds. (St. Louis, MO: Telos Press, 1973). * ''Italian Marxism'', Paul Piccone (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983). * '' Confronting the Crisis: Writings of Paul Piccone'', Paul Piccone, ed. and intro. by Gary Ulmen (New York: Telos Press, 2008).

References

External links

www.telospress.com
- Official website of Telos Press, publishers of ''TELOS'' * Timothy W. Luke
of Paul Piccone"">"The Trek with ''Telos'': A Rememberance (sic) of Paul Piccone"
''Fast Capitalism'' 1.2 (2005).
"Paul Piccone,"
''Manhattan, Inc.'', July 1990. *

Russell Jacoby Russell Jacoby (born April 23, 1945) is a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an author and a critic of academic culture. His fields of interest are twentieth-century European and American intellectual and cul ...

"Paul Piccone: Outside Academe,"
''Chronicle of Higher Education'', June 13, 2008. * Collin May

'C2C: Canada's Journal of Ideas'', vol. 2, no. 1 (2008): 49-54. {{DEFAULTSORT:Piccone, Paul 1940 births 2004 deaths Italian emigrants to the United States American Marxists American political philosophers Critical theorists Intellectual historians University at Buffalo alumni Washington University in St. Louis faculty Indiana University alumni