Truth tables? Modus tollens? If you recognize these phrases, you have most likely taken the legendary “PL151: Logic and Argumentation,” a staple at the College. But what about the man teaching the class?
Daniel Cohen began his path to teaching on the Appalachian Trail. After graduating from Colby in January of `75, he spent the spring and summer hiking the trail, a journey serving both as a personal promise and a strategic postponement of the frightening question, “Now what?”
This hike gave Cohen the time to decide to pursue philosophy.
Cohen had a specific goal. “I went to graduate school with the explicit thought that my fantasy job was to teach at [a] good, small residential liberal arts college, [but] the prospects of a position at Colby weren’t good because Bob McArthur, the logic professor at the time, was newly tenured,” Cohen said.
However, the stars lined up for him. As he was finishing his doctorate, McArthur moved into the Dean’s Office. The position opened, Cohen was hired, and he began teaching philosophy in 1983.
Cohen describes the Department of Philosophy as “admirably collegial and functional,” a space far from the petty politics that often plague academia. He said the environment allowed him to grow as a philosopher.
Much of this departmental culture traces back to Cohen’s own mentors, most notably the legendary Bob Reuman. “[Reuman] was a terrific philosopher and educator and an even more remarkable human being,” Cohen said. He speaks of Reuman with awe, describing him as a “moral beacon” and a dedicated pacifist who chose a year in federal prison over registering for the military draft. Reuman’s legacy set the standard for the educator Cohen aspired to become.
While his colleagues provided the space to grow, Cohen said students are his primary source of joy. “What kind of student chooses to major in philosophy?” Cohen says, “the thoughtful, engaged, intellectually curious, and more-than-a-little-idiosyncratic kind.”
He finds satisfaction in the “give and take” of the classroom. Cohen said he continues to learn from his students’ fresh perspectives, whether leading a seminar on Wittgenstein or a course on Puzzles and Paradoxes.
Despite his self-described “Pollyanna” outlook, Cohen is candid about the drudgery of the job. He said long March nights spent grading midterm papers after a grueling Maine winter can inspire thoughts of retirement in anyone. Yet, for him, philosophy is a calling. And that calling is reaffirmed every time he receives an email out of the blue from former students, sometimes decades later.
“Best of all, every so often, completely out of the blue, I’ll get an email that begins like this: ‘Hi, Professor Cohen, I don’t know if you remember me, but I took one of your courses years ago, and it gave me things to think about ever since, and I just wanted to thank you,’” Cohen said. “Every time I get a letter like that, I’m re-energized and eager as ever to get back into the classroom. I’m reminded that it’s never been just a job.”
Looking back on more than 40 years at the College, Cohen said the reality has actually exceeded his dreams. “My career has brought home to me the truth behind the old adage that if you’re doing what you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.”
~ Summer Woo `28
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