A Eulogy for Jacques Taminiaux

By Kazue Koishikawa

Jacques Taminiaux, professor emeritus in philosophy at the University of Louvain and Boston College, passed away on May 7th, 2019 at the age of 90 years. As those familiar with continental philosophy know, he left a tremendous legacy in the field of phenomenology from Husserl and Heidegger to Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Arendt, and more.

In honor of his life and the works he left behind, I would like to trace some memorable personal exchanges with him in the hope it sheds light upon his contribution to Arendt studies.

One afternoon in the fall of 1997, I was standing inside of Professor Taminiaux’s office. (I don’t know why we weren’t seated but somehow we were both standing.) Gentle fall afternoon light filled in the room. It was a beautiful day, yet standing there, I was extremely nervous and uncomfortable. After I introduced myself and answered a few questions, there was silence. An awkward few seconds felt like forever to me. I had recently arrived from Japan and just started my master’s program in philosophy at Boston College.

Before I came to the States, I was a doctoral student in politics in Tokyo and planning to write my dissertation on Hannah Arendt. The more I read of Arendt, the more I became convinced that there were deeper philosophical discussions in her texts. I had to admit…