In Memoriam: Stanley Bates, Professor Emeritus

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Stanley P. Bates, who joined the Middlebury College faculty in 1971 and continued to teach and advise philosophy students long after his retirement in 2008, passed away on December 10 at Helen Porter Nursing Home after a brief illness. He was 77 years of age.

Beloved by family, friends, colleagues, and students, Bates was the epitome of a philosopher. His close friend and colleague Victor Nuovo said, “Stanley was a philosopher not only by profession, but in the whole of his being: his mind was open and tirelessly curious, never dogmatic, always careful in forming his opinions, always ready to revise them, and he was relentless in the search for truth.

“This was evident in the way he approached death: quietly, unafraid, and with a keen intellectual interest,” Prof. Nuovo observed on the day after Bates passed away. “In dying, he taught me and everyone near him how to die. It was the ultimate lesson – his last gift to us.”

A graduate of Dartmouth who earned a master’s degree at Oxford and a doctorate from Harvard, his major fields of interest were ethics and the philosophy of law. Bates published more than 60 articles, book chapters and reviews during his career, and served as an editorial referee for the university press at Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge (U.K.), Cornell, Chicago, and University of California.

“Stanley was a model of how to be a philosopher at a liberal arts college,” said Kareem Khalifa, associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy, “and his lasting legacy will be the passion for ideas that he instilled in generations of Middlebury philosophers. He taught and read broadly, which inspired both his students and his colleagues to strive for the erudition, curiosity, and generosity of thought that he so wonderfully and effortlessly exemplified.

“Well past his retirement, he supported our students’ quests to discover their philosophical voices and to hone their ideas. In doing so, he recognized, perhaps better than anyone else in the department, that this was not only an intellectual journey, but also a deeply personal one. It speaks volumes to who he was as both a philosopher and a person that so many students chose to take this journey with him.”

Born in Los Angeles in 1940 and raised in Glendale, Calif., Bates graduated Dartmouth College summa cum laude in 1961 with highest honors in philosophy. He was selected for Phi Beta Kappa his junior year and earned an Alfred P. Sloan National Scholarship.

A Marshall scholar, Bates studied next at the University of Oxford where he earned a second bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and several academic laurels. From England, he returned to the U.S. in 1963 to study with political philosopher John Rawls at Harvard University. While pursuing his Ph.D., Bates was a teaching fellow at Harvard and later an assistant professor at University of Chicago.

In 1971, he was hired by then-President James I. Armstrong to join the faculty at Middlebury. Three years later he earned tenure and was promoted to associate professor, and in 1976 he was named acting dean of arts and humanities. He returned to Oxford on sabbatical in 1977, and in 1980 was promoted to full professor.

Widely known for his understanding of Kant, Nietzsche, and Wittgenstein, Middlebury named Bates the Walter Cerf Distinguished College Professor in 1996. His many courses included Human Nature and Ethics, American Philosophy, Aesthetics, Wittgenstein’s Philosophy, and Kierkegaard, Marx and Nietzsche. He offered the 100-level Introduction to the Philosophical Tradition numerous semesters, and enjoyed teaching first-year seminars on Tragedy and Philosophy, and the Fate of Morality.

Bates took his teaching responsibilities very seriously, Professor Nuovo added. “He prepared his lectures carefully, and they were wonderful models of clarity. He was also always there for students. His kindness and decency won students’ trust, and he was generous of his time in advising them.”

The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference was also dear to his heart, and Bates found time from 1978 to 1994 to serve as the administrative director of that renowned summer gathering of writers and editors. He also possessed a penchant for committee work having served multiple terms on the Committee on Reappointment and the Faculty Council, in addition to the Educational Affairs Committee, Teaching Resources Committee, Phi Beta Kappa Prize Committee, and Appeals Council.

Bates served his profession with leadership positions in the American Philosophical Association and American Society for Aesthetics, and served higher education as a frequent evaluator for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and as a board member of the Vermont Council on the Humanities.

He is survived by his wife Virginia Bates of Weybridge, his daughter Jennifer Bates of Middlebury, his daughter Lissie Bates-Haus and son-in-law Nikolaus Bates-Haus of Littleton, Mass., and their three children: Gus, Walter, and Alice.

The family is planning to conduct a private memorial, and is making the arrangements for a memorial scholarship to assist students of philosophy at Middlebury College. Anyone interested in donating to that scholarship is advised to contact Lissie Bates-Haus at lissie@gmail.com.