Tom Rockmore brought so much to our department at Duquesne in his time with us from 1987, coming in as Chair, until 2014, when he retired and became an emeritus professor. He then took a position at Beijing University, where he already taught in summers, and began to teach full time primarily with graduate students until he retired in 2023. Then he returned to France, where his wife Sylvie had kept a residence for many years, and they moved to a house in the French Alps for his final years.
In his time at Duquesne, Tom taught numerous courses, most all in the areas of the broad history of Continental Philosophy. The thinkers he dwelt with were primarily, but not exclusively, Plato, Kant, Hegel, Fichte, Marx, Lukács, and Habermas, and the topics included idealism, political thought, ancient philosophy, and even aesthetics and, at times, analytic philosophy. He published 20 monographs, and over 300 articles, chapters, and co-authored pieces. The impact of his scholarship extended to many of his colleagues, and indeed to the discipline of philosophy in which many of his publications were known, cited, and discussed. His sheer output of publishing was at times compared to that of his friend Nicholas Rescher at the University of Pittsburgh.
Tom exhibited a strong presence as a faculty member. He spoke his mind, was forthright, and would make efforts to move the department towards what he considered greater rigor. He challenged us to attain a higher vision of our place in the profession, but never wavered on his appreciation to be working in a department as committed as we were, and still are, at Duquesne, to Continental philosophy.
On a deeper level, Tom was a person faithful to his grasp of humanism, in all of its dimensions. He was committed to emboldening his students to grasp what he considered hard truths, with sincerity and conviction. He taught more than his share of graduate students. He would work diligently to enable them to find fulfilling teaching positions and related kinds of employment after graduation.
Tom’s legacy will continue to be memorable for and appreciated by all who work in the areas of Continental Philosophy, phenomenology and existentialism.
James Swindal
Duquesne University