Gregory S. Kavka, Philosophy: Irvine 1947-1994 Professor Gregory Kavka died on February 16, 1994, at the age of 46. After cancer was first detected in January of 1984, Greg underwent intensive radiation and three major operations over the next three years. The cancer recurred after a remission of seven years. Despite the debilitating and disfiguring nature of his operations and treatments, Greg fought his way back to a full and productive schedule of writing and teaching and to a new and rich period of his personal life. He published one book and thirteen articles between 1987 and the end of his life. He was also well along on another book, provisionally entitled, Governing Angels. In his own view, however, perhaps the most important achievement of this period was the birth of his beloved daughter, Amber, in 1989. Greg grew up in Chicago. After earning a B.A. in philosophy from Princeton University, Greg entered the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan, where he met his wife, Virginia Warren. After completing a dissertation under the supervision of Richard Brandt, he took a job at UCLA in 1973. He joined the philosophy department at Irvine as an associate professor in 1979. Greg produced an influential body of work that established him as one of the leading political philosophers of his generation. He wrote more than fifty philosophical articles and reviews, some of which were widely reprinted. He published two important books, Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory and Moral Paradoxes of Nuclear Deterrence. His work on Hobbes and on rationality is internationally admired. The brilliant work on nuclear deterrence instituted a new field of practical philosophy. He was also a recipient of prestigious awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities (may it survive the Republican Contract with America!) and the Ford Foundation. ― 144 ― Two scholarly meetings have been held in 1995 on Gregs work. A three-day conference, Rationality Commitment and Community: A Conference in Honor of Gregory Kavka, was held in February at UC Irvine. Plans are underway to publish the proceedings of this conference in a major press. A symposium on Kavkas later work was held in March at the Pacific Meetings of the American Philosophical Society, in San Francisco. Gregs other contributions to the profession, to the University, and to the department were numerous and important. He was a professor of social science as well as of philosophy. He participated in the founding of the Global Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Irvine and was active in the Interdisciplinary Program on Public Choice. He was also a member of the Planning Committee for an Interdisciplinary Program in Bioethics. Gregs contributions to departmental affairs were energetic, judicious, and humorous. (He broke the tension of many a departmental meeting with his dry and punning wit.) Even in the face of his illness he played central roles on graduate admissions, personnel, and recruitment committees. He was a very popular undergraduate teacher and one of the most active and effective dissertation supervisors on the faculty. Personally, Greg was a deeply kind, thoughtful, and egalitarian human being. His lack of pretension and vanity was manifest in his relations with colleagues and students alike. He was also deeply dedicated in his personal and philosophical life to clarity and truth. These latter qualities probably explain Gregs attraction to Hobbes, whose line “The question is not what is fit to be preached but what is true,” could almost be his motto. However, Gregs honesty was inextricably bound up with his humanity, with his humaneness. These traits are difficult to combine. His humaneness prevented his honesty from becoming ruthless or cynical; his honesty prevented his humanity from lapsing into sentimentality or wishful thinking. These qualities must have helped to give him the nearly incomprehensible courage to endure the terrible ravages of his disease and to endure them without illusion: to love life all the same. By this rare achievement he gave those who knew him even more to live for. Greg is survived by his wife, Professor Virginia Warren of Chapman University; his daughter, Amber Kavka-Warren; his parents, Jerome Kavka, M.D. and Georgine Kavka M.D; and his sister, Audrey Kavka Moretti M.D. ― 145 ― A memorial fund in Greg Kavkas name has been established to support the work of younger scholars in social and political philosophy. To make a contribution to the fund, write a check to “UCI Foundations, Gregory Kavka Memorial Fund,” in care of the Department of Philosophy at UC Irvine, 92717. Tyler Burge Gary Watson
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 04:50:54 +0000
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