Collection Guide
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Philosophy (Department of) Records
AR-138
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis Library, University Archives
Title: University of California, Davis Department of Philosophy Records
Creator:
University of California, Davis. Department of Philosophy
Identifier/Call Number: AR-138
Physical Description:
1 linear foot
Date (inclusive): 1953-1998
Abstract: Planning, history, and departmental review records
for the UC Davis Department of Philosophy.
Physical Location: Researchers should contact Archives and Special
Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Philosophy teaching at Davis took root in 1952, while the campus was still known as College of Agriculture at Davis.
Appointed to lead the newly formed Department of Philosophy and Fine Arts, Arthur Child was the only philosopher for 31
undergraduate students. Five years later William Bossart became the second faculty member, leading to separate status as the
Department of Philosophy in 1958, and establishment of a major program in 1959, when the campus was designated the University
of California, Davis. The faculty grew further with the addition of Neal Gilbert, Ronald Arbini, Marjorie Grene and John
Malcolm in the 1960s. Professors Child and Gilbert established the foundation of an outstanding collection of philosophy
books and journals in both the Shields and the Department of Philosophy libraries, according to a historical account that
Malcolm, as a professor emeritus, prepared in 1999.
In 1965 the department enrolled its first graduate students. The main emphasis in undergraduate and graduate teaching was
on the history of philosophy, a concentration that enabled many our early graduate students to gain community college
teaching positions. Indeed, all members of the department were qualified to teach advanced courses in either ancient or
modern (17th–18th century) philosophy. This focus was maintained in the late 1960s and the early 1970s when Fred Berger,
Joel Friedman, G. J. Mattey and Michael Wedin joined our faculty. Virtually all members of the department, however, had
interests other than history of philosophy. Marjorie Grene, for example, was internationally known in an impressive number
of
fields, notably continental (European) philosophy and philosophy of biology, in addition to her work on Aristotle, Descartes
and other historical figures.
By the 1980s and '90s, the department's academic and scholarly research programs no longer focused predominant on the
major figures of the past. The department inaugurated a History and Philosophy of Science program in 1983 under the
supervision of James Griesemer. It was primarily a lecture series until 1990, when it became an interdepartmental program
with an undergraduate minor. The program, which originally concentrated on philosophy of biology, came to include philosophy
of physics, under Paul Teller. Several people, including Gerald Dworkin and Connie Rosati, had replaced Fred Berger in ethics
and philosophy of law, a field in which the majority of philosophy graduate students were working by then.
Source: Department of Philosophy Website: About - Department of Philosophy - Our six-decade legacy.
https://philosophy.ucdavis.edu/about. Last accessed 27
November 2019.
Records include academic planning documents, departmental history, and program review records for the UC Davis Department
of Philosophy.
Collection is arranged in two series: 1. General Information and 2. Program Reviews.
Collection is open for research.
Collection processed by Vanessa Cardona-Ocegueda.
[Identification of item], University of California, Davis Department of Philosophy Records, AR-138, Archives and Special
Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.
All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is
not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
University of
California, Davis. Department of Philosophy -- Archives
University of California, Davis -- History