Remembrance of Ernst L. Moerk

Abstract

I visited Ernst while he was convalescing from brain surgery in Los Angeles. It was the first time we had officially met, although I had attended talks he had given and we had corresponded via email several times when I was editor of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior. Ernst greeted me at the door of his room in the convalescent center and asked if I wanted a beer. It was early afternoon and I said I didn't but that I would get something else to drink. So we walked down to the corner store, where Ernst bought himself a beer, and treated me to a bottle of water. We walked back to the center and sat in chairs by the windows outside his room. For the next hour or so, we talked about various topics, including behaviorism, language, and Ernst's life. He admitted he still wasn't completely facile with behavior analysis, although it was clear that was where his sympathies lay. We discussed the problem of mental events in a science of behavior, with me trying to describe a radical behavioral approach. Ernst talked about his new book, which he said was almost finished, and his homes in Austria and Fresno. When I told him I might be in the market for a full-time academic position, he offered to put me in contact with people in the psychology department at California State University—Fresno. He described Fresno as a good place to live and spoke fondly of his house and life there. Most of the other patients in the convalescent center were older than Ernst, and he mentioned more than once how he felt out of place. Otherwise, he was in good spirits and seemed to have little difficulty talking and remembering, despite the fact that he had just undergone brain surgery. But he grew tired and I told him that I should probably leave. Ernst walked me downstairs to the front door and thanked me for the visit. I wished him a speedy recovery and we agreed to stay in touch via email. I am sorry I did not get a chance to spend more time with Ernst, but glad for the opportunity to visit with him when I did.