[Maluf, Brother Francis] Wild, John / Aiken, Henry D.

Typed Letter signed from american philosopher John Wild to Philosopher Henry David Aiken, informing Aiken: “I missed you especially two weeks ago when I attempted to defend a realistic view of ethics in terms of the concept of natural law. I am not sure, but I think you might have been in agreement with some of the points I tried to make as over against Lewis’ Kantian subjectivism and Demos’ [Raphael Demos] extreme Platonism….”. Besides some further niceties, John Wild talks in this letter intensely about Christian Arab Philosopher Francis Maluf, from Mashrah, Lebanon, who could be in John Wild’s mind the perfect “section man for your Phil A course”. Wild continues to praise the syrian, Maluf, who had been “teaching Mathematics and Physics in a war job out of Worcester and who has been keeping up his interest in philosophy by attenting courses around here, organizing discussion groups and other intellectual activities which amaze me by their versatility and intensity”. John Wild continues: “He has been offered a permanent job at the University of Beirut in Syria to teach Philosophy there (he is a friend of Malik’s) but if possible wants to stay around here for another year to study and learn before he goes back.” [Maluf had converted to catholicism in 1940 and was later known as Brother Francis Maluf.

Cambridge, April 15th, 1945. Octavo. 2 pages. Softcover. Very good condition with only minor signs of wear. Original two-page-letter with original envelope.

Brother Francis Maluf was born, in the town of Mashrah, Lebanon, about thirty miles from Beirut, in 1913. His given name was Fakhri Boutros Maluf. The Maluf family is descended from the ancient Ghassanids, Christian and Catholic Arabs who courageously kept the Faith in the face of Moslem aggression.
Though poor, Fakhri’s family saw to his education, which was provided at home, in a small school that his father operated. In 1934, Fakhri graduated from the American University of Beirut with a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics. From 1934 to 1939, he taught physics at that same University.
In 1939, he moved to the United States to attend the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he received first an M.A. and, in 1942, a Ph.D. in philosophy. On the Feast of St. Andrew (Nov. 30) in 1940, he became a Catholic. After receiving his Ph.D., he continued post-graduate studies at Harvard University and Saint Bonaventure University.
From 1942 to 1945, Dr. Maluf taught mathematics and science at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. From 1945 to 1949, he taught philosophy, theology, and mathematics at Boston College.
Since that time, Brother Francis continued to teach Sacred Scripture, philosophy, theology, science and mathematics at various levels. On July 19, 2009, Brother Francis marked his 96th birthday. On September 5 of that year — a first Saturday — Brother went to his reward. (Source: Catholicism dot org)
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John Daniel Wild (April 10, 1902 – October 23, 1972) was a twentieth-century American philosopher. Wild began his philosophical career as an empiricist and realist but became an important proponent of existentialism and phenomenology in the United States.
Wild was born in Chicago, Illinois. After undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago, he received his master’s degree from Harvard University and completed his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1926.
He taught for a year at the University of Michigan and then at Harvard from 1927 until 1961 when he left to assume the chairmanship of the philosophy department at Northwestern University, a leading center for phenomenology and existentialism in the United States. Wild moved to Yale in 1963 and, in 1969, to the University of Florida.
He received an honorary doctorate from Ripon College and served as visiting professor at the Universities of Chicago, Hawaii, and Washington. He served as president of the Association for Realistic Philosophy (1949) and the Metaphysical Society of America (1954). In 1962 Wild, along with William A. Earle, James M. Edie, and others, founded the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy. John Wild died in New Haven, Connecticut. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Aiken, Henry David · Autograph – Rare · Autographed Letter – signed · Henry David Aiken – Collection · Maluf, Brother Francis (Philosopher from Lebanon) · Philosophy Rare · Typed Letter signed · Wild, John Daniel (Philosopher)
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 31870AB

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