In Memoriam: John Sallis
John Sallis, the Frederick J. Adelmann, S.J. Professor of Philosophy at Boston College and a highly regarded sage of continental philosophy, died on February 18. He was 86.
A memorial event is planned for March 15; details have not yet been confirmed.
John Sallis
Dr. Sallis arrived at BC in the fall of 2005 with an impressive body of work and notable achievements, having published widely acclaimed books and articles on Plato, Heidegger, Derrida, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, and other foundational figures in philosophy, and holding named chairs at Pennsylvania State University, Vanderbilt University, and Loyola University of Chicago.
His teaching and research focused on continental philosophy, an umbrella term for philosophical movements characterized by elements such as the subjective experience of individuals, the concept of authenticity—being true to oneself—and the synthesis of history with modernity, society with individuals, and application with speculation. Dr. Sallis also had been the founding editor of the international journal Research in Phenomenology, which became a touchstone in the field of phenomenology, a study and research method based on the lived experiences of humans.
Professor of Philosophy Gary Gurtler, S.J., recalled that his friendship with Dr. Sallis had pre-dated Boston College, when the two were on the Loyola-Chicago faculty. A lecture Dr. Sallis gave on Immanuel Kant’s The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals during that time was particularly memorable, said Fr. Gurtler: “It captured John’s style of delivery and penetrating analysis of the work under review.” Twenty years later, as a BC faculty member, Fr. Gurtler recommended him for the Adelmann Chair.
“In all of this John proved himself a supportive and gracious colleague in a department where he found that that support and congeniality reciprocated,” said Fr. Gurtler.
Dr. Sallis’ February 2006 lecture, “The Look of Things,” served as his introduction to the University community. An article in the Boston College undergraduate newspaper The Heights on the event described how, using slides, Dr. Sallas described the parallels between works of visual art—notably the Madonna as painted by Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci—and the study of philosophy, specifically the revelation of a thing’s outer and inner demeanor. Painters invoke the look of a thing in their paintings, he said, philosophers with words.
“Nothing appears simply by being present," he said, reported The Heights. "Imagination hovers between meaning and sense in such a way as to draw forth the look of things.”
Although Dr. Sallis had taught at other institutions, said Fitzgibbons Professor and Chair of Philosophy Jeffrey Bloechl, “he was emphatic about the fact that he was happier and more comfortable here than anywhere else. This was certainly a matter of culture and ethos, but also the steady stream of excellent students who he was able to mentor.”
Equally at home in the worlds of Ancient Greek philosophy, modern German philosophy, contemporary German philosophy, and contemporary French philosophy, Dr. Sallis is generally thought of as an interpreter and translator of Heidegger, said Bloech, “but I think his real legacy is in careful and often highly illuminating work in the history of philosophy—both in what he finds in the great texts of Plato or Hegel, for example, and in his manner of reading them.
“In the department, John was a tremendously steadying colleague, with proposals or advice generally coming from the accrued wisdom of long years in multiple places, and always with one eye fixed on what he judged is important for the future of our field.”
“John was one of the most loved and highly respected teachers in Philosophy. He was a gentle man with a jovial laugh, and just a marvelous human being. He would spend hours prepping for a graduate class, and as a result his students felt like they were in a community of learning.”
During his career, Dr. Sallis published more than 20 books—among them Kant and the Spirit of Critique, Songs of Nature, and The Logos of the Sensible World—many of which were translated into other languages. Indiana University Press published a series of volumes of his writings, including some related to his lectures at Boston College. Numerous works and articles praised his scholarship, including a 2022 collection of essays, Philosophy, Art, and the Imagination: Essays on the Work of John Sallis.
Dr. Sallis’ work, wrote Dennis J. Schmidt in the foreword, “demonstrates that philosophy can indeed renew the world, and that to love and care for the world in this way is to want to take responsibility for it. Such a body of work, such contributions to teaching and to creative spaces, serves as an example of why a life in philosophy has a meaning, a task, a reason beyond reason. What could be a better legacy?”
Part of that legacy includes his rapport with, and care for, his students, noted Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Patrick Byrne, who was department chair when Dr. Sallis arrived. “John was one of the most loved and highly respected teachers in Philosophy. He was a gentle man with a jovial laugh, and just a marvelous human being. He would spend hours prepping for a graduate class, and as a result his students felt like they were in a community of learning.”
His honors included selection as the 2021 “Professor Honoris Causa” by the International Institute of Hermeneutics and the 2019 Comparative and Continental Philosophy Circle Compass Award, bestowed in recognition “of his pointing the way to a more inclusive and compassionate world.” He was the focus of a 2018 conference at the Duquesne University Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center, which subsequently established an archive for his papers and library.
Dr. Sallis put his scholarly interests to work in other settings, including as curator of two exhibitions at the McMullen Museum of Art. One examined the work of Swiss-born artist Paul Klee, whose art influenced prominent 20th century European philosophers like Martin Heidegger and Michel Foucault.
“Because the artist delves beneath the surface, because he seeks to make visible the hidden origination of things from their primal ground,” he is himself a philosopher, Dr. Sallis explained in the fall 2012 exhibition announcement. Klee concurred with that concept, as he noted that as an artist, “he is perhaps, without really wanting to be, a philosopher.”
In 2018, he curated another McMullen exhibition that showcased visionary Chinese artist Cao Jun and his portrayal of humans’ place within nature. Dr. Sallis referred to Cao Jun as “among the most highly original and creative artists of our time.” Cao Jun returned the praise: “John Sallis’ interpretation of my works has been penetratingly profound, as he has balanced the convergence of Eastern and Western cultures contained in the images that I created with points, lines and planes to interpret my stories and spiritual pursuits.”
A native of Helena, Ark., Dr. Sallis earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Arkansas; after attending Columbia University, he went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Tulane University. He also taught at Duquesne University, where he served as chair of the Philosophy Department for a decade, and the University of the South.
He is survived by his wife, Jerri; his daughters, Lauren and Kathryn; a grandson, Benjamin, a graduate of Boston College; and brother, James.