William M. Schuyler, Jr. Papers
Collection
Identifier: 1998_037-UA
This collection provides samples of the academic and professional work of Professor William M. Schuyler, Jr., faculty member in the Philosophy Department at the University of Louisville from 1963 to 1998. Highlighted are his interests in Far Eastern philosophy and in science fiction. In addition to samples of course outlines he developed, the collection includes several of his research papers and reviews. Examples of the framed quotations that were mounted on his office walls have also been donated. As an example of his work on the departmental Personnel Committee, there are copies of various versions of the Personnel Policy and Practices guidelines.
The copyright interests in the William M. Schuyler, Jr. Papers have not been transferred to the University of Louisville.
.50 linear feet
William M. Schuyler, Jr. was born June 4, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois. In spite of a physical handicap along with other medical problems, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign in 1960 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a minor in Philosophy. Schuyler was then accepted as one of the first three students in Princeton University's History of Philosophy of Science program, where he earned a M.A. in 1963. He claimed to have chosen the position with faculty at the University of Louisville because his alternate was planning guerrilla warfare for the Navy in the Mohave Desert and he was fairly sure they did not have good Chinese restaurants.
He joined the U of L faculty as an Instructor in the Philosophy Department. For the first several years, he had to teach in the basement of the Natural Sciences building because it was the only handicapped accessible building on campus. Promoted to Assistant Professor and tenured July 1, 1969, Schuyler was promoted in 1975 to Associate Professor and in 1982 to Professor.
Schuyler was as adept at Analytic Philosophy and Symbolic Logic as he was with Aesthetics and the Fantastic in Literature. His special interest in Eastern Philosophy led to the development of a number of new courses: Far Eastern Cultures, Buddhist Philosophy, Japan: Art & Society, and Oriental Philosophy. He was also credited with increasing the department's breadth through his courses: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Language. A popular faculty member, Schulyer was well-known for his classroom teaching. Additionally, he provided guidance for ten independent study programs, a graduate teaching assistant, fourteen master's degree committees and a major professor for a master's degree.
Through the years 1971-1997, Schuyler served on many departmental and university committees. In the Louisville community, he was called upon many times for his expertise in Chinese culture and cuisine, and for his leadership in planning and developing buildings and public spaces accessible for the handicapped.
In addition to his leadership in the Kentucky Philosophical Association, Professor Schuyler maintained a life-long interest in science fiction and produced many scholarly papers and reviews in that connection. He was a regular reviewer for the New York Review of Science Fiction, Review of Metaphysics and the Science Fiction Research Association's Newsletter.
Part of the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections Repository