Rick Roderick (June 16, 1949 – January 18, 2002) was an American

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, best known for his lectures for

The Teaching Company The Teaching Company, doing business as The Great Courses, formerly Wondrium, is a Media (communication), media production company which produces Education, educational, video, and audio content in the form of courses, documentaries, and series ...

Life

Roderick was born in

Abilene, Texas Abilene ( ) is a city in Taylor County, Texas, Taylor and Jones County, Texas, Jones counties, Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan ar ...

, on June 16, 1949, son of (by his own description) a "con-man" and a "beautician". He was a teacher of

at several universities, where he was much revered by many students for a Socratic style of teaching combined with a brash and often humorous approach. His breakthrough into wider circles came with his engagement with

where he recorded several lecture series. Rick Roderick died on January 18, 2002, from a congestive heart condition.

Academic career

Roderick first studied

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

(self-admittedly in order to focus on anti-establishment student and anti-war activitiesInvitation to Dialogue: The Emancipatory Challenge of Critical Theory, interview of Rick Roderick by Anne Buttimer, April 8, 1987
/ref>), but moved after a few years towards philosophy. He received his B.A. at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, did post-graduate work at

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

and finally earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas under the supervision of Douglas Kellner. After 1977 Roderick taught at Baylor University, the University of Texas,

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He was the recipient of the Oldright Fellowship at the University of Texas and served as associate editor to The Pawn Review and Current Perspectives in Social Theory. He served as editor of the Baylor Philosophy Journal and was a member of the Phi Sigma Tau National Honor Society of Philosophy. He presented more than 25 papers, and published 13 reviews and literary criticisms, as well as numerous articles in professional journals. Roderick was the author of the book ''Habermas and the Foundations of Critical Theory'' (1986).

Selected publications

* 1986, ''Habermas and the foundations of critical theory'', Macmillan, 194 pages. * 1986, ''Rick Roderick - Reading Derrida Politically (Contra Rorty)'', PRAXIS International, issue: 4 / 1986

The Teaching Company series

* "Philosophy and Human Values", 1990 * "Nietzsche and the Post-Modern Condition", 1991 * "Self under Siege - Philosophy in the 20th Century", 1993 * "Mill on Liberty", guest lecture from "The Great Minds of Western Intellectual Tradition" (1st ed), Part IV, Philosophy in the Epoch of Ideology, 2000

References

External links