Al Decker Remembered

The department's colloquium room was packed to overflowing for the memorial lecture in honor of Al Decker on Friday January 16. The lecture, sponsored jointly by The Philosophy Department and the Social Philosophy and Policy Center, was given by former Bowling Green faculty member, and also a friend and mentor of Al's, Loren Lomasky.

The title of the paper was "When Hobbes is an Optimist: Politics Among the Malevolent." The paper examined the applicability of Hobbes's political theory to situations in which individuals are not only selfish, but actively malevolent, and looked at different responses that can be made toward such truly malevolent individuals or groups. A lively but benevolent discussion followed. Indeed, Professor Lomasky found the absence of malevolence in the questions directed toward him to be so complete as to be almost unsettling.

A number of tributes were paid to Al, both before the talk, when Department Chair, David Sobel and Loren Lomasky spoke, and afterwards, when a number of those who knew Al remained to share their thoughts about him. Among the qualities of Al that were mentioned were his tenacity, his passion for philosophy and teaching, his fiercely independent spirit and his stoicism in the face of obstacles that would have overwhelmed many. Al passed away on November 25, 2003.

Loren Lomasky calls for more malevolence from the audience.