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Robert C. Solomon

Author profile

born

September 14, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan, The United States

died

January 02, 2007

genre

Philosophy, Nonfiction

influences

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard,...more

About this author

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Robert C. Solomon (September 14, 1942 – January 2, 2007) was a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Early life

Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).

He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Cen...more Robert C. Solomon (September 14, 1942 – January 2, 2007) was a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin.

Early life

Solomon was born in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a lawyer, and his mother an artist. After earning a B.A. (1963) at the University of Pennsylvania, he moved to the University of Michigan to study medicine, switching to philosophy for an M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967).

He held several teaching positions at such schools as Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1972 until his death, except for two years at the University of California at Riverside in the mid-1980s, he taught at University of Texas at Austin, serving as Quincy Lee Centennial Professor of Philosophy and Business. He was a member of the University of Texas Academy of Distinguished Teachers. Solomon was also a member of the inaugural class of Academic Advisors at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.

His interests were in 19th-century German philosophy--especially Hegel and Nietzsche--and 20th-century Continental philosophy--especially Sartre and phenomenology, as well as ethics and the philosophy of emotions. Solomon published more than 40 books on philosophy, and was also a published songwriter. He made a cameo appearance in Richard Linklater's film Waking Life (2001), where he discussed the continuing relevance of existentialism in a postmodern world. He developed a cognitivist theory of the emotions, according to which emotions, like beliefs, were susceptible to rational appraisal and revision. Solomon was particularly interested in the idea of "love," arguing against the notion that romantic love is an inherent state of being, and maintaining, instead, that it is instead a construct of Western culture, popularized and propagated in such a way that it has achieved the status of a universal in the eyes of many. Love for Solomon is not a universal, static quality, but an emotion, subject to the same vicissitudes as other emotions like anger or sadness.

Solomon received numerous teaching awards at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a frequent lecturer in the highly regarded Plan II Honors Program. Solomon was known for his lectures on Nietzsche and other Existentialist philosophers. Solomon described in one lecture a very personal experience he had while a medical student at the University of Michigan. He recounted how he stumbled as if by chance into a crowded lecture hall. He was rather unhappy in his medical studies at the time, and was perhaps seeking something different that day. He got precisely that. The professor, Frithjof Bergmann, was lecturing that day on something that Solomon had not yet been acquainted with. The professor spoke of how Nietzsche's idea asks the fundamental question: "If given the opportunity to live your life over and over again ad infinitum, forced to go through all of the pain and the grief of existence, would you be overcome with despair? Or would you fall to your knees in gratitude?"

Solomon died on January 2, 2007 at Zurich airport. His wife, philosopher Kathleen Higgins, with whom he co-authored several of his books, is Professor of Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin.(less)

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Books by Robert C. Solomon

Average rating: 3.89 · 1,065 ratings · 99 reviews · 79 distinct works

	What Nietzsche Really Said by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Marie Higgins 3.76 avg rating — 139 ratings — published 2000 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Existentialism 4.00 avg rating — 93 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life 4.21 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 1998 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life 4.00 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Will to Power: The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Marie Higgins 4.08 avg rating — 38 ratings — published 2000	My rating:
	About Love: Reinventing Romance for Our Times 4.06 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1988 — 6 editions	My rating:
	A Passion for Wisdom: A Very Brief History of Philosophy by Robert C. Solomon, Kathleen Marie Higgins 3.59 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Passions: Emotions and the Meaning of Life 3.72 avg rating — 32 ratings — published 1976 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Philosophy of (Erotic) Love by Robert C. Solomon (Editor), Kathleen Marie Higgins (Editor), Arthur C. Danto (Foreword by) 3.57 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 1991 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Big Questions: A Short Introduction to Philosophy [With CDROM] 3.81 avg rating — 37 ratings — published 1982 — 11 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Robert C. Solomon

“What gives life meaning is a form of rebellion, rebellion against reason, an insistence on believing passionately what we cannot believe rationally. The meaning of life is to be found in passion—romantic passion, religious passion, passion for work and for play, passionate commitments in the face of what reason knows to be meaningless.”
― Robert C. Solomon, Spirituality for the Skeptic: The Thoughtful Love of Life

tags: life , meaning , passion

2 people liked it

“J'ai lu les postmodernistes avec un certain intérêt avec même admiration. Mais quand je les lis, j'ai toujours cet horrible sentiment lancinant que quelque chose d'absolument essentiel est oublié. Plus on dit qu'une personne est un produit social, ou un confluent de forces ou fragmentée, ou marginalisée et plus on ouvre tout un nouveau monde d'excuses.”
― Robert C. Solomon

tags: existentialism , philosophy , vivliorasis , vivliorasis-project , waking-life

1 person liked it

Robert's Fans (13)

Robert C. Solomon

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Robert C. Solomon

Quotes by Robert C. Solomon

combine editions
Books by Robert C. Solomon