Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
 
 
Table of contents What's This?

box 1-4

Series 1: Subject Files

Scope and Contents

The Subject File series comprises the largest portion of the collection, containing Kaplan's personal and professional files. Most of the files in this series were compiled and titled by Kaplan himself. Of particular interest is a series of files that he grouped into "Lectures;" each file contains typed and handwritten pages filled with Kaplan's knowledge of a particular subject, delivered in lectures to students around the world.
Kaplan used much of the material here as a resource to compile his written works and to broaden his knowledge of world religions and cultures. Of special interest is a file titled "Terrorism," which contains articles and research findings that Kaplan had gathered on the subject. Other areas within the series include disciplines of philosophy, world history, and religion (with an emphasis on Judaism throughout).
In addition to files originating with Kaplan are two other areas of interest: "News Articles/Publications About Kaplan" and "Interviews with Kaplan," containing news clippings, journals, periodicals, photocopies, and programs detailing the philosopher's career and ideology.
Kaplan's "Professional Correspondence" is also contained here, being letters and memorabilia from colleagues, friends and students.

Arrangement

The series is arranged alphabetically by file title. Most files were titled by Kaplan; files without a title were assigned a titled by Special Collections staff, but the contents within these files have not been moved or modified.
box 1

Academic Groups

box 2

Hist. Esthetics — Lectures-Zionism

box 3

Literary Criticism — Probability

box 4

Professional Correspondence — Zen

box 5-8

Series 2: Writings

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by title.
This series is of Kaplan's writings: handwritten and word-processed; published and unpublished; finished and unfinished; submitted to many publishers or to none at all. Most of the typewritten works arrived in mass quantities; three copies of each were accessioned and the rest were reserved for donation or other possible uses. The documents were arranged into alphabetical order for ease in finding a work by title. In some cases Kaplan kept files accompanying his works, whether they were research or rejection notices. These files are placed before their corresponding manuscripts in the collection. As in the Subject File Series, many manuscripts arrived arranged in files by Kaplan, and were not necessarily arranged by specific title. In some instances, files are titled by the subject of the manuscript and not by the title of the work. Rather than disturb the files created by Kaplan, they were arranged alphabetically by the title that he gave them. All other files are arranged by the title of the manuscript.

Scope and Contents

The Writings series contains Kaplan's extensive collection of handwritten and typed lectures, essays, reviews, articles, and book manuscripts. Works are shown in various stages of progress, from cross-out and white-out editing to the publisher's review copy. Some files contain materials related to the compilation or publication of a work; i.e., handwritten notes, offprints of articles used as reference, and even publishers' rejection notices. Titles of significance in this series include Kaplan's unpublished works On Being Human: Notes for the Examined Life; The Mind of Israel; and The God Story, which was co-written with his wife Iona Kaplan. Of special interest is the title Freedom and Terror: Reason and Unreason in Politics, which contains two chapters about terrorism. One of the chapters, The Psychodynamics of Terrorism, was published in a journal and can be found in the Publications series; the other chapter, The Ethics of Terrorism, can be found as an additional file in this series. Also included are a several published works that gained special attention: (In) Pursuit of Wisdom: The Scope of Philosophy is one example. As in the Subject File series, the Writings series covers a large array of topics from metaphysics to religion, with a strong emphasis on the Hebrew culture. Many files in the Writings series can be cross-referenced with their published counterparts in the Publications series.
box 5

Aesop Revisited — Freedom and Terror

box 6

Freedom and Terror — Management MSS & WPI

box 7

Management and the Metaphysics of Culture — Pardon the Expression

box 8

Pardon the Expression — Values in Decision-Making

box 9-10

Series 3: Publications

Scope and Contents

Located in the Publications series are all of the published materials that arrived with Kaplan Collection. Formats include journal offprints/reprints, entire journals, hardbound books, and photocopies of journals/magazines. Kaplan's works are presented in a variety of languages including German, Portuguese, French, and Hebrew. One important title in this series is Kaplan's first book The New World of Philosophy. Also of interest is a file of book reviews written by Kaplan and two Encyclopedia Americana volumes that contain Kaplan's contributions for BODY AND MIND and CAUSE. Of special interest is an article in which Kaplan delves into the topic of terrorism: The Psychodynamics of Terrorism. Of particular note to those in the field of library information science is Kaplan's article The Age of the Symbol: a Philosophy of Library Education from v.34, no.4 of Library Quarterly, in which he succinctly redefines the function of the library as it relates to the age of information. Many files in the Publications series can be cross-referenced with their unpublished counterparts in the Writings series.

