Thursday, March 27, 2008

Philosophy, Rare Editions and 'Witcraft' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — It will be an occasion of gifts—the intellectual gifts of a distinguished American philosopher, and the tangible gifts of rare literary treasures he is donating to Washington College. Dr. Alan Pasch, Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland Department of Philosophy, will present "The Art of Witcraft" in the Sophie Kerr Room at the College's Miller Library on Tuesday, April 8, at 4:30 p.m.

The talk and reception celebrate Dr. Pasch's donation to Miller Library of his considerable collection of rare historical texts on logic and the English language.

Some of the texts date to the 1400s and include early or otherwise rare editions by such thinkers as Thomas Hobbes, Henry Aldrich, Isaac Watts, Noah Webster, Lewis Carroll, George Boole and others.

Dr. Pasch has long been a respected voice on the American philosophical scene. His Experience and the Analytic: A Reconsideration of Empiricism was published in 1958 in the midst of what was being described as "a series of fratricidal quarrels" among philosophers. The arrival of Pasch's book, according to the review in the journal Ethics, offered "the latest, and best formulation" for a way out of the war that had arisen between logical empiricists and pragmatists.

Pasch was lauded for "the virtues of this book which combines a sense of a larger philosophic and historical context with a careful treatment of recent, vexed controversies.... Pasch performs a useful service."

The rare texts Dr. Pasch is donating to Miller Library will be on view during the presentation. Admission to "The Art of Witcraft" is free and open to the public.

March 26, 2008

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