Sidney Morgenbesser (September 22, 1921 – August 1, 2004) was a Columbia University philosopher. Born in New York City, he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary and the University of Pennsylvania, arriving back at Columbia to lecture in 1953. In 1975, he was named the John Dewey Professor of Philosophy. Although not a prolific writer, Morgenbesser has been known particularly for his sharp witticisms and humor.

Stories and quotations

• During a lecture the Oxford linguistic philosopher J. L. Austin made the claim that although a double negative in English infers a positive meaning, there is no language in which a double positive infers a negative. To which Morgenbesser responded, "Yeah, yeah."

• On the independence of irrelevant alternatives: After finishing dinner, Sidney Morgenbesser decides to order dessert. The waitress tells him he has two choices: apple pie and blueberry pie. Sidney orders the apple pie. After a few minutes the waitress returns and says that they also have cherry pie at which point Morgenbesser says "In that case I'll have the blueberry pie."

• During campus protests of the 60s Morgenbesser was hit on the head by police. When asked whether he had been treated unfairly or unjustly, he responded "Unfairly no, unjustly yes. The police hit me unjustly, but since they hit everyone else unjustly, it was not unfair."

• "Moses published one book. What did he do after that?"

• "If P, so why not Q?"

• "Pragmatism is great in theory, but doesn't work in practice."

External links

• Columbia Philosophy Department Memorial Page
• The Lives They Lived: Sidewalk Socrates, The New York Times Magazine.
• The Witty Professor, NPR.
• Columbia News
• Sidney, by Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic.