Richard L. Tieszen Papers
Scope and Contents
The Richard L. Tieszen papers were collected and created by Tieszen throughout his academic and professional career, which began in 1974 and ended with his death in 2017. Tieszen’s study of philosophy began while he was a student at Colorado State University and some of the papers, drafts, and assignments he wrote during these years as well as when he was a student at the New School for Social Research, and Columbia University are included in this collection. After graduation, Tieszen taught philosophy for more than twenty years at San José State University in addition to holding various visiting positions at other colleges/universities, and many papers from those years are included in this collection. They include documents related to classes he taught such as class activity materials, lecture notes and outlines, and paper and test prompts. He also kept copies of correspondence he had with students, colleagues, publishers, and other associations relating to his teaching and research activities. Many correspondences and articles in this collection are printed on the backs of other correspondence and records produced and collected by Tieszen.
Among the materials in this collection are notes related to ideas about his professional and academic interests/associations. Tieszen’s papers include speech drafts and outlines for various colloquia, seminars, conferences, and presentations that he attended and presented at over the years. He also collected articles related to his research interests and notes in this collection include Tieszen’s personal musings on various philosophy/mathematics topics as well as notes and ideas for various papers/articles/books. Among the papers related to articles and books Tieszen authored are draft manuscripts with annotations of both published and unpublished works as well as correspondence with publishers and colleagues related to these writings.
Dates
- Creation: 1974-2017
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright has not been assigned to San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Biographical / Historical
Richard L. Tieszen (1951-2017) was born in Mitchell, South Dakota, moving to Pico Rivera, California shortly after where he lived until graduating high school. Tieszen attended Rio Hondo Junior College in Whittier, California after high school. He earned his B.A. in philosophy with honors from Colorado State University in 1975, his M.A. in philosophy from the New School for Social Research in 1978, and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1986.
Tieszen taught philosophy at San José State University as assistant professor 1989-1993, associate professor 1993-1998, and professor of philosophy from 1998-2014 in addition to being associate chair of the philosophy department 1992-1999 and 2005-2009. He also held teaching appointments and visiting positions at Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), Paris in 2009; at Archives Henri Poincaré/CNRS/Université Nancy 2, France in 2007; at the Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST/CNRS), Paris in 2007; at Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands in 2001; at Stanford University in 1998; and again at Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1994. Some of Tieszen’s research interests included: phenomenology, intuitionism, logic, the philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of mind, Kurt Gödel, Edmund Husserl, and Immanuel Kant.
Throughout his academic and professional career Tieszen received many awards and fellowships for his outstanding work, research, and teaching, including: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Seminar Fellowship in 1988, the Meritorious Performance and Professional Promise Award from SJSU in 1990, the Faculty Development Assigned Time Award from SJSU in 1991, the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO) Fellowship from Utrecht University in 1995, the Outstanding Research Award from SJSU in 2002, National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship in 2007, and the University President’s Scholar from SJSU in 2008.
Tieszen authored 4 books; Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics; After Gödel: Platonism and Rationalism in Mathematics and Logic; Mathematical Intuition: Phenomenology and Mathematical Knowledge; and Simply Gödel. He also was the co-editor of several philosophy books, and published over 50 articles in various philosophy journals including Continental Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophy of Logic, Philosophia Mathematica, and Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Additionally, Tieszen was an editorial board member of Philosophia Mathematica, on the advisory board for Comparative Philosophy, on the scientific board for Metodo: International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy, a referee for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and a project member for Kurt Gödel: From Logic to Cosmology.
After battling multiple myeloma for 8 years, Richard L. Tieszen passed away in March 2017 at the Zen Hospice in San Francisco.
Extent
9 boxes (11.4375 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection consists of professional and academic works, notes, publications, books, reviews, drafts, papers, class materials, and correspondence produced and collected by Richard L. Tieszen between 1974-2017. Subjects covered include philosophy, phenomenology, intuitionism, logic, mathematics, set theory, and other various topics relating to philosophy, logic, and mathematics. Material formats consist of manuscript notes, printed email correspondence, pamphlets, booklets, news clippings, printed articles/papers, and parcel/letters.
Arrangement
Series I., II., and III. are arranged chronologically; Series IV. and V. are arranged alphabetically.
Processing Information
Processed by Jacob Rabinowitz, June 2019
Subject
- Kant, Immanuel, 1724-1804 -- Research (Person)
- Gödel, Kurt -- Research (Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Richard L. Tieszen Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jacob Rabinowitz
- Date
- June 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the SJSU Special Collections & Archives Repository
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
(408) 808-2062
(408) 808-2063 (Fax)
special.collections@sjsu.edu