Arrangement note

The series is arranged into two subseries: 3.1. Serials and 3.2. Monographs.
box 9

Subseries 3.1: Serials

Scope and Contents

Box 9:
-Aesthetics of the Popular Arts — Journal of Aesthetics and Criticism, v.24 no.3, Spr. 1966
-Age in Western Theory and Practice
-Age of the Symbol — Library Quarterly — v.34 no.4, Oct. 1964 — pp. 295-304
-American Ethics and Public Policy — Daedalus — v.87 no.2, 1958
-Are Moral Judgements Assertion? — Philosophical Review - May 1942
-Behavioral Science and the Law — Case Western Reserve Law Review — v.19 no.1, Nov. 1967
-Buddhism and Judaism — Bulletin Sanko Research Institute — no.3, 1968
-Calculus for Empirical Classes — Methods — 1951
-Content Analysis and the Theory of Signs — Philosophy of Science — v.10, Oct. 1943
-Definition and the Specification of Meaning — Journal of Philosophy — v.43 no.11, May 23, 1946
-East-West Center (Text of a Speech to East-West Center Students… )- Jan. 22, 1969
-Epistemology of Drug Abuse
-Esthetic Ambiguity — Philosophy and Phenomenological Research — v.8 no.3, Mar. 1948
-Experimental Study of Ambiguity and Context — Mechanical Translation — v.2 no.2, Nov. 1955
-Explanations of Ritual — DAAT — no.13, Summer 1984
-Frames of Irrationality — Epistemologia
-Framework for an Empirical Ethics — Philosophy of Science — v.7 no.4, Oct. 1940
-Freud et la Philosophie Moderne — Etudes Philosophiques — no.3, Jul./Sep. 1964
-Hasidism and Zen-Buddhism — Japanese Religions — v.8 no.3, Apr. 1975
-Hassidism — Brandeis Institute Women's Association
-Havdalah: An Original Service — Central Conference American Rabbis Journal — Autumn 1972
-HEBREW PUBLICATIONS — Contains several journals and newsclippings printed in Hebrew
-Historical Interpretation — Philosophy of History and Action — Dordrecht, Reidel, 1978. Rev. from In Pursuit of Wisdom — Los Angeles, Glencoe, 1977
-Human Relations and Human Rights in Judaism (based on the Mark Chamberlain Lecture delivered at Lewis and Clark University, Jan. 13, 1978)
-Impact of Pragmatism on the Problems of Developing Countries — Indian Journal of American Studies — v.7 no.2, July 1977
-Irrationality in Decision-Making — Mathematical Social Sciences — no.13, 1987
-Judaic View of God — Judaism — v.33 no.4, Fall 1984
-Life of Dialogue — Communication
-Logical Empiricism and Value Judgements — The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap — LaSalle, The Open Court Publishing Co., 1963
-Madness in the Modern Theater — Journal of the Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo (Aesthetics) — v.3, 1978
-Maturity in Religion (Freud Memorial Lecture delivered before the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis, May 24, 1963)
-Moral Responsibilities and Political Realities — Policy Sciences — no.14, 1982
-Moral Values in Higher Education
-Must There Be Propositions? — Mind — v.48 no.192
-My Faith — Hillel Council Maccabean — March 1959
-NEWSPAPER ARTICLES — Contains newsclippings and photocopies of Kaplan's newspaper articles
-Noncausal Explanation — Cause and Effect — Free Press, 1965 — pp. 145-56
-O Tempora, O Mores! — Tempo Economico — no.274
-Obscenity as an Esthetic Category — Law and Contemporary Problems — Autumn 1955 AND Kim-dai "Hogaku" — v.12 nos.3-4, March 15, 1964
-On the So-called Crisis in Criticism — Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism — v.7 no.1, Sep. 1948
-On the Strategy of Social Planning — Policy Sciences 4 — 1973 — pp. 41-61
-Philosophic Sense and Mystic Sensibility — Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association — v.32, Dec. 29-31 1958
-Philosophical Point of View — Psychiatric Research Reports 6 — Oct. 1956 — pp. 199-21
-Philosophical Discussion of Normality — Archives of General Psychiatry — v.17, Sep. 1967
-Philosophy of Science in Anthropology — Annual Review of Anthropology — 1984
-Poetry, Medicine and Metaphysics — Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysisv.9 no.1, 1981
-Political Liberty and Human Bondage
-Prediction of Social and Technological Events
-Psychiatrists and Clergymen: Enemies or Allies? — Saturday Evening Post — v.234 no.38, Sep. 23 1961
-Psychodynamics of Terrorism — Terrorism: An International Journal — v.1 no.3/4, 1978
-Realism in the Film: A Philosopher's Viewpoint — The Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television — v.7 no.4, 1953
-Referential Meaning in the Arts — Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism — v.7 no.4, Jun. 1954
-Reflections on the Brandeis Camp Institute — Brandeis Institute News — Mar./Apr. 1971
-REVIEWS — Contains book reviews written by Kaplan; published in various journals
-Sexual Symbolism in the Kabbalah
-Social Ethics and the Sanctity of Life: A Summary — Life or Death: Ethics and Options — Portland, Reed College, 1968, pp.152-167
-Spinoza and Freud — Journal of the American Academy of Psychonanalysis — v.5 no.3, 1977
-Student Movement — Education Digest — v.33 no.1, Sep. 1967 AND Carnegie Review - no.10, Jan. 1967
-Study of Man
-Theory of Value — from "The Conduct of Inquiry" — Chandler Publishing Co., 1964
-Towards a Philosophy of Judaism — The Jewish Teacher — v.30 no.4, Apr. 1962
-Travesty of the Philosophers — Change — Jan.-Feb. 1970
-Two Philosophies of Small Group Training — Revista For Delli AIF — no.16, Mar. 1992
-Unifying Science in a Disunified World — Scientific Monthly — v.52, Jan. 1941
-Veranderung Durch Ideen — Hochkeppel — no.82, 1970
-What Does Art Express? — Colorado Quarterly — v.11 no.2, Aut. 1962
-What Good is "Truth?" — Philosophy and Phenomenological Research v.15 no.2, Dec.1954
-Whose Just Rights? — Keeping Posted — v.20 no.8, May 1975

Arrangement

The subseries is arranged alphabetically by file title.
box 10

Subseries 3.2: Monographs

Scope and Contents

Box 10:
-A Conduta Na Pesquisa — Sao Paulo, Editora Herder, 1969 (a Portuguese translation of
The Conduct of Inquiry) — 2 COPIES
-Encyclopedia Americana v.4 — New York, Americana Corporation, 1959 — contains "Body and Mind," pp. 146-7
-Encyclopedia Americana v.6 — New York, Americana Corporation, 1959 — contains "Cause," pp.131-2
-Life or Death: Ethics and Options — Portland, Reed College, 1968 — contains "Social Ethics and the Sanctity of Life: A Summary," pp.152-167
-Mirror of Men's Minds vol.II — Dubuque, WM. C. Brown Book Company, 1967 — contains "The Aesthetics of the Popular Arts," pp.155-167
-National Association of Home Builders Interdisciplinary Conference on Environmental Design: Transcript of General Sessions — Washington, D.C., National Housing Center, Nov. 19-20, 1964 — Remarks made throughout transcript of conference
-The New World of Philosophy — London, St. James's Place, 1962 — 2 COPIES (hrdbk)
-The New World of Philosophy — New York, Vintage Books, 1961 — 1 COPY (pbk)
-Sigma: En Matematikens Kulturhistoria sammanstalld och Kommenterad — Stockholm,Victor Pettersons Bokindustri, 1959 — pp.1263-1282 (A Swedish Translation of The World of Mathematics)
-Spheres of Psychotherapeutic Activity — Haifa, The Medical Department, Kupat Cholim Centre — Introduction by Kaplan
-Theorien der Kunst — Frankfurt, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1982 — pp.491-523 — contains "Referenz in der Kunst" (German translation of Reference in the Arts)
-Western Regional Conference for Nurses in Administrative and Supervisory Positions: Human Relations in Supervision — Los Angeles, The School of Nursing, University Extension UCLA, June 10-13, 1956 — contains "Logic, Semantics and the Making Of Decisions," pp.3-12

Arrangement

The subseries is arranged alphabetically by file title.
box 11

Series 4: Recordings

Scope and Contents

The series includes taped recordings of lectures given by Kaplan from 1954 to 1989 at high school assemblies, radio conferences, workshops, conferences and seminars. The series also includes an oral history interview with Kaplan conducted in December 1989. Recordings in the series are on audiocassettes and 1/4 inch audio tapes.

Arrangement

The series is arranged chronologically by file date.