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The Department of Philosophy shares the news of the recent passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus Rolf George, who joined the brand-new Department of Philosophy at the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ in 1966.

Born in Germany in 1930, Prof. George studied German Literature and History at the University of Munster before going to the US on a Fullbright Fellowship in 1953. He earned his PhD at Michigan State University in 1963, where he completed a dissertation on Infinity and Continuity in 18th Century Philosophy.  He held positions at the Michigan State and at California State University at San Fernando before arriving at À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ. 

He served as Chair of Philosophy from 1980 to 1985, and then as Associate Dean of Arts, Graduate Studies from 1986 to 1990. He also served on the University Senate and the Board of Governors. George held Visting Professorships at Gottingen, Hamburg, and at Pittsburgh’s Centre for Philosophy of Science. 

An internationally respected scholar with a broad range of expertise, he published extensively on historical figures from the 18th to the 20th century, with particular attention to Kant, Bolzano, Brentano, and Carnap. He was a skilled translator of philosophical works from German to English, starting with Carnap’s The Logical Structure of the World (1967), and ending with Bolzano’s four volume Theory of Science (2013, with Paul Rusnock). He also worked in formal logic and the philosophy of science, among other topics.