Remembering and reality
pp. 401-409
in: Kostas Gavroglu, John Stachel, Mark W. Wartofsky (eds), Science, mind and art, Berlin, Springer, 1995Abstract
I met Bob Cohen and then his wife, Robin, and two of their children in the early 1950s when I was an undergraduate at Wesley an. He taught a diverse array of courses, including thermodynamics, Marxism, and Philosophy of Science. I spent the most continuous time with him in those years studying philosophy of science. Even though I was going on to medical school to become a physician, I had an extraordinary curiosity about abstract ideas and the underpinnings of thought and Bob furthered that curiosity. I also had my most personal contact with Bob and Robin during that time because of who they were and because Wesleyan was, at that time, a place where the ideal of a community of scholars seemed to flower — at least I thought so as a student. Since then I have had only intermittant contact, while on vacation on Cape Cod or at other intellectual occasions. The fact that I was a student did not decrease the possibility of feeling like a colleague, because role distinction was not decided by age or position with Bob. It always seemed to depend on who had something to teach whom, and intellectual exchange was the vehicle for mutual interest and then friendship.
