Larsen, Robert E. (1923-2006)
Date Updated
10-14-2019
Department
Philosophy (1957-1969); Humanities (1969-1989)
Academic Rank
Professor
Year Retired from SJSU
1989
Educational Background
University of Minnesota, 1957 Ph.D.
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1952 MA
Luther College, Decorah, IA, 1944 AB
Teaching Experience
San Jose State University, 1969-1989
Calif. State College, Hayward, CA, 1965-1969
Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN, 1963-1965
San Jose State College, 1957-1963
Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN, 1953-1956
Waldorf Jr. College, Forest City, IA, 1946-1948
Administrative and Professional Experience
None
Selected Publications
"Morris Cohen's Principle of Polarity," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. XX, No. 4 (1959), pp. 537‑545.
Ten article‑reviews in Masterpieces of World Philosophy, ed. F. N. Magill (New York: Salem Press, Inc. 1961). Articles on Plato's Protagoras; Meno; and Theaetetus; Aristotle's Organon; Fichte's Vocation of Man; Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments; Joachim's The Nature of Truth; Gilson's The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy; Carnap's Philosophy and Logical Syntax; and Dewey's Logic, the Theory of Inquiry.
"Education and Ethics," Saturday Review, April 15, 1961, pp. 65‑67.
"Kierkegaard's Absolute Paradox," Journal of Religion, Vol. XLII, No. 1 (1962), pp. 34‑43.
"Nature and Personal Reality," Pacific Philosophy Forum, Vol. 1, No. 3 (1963), pp. 463.
"The Aristotelianism of Bacon's Novum Organum," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. XXIII, No. 4 (1962), pp. 435‑540.
"The Problem of Evil and the Language of Religion," San Jose Studies, Vol. IX, No. 3 (Fall, 1983), pp. 80‑89.
Logic Workbook (Berkeley: California Book Co., Ltd., 1960, 82 pp.
The Great Philosophers (San Jose: The Lansford Publishing Co., Inc. 1975). Six hourlong cassette tapes; lectures on Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, and Kant.
The Principles of Philosophy (San Jose: The Lansford Publishing Co., Inc., 1976). Six hour‑long cassette tapes dealing with an Introduction to Philosophy.
Introduction to Logic (San Jose: The Lansford Publishing Co., Inc., 1976). Six hourlong cassette tapes on Introductory Formal Logic.
Informal Logic and Inductive Reasoning (San Jose: The Lansford Publishing Co., Inc., 1977). Six hour‑long cassette tapes. Lectures on informal logic.
Files
Personal Commentary
I grew up in Janesville, WI, and was graduated from Janesville High School in 1941. I then attended Luther College, Decorah, IA. I was granted the AB degree from hither in 1944. I then served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. I was discharged in August of 1946.
Minnesota awarded me the Ph.D. in 1957, and I accepted the offer of an Assistant Professorship at San Jose State University. I left there in 1963 and worked elsewhere for six years before returning to San Jose State. I spent the remainder of my career at San Jose.
My wife's career has involved a long association with San Jose State, too. She has a B.A. and an M.A. degree from San Jose State, and she is currently on the faculty of the School of Business of San Jose State. All three of her children have degrees from San Jose State.
Date completed: 8/96
Adapted from: Biographies of Retired Faculty San Jose State University 1997: A Project of the Emeritus Faculty Association of San Jose State University. San Jose, CA: The University, 1997.