Jerome Borges Schneewind (May 17, 1930 – January 8, 2024) was an American scholar of the history of philosophy. Latterly he was a Professor of Philosophy at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Life and career

Jerome Borges Schneewind was born on May 17, 1930, in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...

. Schneewind received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1951 and obtained his M.A. (1953) and Ph.D. (1957) from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Schneewind was an Instructor in philosophy at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

(1957–1960) and at Princeton University (1960–1961), and he was a faculty member at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

(1961–1963), and the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

(1964–1975). At the latter he also served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1968–1973). He then taught, and served as provost, at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

CUNY (1975–1981). Schneewind was appointed at Johns Hopkins University's philosophy department in 1981 as professor of philosophy, retiring in 2002. He was named professor emeritus in 2003. Schneewind held visiting positions at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, Stanford, and

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

.Jerome B. Schneewind C.V.
/ref> He also held Mellon, Guggenheim, and NEH fellowships, and spent 1992–1993 as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences. Schneewind served as president of the Eastern Division of the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

(1995–1996) and was elected as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1996. He was also Chair of the American Philosophical Association's Board of Officers from 1999 to 2002. Schneewind died on January 8, 2024, at the age of 93.

Works

Books authored * '' Backgrounds of English Victorian Literature'', Random House, 1970 * '' Sidgwick's Ethics and Victorian Moral Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1977 * '' The Invention of Autonomy: a history of modern moral philosophy'', Cambridge University Press, 1998. * ''Essays on the History of Moral Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 2009 Books edited (a selection) * ''Giving: Western Ideas of Philanthropy'', Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1996 ** Introduction, and Chapter 3: "Philosophical Ideas of Charity" * ''Moral Philosophy from Montaigne to Kant'', 2 vols., Cambridge University Press, 1990, 1 vol. reprint, 2002. * ''Kant's Lectures on Ethics'', Cambridge University Press, 2001, (in ''The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant'' series) *For more complete publication details see; "J. B. Schneewind: Bibliography" (2009).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneewind, J. B. 1930 births 2024 deaths American philosophers 20th-century American philosophers Cornell University alumni Johns Hopkins University faculty Academics of the University of Leicester People from Mount Vernon, New York