Norman Jacobson’s Search for Authenticity

Kai Gardner, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A154

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-24-2015 1:30 PM

End Date

4-24-2015 2:30 PM

Abstract

This project traces the connection between existential philosophy and the life of my grandfather, Norman Jacobson. A political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, Jacobson witnessed firsthand the idealism and turmoil of Berkeley in the 1960s. Drawing upon my grandfather’s personal archives, I’ve reconstructed his quest to uncover the significance of his personal experience during one of the most important historical events of the ’60s: the free speech movement. Jacobson’s search for authenticity can inform us on a philosophical level, not only relating to the 1960s, but in our understanding of the central questions of the human experience.

Notes

Session 1, Panel 1 - Language and Authenticity: Studies of Metaphors, the Supreme Court, and the Free Speech Movement
Moderator: Steve Wojtal, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Full text thesis available here.

Major

History

Advisor(s)

Clayton Koppes, History

Project Mentor(s)

Clayton Koppes, History

April 2015

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Apr 24th, 1:30 PM Apr 24th, 2:30 PM

Norman Jacobson’s Search for Authenticity

Science Center, A154

This project traces the connection between existential philosophy and the life of my grandfather, Norman Jacobson. A political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, Jacobson witnessed firsthand the idealism and turmoil of Berkeley in the 1960s. Drawing upon my grandfather’s personal archives, I’ve reconstructed his quest to uncover the significance of his personal experience during one of the most important historical events of the ’60s: the free speech movement. Jacobson’s search for authenticity can inform us on a philosophical level, not only relating to the 1960s, but in our understanding of the central questions of the human experience.