Monsignor Robert Sokolowski (born 3 May 1934) is a philosopher and Roman Catholic priest who serves as the Elizabeth Breckenridge Caldwell Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America.
Sokolowski's philosophical research is focused primarily on the discipline of phenomenology and interrelated sub-disciplines, though he has also written works from a theological perspective. He is known for his interpretation of Husserl, commonly known as "East-Coast Husserlianism" in academic circles.[1] His Introduction to Phenomenology has been translated into seven other languages.[2]
Sokolowski has throughout his career maintained that philosophy begins with good distinctions.[3] [4]
Sokolowski was born on May 3, 1934, to Stanley A. Sokolowski and Maryann C. Drag of New Britain, Connecticut.
Sokolowski entered seminary formation at Theological College after being awarded a Basselin scholarship (named after Theodore B. Basselin), earning his bachelor's degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 1956 and a master's degree in 1957. He then went to the Catholic University of Leuven, where he earned his S.T.B in Theology (1961) and his Ph.D. in Philosophy (1963). His dissertation was titled "The Formation of Husserl's Concept of Constitution." His dissertation was written under Fr. Herman Leo Van Breda, the man who saved Husserl's writings from destruction by the Nazis, and who subsequently founded the Husserl Archives at the Leuven Higher Institute of Philosophy.[5]
Since earning his Ph.D. his entire teaching career has been at The Catholic University of America, with visiting posts at The New School for Social Research, University of Texas at Austin, Villanova University, and Yale University.
1. The Formation of Husserl's Concept of Constitution. Phaenomenologica 18. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1964.
2. Husserlian Meditations: How Words Present Things. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1974.
3. Presence and Absence: A Philosophical Investigation of Language and Being. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Reprint, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017.
4. The God of Faith and Reason: Foundations of Christian Theology. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982. Reprint, with a new preface, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1995.
5. Moral Action: A Phenomenological Study. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. Reprint, Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017.
6. Pictures, Quotations, and Distinctions: Fourteen Essays in Phenomenology. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.
7. Eucharistic Presence: A Study in The Theology of Disclosure. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1994.
8. Introduction to Phenomenology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
9. Christian Faith and Human Understanding: Studies in the Eucharist, Trinity, and the Human Person. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006.
10. Phenomenology of the Human Person. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
11. Écrits de phénoménologie et de philosophie des sciences. Compiled, edited, and translated by André Lebel. Paris: Éditions Hermann, 2015.
Edmund Husserl and the Phenomenological Tradition. Studies in Philosophy and in the History of Philosophy, 18. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1988.
Drummond, John J. and James G. Hart (eds.). The Truthful and the Good: Essays in Honor of Robert Sokolowski. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996.
Mansini, Guy and James G. Hart (eds.). Ethics and Theological Disclosures: The Thought of Robert Sokolowski. Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2003.