Austin J. Fagothey, S.J. Papers, 1950-1989, bulk 1951-1975

Printable guide [HTML]

Summary

Creators:
Austin J. Fagothey, S.J.
Abstract:
The Austin J. Fagothey, S.J. Papers, 1950-1989 (bulk 1951-1975) consist of biographical materials, correspondence, manuscripts, and teaching materials. The collection is comprised primarily of documents chronicling the development of Fagothey’s seminal texts, Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice (1953) and the Anthology of Right and Reason (1972), including correspondence, outlines, reviews, and legal agreements. The collection also includes one bound copy of Fagothey’s Applied Ethics (undated) and two typescript copies of Basic Ethics (c. 1947), which are unpublished texts created for student use at Santa Clara University. This collection is arranged into five series: Series I: Biographical Materials; Series II: Manuscripts; Series III: Correspondence; Series IV: Teaching Materials; and Series V: Unpublished Manuscripts.
Extent:
2 boxes, 0.85 linear feet
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The Austin J. Fagothey, S.J. Papers, 1950-1989 (bulk 1951-1975) consist of biographical materials, correspondence, manuscripts, and teaching materials. The collection is comprised primarily of documents chronicling the development of Fagothey’s seminal texts, Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice (1953) and the Anthology of Right and Reason (1972), including correspondence, outlines, reviews, and legal agreements. The collection also includes one bound copy of Fagothey’s Applied Ethics (undated) and two typescript copies of Basic Ethics (c. 1947), which are unpublished texts created for student use at Santa Clara University.

Biographical / historical:

Austin J. Fagothey was born in San Francisco, California on June 23, 1901. After graduating from St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco he entered the Society of Jesus. He began his Jesuit Training at the Sacred Heart Novitiate in Los Gatos, California on July 18, 1917. Fagothey received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington and an S.T.L from Weston College in Massachusetts where he was ordained a priest in 1931. Arriving at the University of Santa Clara in 1926, he taught Greek and English for the 1926-27 academic year and philosophy from 1932-34 and 1935-36. From 1936 to 1938, he taught theology at Alma College, the theologate of the California Jesuit Province near Los Gatos, and then returned to the University of Santa Clara. A philosophy professor, Fr. Fagothey chaired the Philosophy Department throughout thirty of his forty years at Santa Clara University. He also served on the university's Board of Trustees from 1943-1973. During commencement exercises in 1974, the university awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.

Fr. Fagothey's life centered around teaching. As he once put it: "We need people who go to work on the poverty movement, who go into politics to change laws, who work with minorities to try to achieve justice. All of these are excellent works. But I look on teaching also as an excellent work. Poverty and injustice are human needs that must be relieved. So is ignorance. Each new generation comes without knowledge and the only ones who can give to them are those who are trained to do so. I feel that devoting my life to this is a human work, a work that is beneficial to human beings as humans. I think that it is part of my Christian vocation, because we are supposed to do good to our fellow man" (The Santa Clara Today, July 1975).

The author of Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice (1953) and the Anthology of Right and Reason (1972), Fagothey was nationally renowned for his work in the field of ethical inquiry. Regarding Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice, he wrote: "The point of view adopted in this book is that of the Aristotelian-Thomistic synthesis . . . that applies the wisdom of the ancients, tried and proved in the crucible of historical experience, to the discoveries and problems of modern life. Ethics is a part of philosophy . . . [and] the author believes that even the most concrete problems can be viewed in the true spirit of philosophical inquiry" (pp.5).

Aside from a brief sojourn in Rome, Italy, where he received a Ph.D in Theology in 1963 from the Pontifical Gregorian University, he remained a teacher at Santa Clara University until he entered the hospital suffering from a terminal illness just two weeks before the end of the 1974-75 academic year, and less than a week before his death on May 29, 1975.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged into five series: Series I: Biographical Materials; Series II: Manuscripts; Series III: Correspondence; Series IV: Teaching Materials; and Series V: Unpublished Manuscripts.

Physical location:
This collection is located in Santa Clara University’s Department of Archives & Special Collections.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Dept. of Archives & Special Collections, University Library,
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053-0500, US
Contact:
(408) 554-5530
specialcollections@scu.edu
Website