Jan Wojcik 1944-2006

Jan Wojcik, who served as Book Review Editor for The Journal of the History of Philosohy, died in Paris, France, where she and her daughter Kelly Young were enjoying a short holiday.

Jan grew up in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.  After years as a housewife and mother of three, she entered the University of Kentucky in the early 1980s, receiving her B.A. in 1983 with a major in History and a minor in Philosophy.  She started Law School at the University of Kentucky, but, in her own words: “What a disaster!! Talk about cultural dissonance!  One day I just walked out of the Law School and across campus to the Philosophy Department and applied for the Master’s program.”  Her decision was a gift to our field.  She pursued her graduate studies under James E. Force’s mentorship, completing her Ph.D. in 1992.  That fall, she joined the Philosophy Department at Auburn University, where she taught until her retirement in December 2005.

Jan’s articles and book on Robert Boyle have made a lasting contribution to the history of philosophy and the history of science.  Based on fine historical scholarship and sophisticated philosophical analysis, Robert Boyle and the Limits of Reason (Cambridge University Press, 1997) demonstrates the relationships among Boyle’s theology, philosophy, and natural philosophy.  It is a fine model of contextualized history of philosophy.  During the past few years, her interests turned to questions about just-war theory, and she contributed papers to The Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics.

Jan served the Journal in many capacities. She was Book Review Editor from late 2000 through August 2005. From 1984 until 1990, while she was a graduate student at the University of Kentucky, she was Editorial Assistant to James E. Force, who was Book Review Editor during those years. She was a member of the Journal's Board of Directors from 2001 until her death.

Jan was a respected colleague and a treasured friend.  We will miss her incisive thinking, her clear voice, and her warm friendship.

Margaret J. Osler