Lawrence Pasternack (1967-2024)
Lawrence Pasternack, professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University, has died.
Professor Pasternack was known for his work on Kant’s philosophy of religion. He is the author of Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason: an Interpretation and Defense (2014) and the Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Kant on Religion Within the Boundaries of Mere Reason (2014), among other works. You can learn more about his writings here and here.
Pasternack joined the faculty at Oklahoma State in 1998. He earned his PhD from Boston University, his MA in philosophy and religious studies at Yale Divinity School, and his undergraduate degree at York University.
He died unexpectedly on January 30th.
I’m very saddened to read about Lawrence — way too young. We overlapped in my first year at BU Lawrence was always friendly and philosophically engaged — in particular on anything connected with Kant. He also had a slightly removed, wry sense of humor. I was thrilled when he got a tenure-track position and went to a school which by all accounts greatly valued him. My condolences to his family, friends, and students.
Lawrence and I were in grad school together. Just heard of this today. Very sorry to hear of it. He was a witty, fun, sometimes rightly cynical part of our cohort. I am sorry for the loss to his family and hope that you are all coping ok. Thinking of you all.
So sorry to hear about this. A very smart and unique young man. Tragic loss for his family.
I was one of his grad students at OkState. His seminar on Kant made Kant enjoyable and fun to read. He was a very smart philosopher and really enjoyed teaching. He would often come to the grad offices and sit and chat with us. This was very sad news!