Professor Leon Rosenstein was born in New Jersey, but spent his formative years in New York City, studying philosophy at Columbia University, where he received his AB and PhD degrees. He also received two Fulbright Fellowships, one a doctoral fellowship to study at the Sorbonne, one a post-doctoral to teach in at the University of Nice. His sole tenured teaching position was at San Diego State University, where he became a full professor at the age of 33 and from which he retired in December 2007 after teaching there for 37 years, having received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and scholarship. During his tenure at the university h…
Professor Leon Rosenstein was born in New Jersey, but spent his formative years in New York City, studying philosophy at Columbia University, where he received his AB and PhD degrees. He also received two Fulbright Fellowships, one a doctoral fellowship to study at the Sorbonne, one a post-doctoral to teach in at the University of Nice. His sole tenured teaching position was at San Diego State University, where he became a full professor at the age of 33 and from which he retired in December 2007 after teaching there for 37 years, having received numerous awards for excellence in teaching and scholarship. During his tenure at the university he specialized in teaching courses in aesthetics and the philosophy of art and also in existentialism, with emphasis on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger in particular. Besides philosophy, he taught many courses in the European Studies and the Humanities Programs, integrating the art, philosophy, history, religion, music, and literature of Europe and other parts of the world during various time periods. He was elected "chair of chairs" by the departmental chairs of the College of Arts and Letters and served over 25 years as elected senator to the University Senate, actively participating in its debates and initiating many new policies and programs of the unversity. He was also Director of the Humanities and the European Studies Programs and served as chairman of the Philosophy Department. He was President of the Classical Alliance of the Western States and has led over 36 cultural tours to various parts of the world: to Europe, to the Orient, and to the Middle East. He has also been an antiques dealer in San Diego for the past 25 years. Even though retired from teaching at SDSU, he continues to lecture, to travel and guide tours, and to publish, primarily in academic journals. He has also published over 20 travelogue/thought/art-historical pieces essentially concerned with the aesthetic experience and interpretation of various world heritage sites that appeared in "The Quest: Newsletter of the Classical Alliance of the Western States."
In addition to his most recent publications: The book "Antiques: The History of an idea" (Cornell University Press, 2008) and the critical essay, "Heidegger's Aesthetics: The Art Object and History" (Studies in the Humanities, November 2008), his purely scholarly works, all published in various refereed academic journals or in books as noted, include:
"The End of Art Theory," in Humanitas, Fall 2002 (Vol. XV, No. 1); and also published at the on-line website of the 2003 Hawaii International Conference on Art and Humanities: http://www.hichumanities.org "Tragic Thoughts and the Entertainments of Possibility," a chapter (original essay) in the book Philosophy of Tragedy, ed. by N. Georgopoulous (Macmillan, 1994) "Faute De Mieux," a chapter in Falling in Love with Wisdom, ed. by Robert Shoemaker and David Karnos (Oxford University Press, 1993). "The Aesthetic of the Antique," in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Summer 1987 (Vol. XLV, No. 4). "The Last Word on 'Catharsis'," in Annales D'Esthetique (Vol. 23-24, 1984-85). "Hegelian Sources of Freud's Social and Political Philosophy " (95-page Monograph) published in Kronos as a series of three articles--the first, "Group Mind in Development," Summer 1979 (Vol. 4, No. 4); second, "Inherent Origins of The State," Summer 1980 (Vol. 5, No. 4); and third, "Self-Consciousness as the Hegelian Source of the World View in Freud," Fall 1983 (Vol. 9, No. 1). "Mysticism as Pre-ontology: A Note on the Heideggerian Connection," in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, September 1978 (Vol. 39, No. 1). "Re-thinking Aristotle's 'Thought'," in Critical Inquiry, Spring 1978 (Vol. 4, No. 3). "Heidegger and Plato and the Good," in Philosophy Today, Winter 1978 (Vol. 22, No. 4). "On Aristotle and Thought in Drama," in Critical Inquiry, Spring 1977. "The Ontological Integrity of the Art Object from the Ludic Viewpoint," in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Spring 1976. "Some Metaphysical Problems of Cassirer's Symbolic Forms," in Man and World: An International Philosophical Review, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1973). "Metaphysical Foundations of Hegel and Nietzsche's Theories of Tragedy," in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Summer, 1970
Among his articles published in "The Quest:The Newsletter of the Classical Alliance of the Western States" --which are all primarily contemplative Travelogue and Art-Historical reflections either on important world heritage sites or on significant moments or characters in world history--are the following works:
"Leptis Magna: An Instance of the Transition from Greco-Roman to Byzantine Art-Styles in North Africa" April 2005 (Vol. 38, No.1); "Roman Baroque" May 2004 (Vol. 37, No. 1); "A Treasure House for Buddha" January 2003 (Vol. 35, No. 1); "The Roof of the World" May 2001 (Vol. 34, No. 3); "Angkor" May 2001 (Vol. 34, No. 3); "Persepolis" March 2000 (Vol. 32, No. 1); "Making Eternity" June 1999 (Vo. 30, No. 2); "The Isfahan of Shah Abbas" August 1998 (Vol. 29, No. 2); "The Ancient Silk Road" April 1998 (Vol. 29, No. 3); "Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra" December 1997 (Vol. 29, No. 2); "Santiago de Compostela" January 1997 (Vol. 29, No. 1); "Meteora," April 1996; "Unter den Linden" January 1996; "Florence at the Outset of the High Renaissance" November 1993 (Vol. XXVI, No. 3); "Dresden: The Rococo Miracle of Augustus the Strong," Vol. XXV, No. 3 (April 1993); "'Cheering-up' at Père Lachaise" Vol. XXV, No. 3 (January 1993); "The Portuguese Manoeline Aesthetic" Vol. 22, August 1989; "Gothic Form and Notre-Dame de Paris" April 1987 (Vol. XIX, No. 3); "The Aesthetics of the Icon" May 1986 (Vol. XVIII, No. 3); "Tales of Canterbury," January 1985; "The Olympian Olympics" January 1985; "Aesthetical Principles of Ancient Egyptian Art" June 1981 (Vol. 13, No. 4); "Reflections on Karnak " October 1977.