Emeriti

The St. Cloud State Philosophy Department began in 1962 with four members: Alex Michalos, John Phillips, James Sheridan and George Yoos.  The Department was created in order to provide all St. Cloud students with a required general education course in philosophy.  More specialized and advanced courses were also offered for those students who chose to major or minor in the field.  In addition, over the years, the Department has developed courses and sequences of courses designed for the needs of other programs at the University.  These other programs include Religious Studies, Women’s Studies, Criminal Justice, Business and Environmental Studies. 

Throughout its history, the Department has continued to pursue its initial mission of providing general education in philosophy for all undergraduates.  Today this mission is fulfilled by a required course in Critical Reasoning: a course in the application of logical techniques to a variety of issues, both academic and practical.

While a great many teachers of philosophy have been members of the Department over its 45 year history, some retired from teaching when they left the Department.  These are the emeriti.  They (together with their current interests, activities, and other information) are listed alphabetically below.

Myron Anderson
Address: 1016 9th Ave. S., St. Cloud, MN  56301
Phone: 320-251-4829
Internet address: mganderson@stcloudstate.edu

Years at SCSU: 36
Areas of specialization: History of Modern Philosophy, Marxism, Existentialism, American Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Law and Punishment.

Current activities:
Auditing philosophy courses in metaphysics, the mind-body problem, epistemology, et al.
Reading books and internet materials on the current political/cultural scene.
Reflecting on the “paradigm shift” in my political attitudes since Bush inadvertently awakened me from my former neo-con slumbers.  “El sueno de la rason produce monstruos.”
Trying to write something new on such topics as pacifism, patriotism, personal identity and radical contingency.
Listening to lecture series from the Teaching Company while jogging.

John Bahde
Address: Box 5222, Frisco, CO  80443
Telephone: 970-668-0979
Internet address: jbahde@stcloudstate.edu

Years at SCSU: 35
Areas of specialization: Metaphysics, Ethics, Philosophy of Language.

Current activities:
Reading and writing philosophy.
Skiing, biking and hiking.
Photography, playing the piano and cooking.

Richard Corliss
Address: 1216 Riverside Dr. S.E., St. Cloud, MN  56304
Telephone: 320-251-9457
Internet address: rcorliss@charter.net

Years at SCSU: 30
Area of specialization: Philosophy of Religion.

Current activities:
Caregiver for wife, Mary.
Presenting musical programs in rest homes and the VA hospital.  Performs on trombone and keyboard.  Also does vocals.

Alan M. Phillips
Address: 1013 8th Ave. S.E., St. Cloud, MN  56301-1601
Telephone: 320-249-5076
Internet address: elanpih@aol.com

Years at SCSU: 30
Areas of specialization: Plato, Greek Philosophy, Philosophy of Law and Punishment, Philosophical Anthropology, History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy.

Current activities:
Studying areas of philosophy missed while teaching: Epistemology, Metaphysics, Analytic Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science.
Writing philosophical science fiction.  Ten novels completed so far with the eleventh on the way.  Three novella-short story collections.
Directing choir at the Unitarian Church.
Playing drums.
Running (including half-marathons).
Five times a grandfather (so far).

John N. Phillips (Jack)
Address: Kenwood Isles #514, 1425 W. 28th St., Minneapolis, MN  55408
Telephone: 612-872-6660
Internet address: jacph@aol.com

Years at SCSU: 20
Areas of specialization: Ethics, Logic, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Studies.

Current activities:
Two unpublished books available in spiral bound format.  Cosmolog, evolution from light to enlightenment (1992).  Cosmolog Papers, 44 short papers on Cosmic epic, Earth glory, Human potential, Personal realization, Language, Metacriticism, White Wholes, Limits of relativism, Trying to begin at the beginning (2005).
European travel.
Music and Theatre.

James White
Address: 610 6th Ave. S., St. Cloud, MN  56301
Internet address: jewhite@stcloudstate.edu

Years at SCSU: 36
Areas of specialization: Ethics, Buddhism.

Current activities:
Currently finishing revisions on the 9th edition of his very popular textbook Contemporary Moral Problems (Wadsworth).

George Yoos
Address: 12129 24th St., Clear Lake, MN  55319
Telephone: 320-743-3127
Internet addresses: gyoos@aol.com; geyoos@stcloudstate.edu.

Years at SCSU: 31
Areas of specialization: Philosophy of Communication, Critical Thinking, Social and Political Philosophy.

Current activities:
Publications since retirement:
Reframing Rhetoric: A Liberal Politics Without Dogma (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Review of Bernard Williams, Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay on Genealogy (Princeton University Press, 2002) in Rhetoric Review XXII No. 2 (Fall 2003).

“Finding Jim’s Voice: A Problem in Ethos and Personal Identity,” The Spaciousness of Rhetoric, Therasa Enos and Keith Miller, eds. (Hinsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, Lawrence Associates, 2002).

Re-Reviews of C.A. Willard, Liberalism and the Problem of Knowledge: A New Rhetoric for Modern Democracy (1996); B. Crick, In Defence of Modern Politics (1962); Ortega & Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses (1932); J. Dewey, The Public and its Problems (1927) in Rhetoric Review XVI (Spring 1998).

“Ross Tells Stories: Explorations in the Study of Narrative,” Journal of Advanced Composition (Fall 1998).

“Pragmatics and Critical Thinking,” Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines XIV (Summer 1995).

Review of R.S. Brumbaugh, Western Philosophical Systems and Their Cyclic Transformations (Southern Illinois University Press, 1992) in Journal of Speculative Philosophy IX No. 4, 1995. 

“Voices in Scientific Writing,” Discourse Studies in Honor of James L. Kinneavy, Rosalind J. Gabin, ed. (Scripta Humanistica, 1995).

“Introduction: Rhetoric of Deception,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly XXIV (Winter/Spring 1994).

“How Pictures Lie,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly XXIV (Winter/Spring 1994).

“Style, Invention, and Indirection: Aphorisms,” co-authored with Philip M. Keith, Composition and Context: Festschrift for Don Stewart (Southern Illinois University Press, 1994).

“Ethically Appropriate Forms of Ad Hominem Ingratiating,” Proceedings of Communication Ethics Commission, Speech Communications Association, 1993.

Also, in final stages of revision: Letters to Pine County, a nostalgic set of narratives about education theory and practice published in the Pine County Courier.

Finally, “I am expanding and writing my own material” for a new book to be entitled Coming to Terms with Terms: On Being Straight about Definition and Interpretation.