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Jerome Schneewind Bequest

Former CASBS fellow Jerome B. “Jerry” Schneewind (1930-2024), a member of the 1992-93 CASBS class, died on January 8, 2024. He was 93. A scholar of the history of philosophy, Schneewind was known most for his groundbreaking work on the history of ethics, ethical theory, and situating moral philosophers in a broader cultural context. An elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he served on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University from 1981-2002, receiving a professor emeritus appointment in 2003. (Read JHU’s remembrance of Schneewind.) Before Johns Hopkins, he held appointments at the University of Chicago, Princeton University, the University of Pittsburgh (serving as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1969-73), Stanford University, the University of Leicester, and Hunter College, CUNY (serving as provost from 1975-81).

Jerome Schneewind and his wife, Elizabeth Gregory Roberts Hughes Schneewind, honored CASBS through a bequest in their estate plans. This no doubt was in recognition of an incredibly productive and enjoyable fellowship year for both. In writing about his year of activities to CASBS director Phil Converse and associate director Bob Scott, dated May 27, 1993, Jerome Schneewind enumerated multiple lines of progress. Most notably, he reported writing 160,000 words (some 600 pages) of what would become his 1998 book The Invention of Autonomy: A History of Modern Moral Philosophy. (He eventually attributed other publications to his CASBS year, as his CASBS web page shows.) Reflecting on this period in a 2009 address to the American Philosophical Association, titled “Sixty Years of Philosophy in a Life” and reprinted in his 2010 collected volume Essays on the History of Moral Philosophy, Schneewind referred to CASBS as “a marvelous haven of assistance and intellectual camaraderie.”

The camaraderie occurred within his home field of philosophy but, of course, extended beyond it. In his 1993 report of activities, Schneewind wrote that he benefited most from 1992-93 classmate and former University of Pittsburgh philosophy colleague John M. Cooper, among other things asserting that “four or five of my chapters are substantially different from what they otherwise would have been” due to discussions with Cooper. 

Across disciplines, he reported enjoying “opportunities to talk repeatedly to economists and sociologists,” singling-out conversations about methodological issues with sociologist Susan Watkins and discussions about the eighteenth century with English literature scholar Robert DeMaria.

“Some of them have been interested in hearing what philosophers have to say about their kind of work,” wrote Schneewind, “and I’ve learned something about how they see themselves in it.”

His 1992-93 CASBS year was not all work and no play. Schneewind took cello lessons at Stanford, admitting that they made him “a somewhat less awful cellist. Otherwise I think the main change I can report is a new appreciation of the merits of using weekends not for further hermit-like writing but to go see new places.”

Elizabeth Schneewind also embraced the intellectual and social life of the Center. She participated in a class-organized study group on universal health coverage policy – a hot and vitally important topic during that period – and spent time translating German philosophy. And yes, she and Jerry played music together and with others. Jerome, in fact, noted in his letter to Phil Converse and Bob Scott that "The Center's thoughtful and hospitable treatment of spouses has been a benefit of great importance."

By May 1993, Jerry Schneewind already knew he had experienced one of the best years of his professional career – as most CASBS fellows report.

The Center as a whole reminds one of what interchange with one’s colleagues at a university should be like but never is. The conversational lunches, the social hours, the marvelous planned outings, foster a kind of collegiality that somehow does not emerge out of participation in budget committees, extra-departmental PhD exams, and promotion review boards. Here we had time and encouragement to talk about the subjects that got us into our fields and that keep us there: what we find interesting.

“The Center’s understanding of the needs of scholars and its careful ministering to them has helped make this the most productive sabbatical I have ever had.”

Jerome Schneewind and Elizabeth Gregory Roberts Hughes Schneewind honored CASBS. The Center is deeply grateful for this support. With their generous bequest, they ensured that their legacy will endure through the work of the Center, its future fellows, and their families.
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Please consider a gift to CASBS in your own estate plans. Your support will help the Center pursue its mission and enable future generations of fellows to enjoy the same transformational experience on the hill that Jerry Schneewind did. Learn more here.