John Wild, phenomenology in America, and the origins of SPEP

Abstract

In preparing for this occasion, I thought that one of the best references that I could consult would be Volume XXVI of Analecta Husserliana, a special issue published in 1989 and devoted to the theme ‘‘American Phenomenology: Origins and Developments,’’ which was co-edited by Eugene Kaelin and, yes, Calvin Schrag. Under the heading ‘‘Founders,’’ the section that constitutes the first third of this volume, they had invited articles concerning Marvin Farber, Fritz Kaufmann, Moritz Geiger, and Alfred Schutz, plus a single essay by Lester Embree on both Dorion Cairns and Aron Gurwitsch and two essays on John Wild, one by James Edie and one by myself. I felt quite honored at the time. The late James Edie, whom I had by then come to know quite well, had chaired the Philosophy Department at Northwestern during what was perhaps the time of its greatest growth as a center for Continental European philosophy following John Wild’s unexpected departure for Yale just 2 years after his arrival in Evanston in the fall of 1961. Despite the comparative brevity of their time spent working together as colleagues, I had always regarded the two of them, and still do regard them, as close associates sharing many common philosophical goals despite their very disparate personalities. It was midway through that 2-year period that, with the indispensable help of Robert Scharff and other graduate students, Northwestern played host to the first meeting of SPEP, in the fall of 1962. By the time the next year’s meeting, also at Northwestern, took place, John Wild was already ensconced in New Haven. I was not present at the first meeting nor, if memory serves me, at the second one either. But the third one, in fall 1964, was held at Yale, and I had by then successfully defended my thesis 4 months earlier and was in my first year as a full-time Yale faculty member. It was at a break between sessions during that SPEP meeting that John Wild introduced me to Jim Edie, and Jim and I immediately began arguing over whether Merleau-Ponty’s two principal works on politics, Humanism and Terror and The Adventures of