No Rocking Chairs for these Retirees (part 1)

Professors Bruce White and Carol Bastian have joined the ranks of honored emeriti, but they'll have plenty to keep them busy in the days to come.

The Aha! Effect

There will be no more chalkboard renditions of grizzly bears to illustrate Hume's idea of motivating emotion.

No more Pillsbury doughboy dolls to point out the lost wax casting process in a humanities class.

No more "so innocent and conscientious" freshmen - at least not for philosopher Bruce White, who retired from teaching in May 1999.

"I wanted to retire before I was completely doddering," says White with a smile. Still, after 32 years at Centre, he admits to feeling "slightly sad" after his very last class. "I was teaching symbolic logic, which is my favorite course, and it was one of the best logic classes IÕve ever had," he says. "It was nice to go out that way."

Though trained as a logician, White taught everything from 20th-century to ancient philosophy at Centre. He also served regular tours of duty in the humanities program. "I've learned a great deal by teaching that course," he says. "I never thought I"d be teaching art history and music. But IÕve enjoyed it."

"I'll miss teaching those innocent freshmen in Humanities 11," he adds.

A Nebraska native, White grew up in Texas planning to be an English professor like his father. When the time came for college, he rode the train two-and-a-half days to New Haven, Conn., wondering with every clack of the wheels if he would fit in.

He need not have worried. At Yale he discovered philosophy, and especially logic, which became his lifelong calling. "Logic has a very strong aesthetic appeal to me," he explains. "Especially since the systems of logic IÕm interested in - so-called 'nonclassical logic' - donÕt have much practical application."

And then there is the "Aha! effect," as he calls it. "I like the feeling when you prove a theorem that nobodyÕs ever proved before, and you say, 'Aha!'"

After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Yale, White joined the Navy, which sent him to officer candidate school followed by engineering school, not as far-fetched as it might seem. ÒThere's been a close link between philosophy and mathematics since Plato,Ó he says. Besides, he's always had a fondness for machinery and continues to enjoy tinkering.

After assigning him for a couple of years to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, the Navy did something else for him, as well. It sent him to spend the last part of his tour on a base near Chicago. One day a Yale friend arranged for him to meet a young graduate student, Roberta Horton, who was studying at the University of Chicago. "It was love at first sight," he recalls.

Together the Whites set off for Stanford University: he to study philosophy; she, English. About the time they were ready to move on, Thomas Spragens, then Centre's president, made a recruiting trip west. "Centre was developing the new curriculum, which was a pretty radical change," says White. "It sounded pretty ideal to us. And of course it was great that we could get jobs together. We were really lucky."

In retirement, White plans to read more math and perhaps take some math courses. He also plans to continue his research on Charles Peirce, the American philosopher who co-founded pragmatism. "Peirce was a remarkably original genius," says White, who has written several papers on the man.

And in his free time he might get around to building a three-wheeled electric car.

"A few years ago I had a missionary zeal about electric cars," he admits. "They create so much less pollution.Ó

His first attempt produced an electric Nissan truck. Its main liability is that it can go just 30 miles before the batteries (all 20 of them) run out. "I'd like to build one that would go about 100 miles on a charge," he says.

Now that would be worth an 'Aha!'

- D.F.J.

Centrepiece
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