Bob Stern (1962-2024) - By David Strohmaier
"What's not to like?"
Bob asked that question in many of our reading group sessions, usually to conclude one of his discussions of Hegel’s philosophy. Amazingly, he was able to make you think Hegel made sense. That was truly an achievement, even though one was rarely able to recapture that sense later on one’s own. With Bob out of the room, the spark seemed to vanish together with his slightly mischievous smile.
Bob was the kindest soul I have encountered in my life, and I’m extremely grateful for his supervision, support, and attention during my MA and PhD studies at Sheffield. The department at Sheffield was a special place, full of gentle and caring people, deeply invested in philosophical debate. Bob fit right in and stood out as the kindest among them all. He brought life to the department, not least by (co-)organising a range of extracurricular activities, such as philosophy film nights and the “Philosophy Rocks” events.
On a hike that was part of the philosophy reading weekend, one more activity that made the department special, we walked next to each other. We debated the concrete universal, which according to Bob was Hegel’s solution of all problems metaphysical, as if it were the most natural and most exciting topic of world. It is a cliché to describe philosophy as a dialogue, and it does not fit every philosopher, but it was an approach that suited Bob and his character perfectly.
Bob went beyond what duty called for in his work with students; as a Hegelian, he knew that duty cannot exhaust the good life. I remember sending him a draft of an entire chapter about two or three days prior to one of our meetings, and by then he had already read it. He debated the draft without any complaints. Neither did he complain about the twists and turns my PhD took, not even when I slowly, but surely, pushed Hegel out of my PhD thesis. The number of reference letters with which he provided me, for years after I had finished my PhD! Patient, inquisitive, and kind, Bob managed to be an excellent supervisor and human at the same time.
The topic of my MA thesis, also supervised by Bob, was the meaning of death, and my argument had a Stern-ish twist to it. It went something like this: Dewey provides a conception of the meaning of an action as being determined by its experiential consequences. That is, to establish whether an action was good or bad, one had to consider the resulting experiences as if one had conducted an experiment. Deadly actions, however, do not have experiences following them, as the subject expires with death. So, how are we to evaluate them? How are we to evaluate the sacrifice of a person for a good cause? But — and this is the twist — Hegel has a solution to Dewey’s problem: The experiences continue in the society even after the agent of the action has passed away. Those experiences give their action meaning.
I would be a worse philosopher if I did not acknowledge that this argument has many gaps and problems — not least because it would require spelling out this evaluative concept of meaning in more detail — but if there is something to the argument, then Bob’s actions certainly were meaningful. He has left behind groups of former PhD students, colleagues, and acquaintances, whose experiences have been enriched by their encounter with Bob. Some of them I met for the first time, just a few months ago at one of the Bob festivals, organised due to the news of his declining health. We talked about philosophy, about Bob’s life, and we went for a walk together, Bob with us. We continued the conversations that had brought us together and had enriched our lives.
In his interpretation of Hegel, Bob emphasised the goal being at home in the world. He was at home in this world and made it a home for others, in a way I continue to admire. I am afraid that I have never achieved that sense of home, and with Bob’s passing, it has drifted further away. There was much to like about Bob, his presence, and the conversations with him.
I recommend this interview Bob gave about his life last year. For some of his papers on Hegel, see his volume Hegelian Metaphysics.