John Somerville was born in New York City on March 13, 1905 and died in El Cajon, California on January 8, 1994. He earned three degrees in philosophy from Columbia University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1938. In 1935-1937 he and his wife, Rose Maurer Somerville, a sociologist, worked in the U.S.S.R. and studied Soviet philosophy, both theory and practice. The project laid down the direction of his life and career: the analysis and evaluation of philosophical concepts in their application to the solution of social problems both national and international. The product of this study was Soviet Philosophy (1946), “the first Western book on Soviet philosophy from an examination of original sources.”

From 1939 to 1967 at Hunter College (the City University of New York), John Somerville advanced from Instructor to Professor Emeritus. He was founding editor and Editor in Chief of the translation quarterly, Soviet Studies in Philosophy (now Russian Studies in Philosophy) from 1962 to 1987. After retirement from CUNY, he taught at the United States International University (1967-1972).

During the 1950’s the Cold War hysteria against communism abroad viciously turned against liberals and radicals at home, and the federal government under the Smith Act indicted several communists for teaching the duty of overthrowing the government by force and violence. In response, Somerville testified at three trials as an expert non-communist witness on the doctrines of Marxism-Leninism, exposing the government’s distorted interpretations of them. Forbidden at the trials to introduce any reference to the American Declaration of Independence, he elucidated the principles of democracy and revolution in his book, The Communist Trials and the American Tradition (1956).

His growing anxiety over international misunderstanding and the precarious peace led him in 1962 to join others of the APA in the founding of the Society for the Philosophical Study of Dialectical Materialism (later, the Society for the Philosophical Study of Marxism). Then, in spite of the refusal of the Department of State to grant visas to Soviet philosophers, he succeeded in arranging the first full dialogue on U.S. soil between American and Soviet philosophers at the APA convention in Washington, D.C. on December 27, 1963. Through his enterprise, the first binational conference of American and Soviet philosophers was convened at the 13th World Congress of Philosophy in August 1963 in Mexico City.

At the 17th World Congress of Philosophy in Montreal in 1983 he took the lead in forming the International Philosophers for the Prevention of Nuclear Omnicide(IPPNO), organizing its first conference in 1986 in St. Louis. Highlighting his own term “omnicide,” he argued that “war” in the nuclear context had become a deceptive and obsolete word, because today all life on the planet could be irreversibly exterminated by the nuclear exchange already prepared.

John Somerville situated his thought and action in the tradition of Socrates, Spinoza, Marx, Comte, Bertrand Russell, and other philosophers whose schisms with social convention put them in trouble with received opinion, cautious institutions, and established law. Their pre-eminent care was not “What is philosophy?” but “What is going on in the world of human society and what can be done about it?” They sought “the relationship of philosophical theory to social and political practice.”

Besides the record of his thought and deeds, he has left us the memory of his person-composed, passionate, cheerful, militant, independent, gentle – a philosopher of peace in a world where philosophy and peace need each other to survive and thrive.

In 1991, convinced he hadn’t much more time to live, he asked that the following memorial minutes be presented to the APA: “Instead of listing my works and activities as an international philosopher, let me try to share a thought with the APA concerning the role and nature of an international philosopher. Such a philosopher must be a critic of the national policies of his or her own government when such criticism is merited, especially when the policies threaten human existence. In my lifetime the APA has shown a very poor and backward attitude in this regard. Try to understand this fact, and to improve the APA’s ongoing record.”

John Somerville is survived by his wife, Dr. Rose Maurer Somerville, his sons, Greg and Kent, and two granddaughters Susan and Tara.

Howard L. Parsons
University of Bridgeport

John Somerville, co-founder and first president of IPPNO (International Philosophers for the Prevention of Nuclear Omnicide), died on January 8 in El Cajon, CA, at the age of 88.

John was a dedicated teacher, prodigious scholar and a tireless activist in behalf of peace, human decency, and planetary survival.

A scholar of ethics and social philosophy, and an internationally known expert on Marxism, he worked relentlessly against the Cold War and in behalf of dialogue between Soviet and American philosophers. Sometimes judged controversial by the paranoid standards of McCarthyism, John persisted in placing personal integrity and global reconciliation above personal or academic advancement.

Since 1972, the year of his official retirement, John provided us with a model for creative maturing. His clear and powerful writings continued to take him and his works to diverse places and journals. At the age of 70, he wrote his first play, The Crisis: The True Story of How The World Almost Ended. Concerned with the ethical issues and dangers inherent in Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban missile crisis, this play has been translated into many languages and produced widely inside and outside of North America, including Japan and Sweden. His second play, The Last Inquest, also produced by numerous university drama groups, followed his first play.

Committed to the cause of world peace and the prevention of nuclear omnicide, John was the first American philosopher to mobilize us professionally against the horrors and inhumanities of the nuclear threat and to provide us with a vocabulary for the threat of nuclear extinction. International Philosophers for the Prevention of Nuclear Omnicide (IPPNO) and The Union of American and Japanese Professionals Against Nuclear Omnicide are but two of the organizations which owe their birth and life to John’s inspiring work, energy and organizational skills. To all of us his message was and is unambiguous: “Those who take no action against (nuclear) weapons are, in effect, casting their votes for omnicide.”

Among many honors, John received the Bertrand Russell Peace Award and, from The Board of Directors of Promoting Enduring Peace, the Gandhi Peace Award for “demonstrating the highest traditions of Gandhi.” He was also awarded the degree Doctor of Humane Letters from Denison University.

John Somerville beautifully integrated the life of inquiry and passionate scholarship with the life of active concern for humankind. He brought together many of the principles for which institutions of higher learning claim to exist and by which civilizations endure. We shall miss John greatly, but his work and inspiration will live on in all of us whom he touched. In untold ways, the human community has been enriched by his life.

John is survived by his wife of 64 years, Rose Somerville, Professor Emerita of San Diego State University; his sons Greg of New York and Kent of El Cajon; and two granddaughters, Susan of New York and Tara of San Francisco.

Ronald E. Santoni
Visiting Scholar and Visiting Fellow
Yale University

*  These obituaries are from the Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 67 (1994), 52-54.