The Chairman of the Philosophy
Department, Harry Allen Overstreet, offered Cohen an assistant
professorship in 1912. His acceptance of this position began
Cohen’s long tenure in this department until his retirement
in 1938. He promptly initiated two new courses, philosophy
of science and philosophy of law, to which he subsequently
added the philosophy of civilization, requiring the study
of Santayana's Life of Reason in this course. He co-wrote
with his gifted former student Ernest Nagel (CCNY Class of
1923) An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method for another
innovative course on this topic. He also taught four more
courses at the College—metaphysics, ethics, ancient
philosophy and history of philosophy. Morris Cohen was emblematic
of City College as a faculty member who enhanced the reputation
of the institution, particularly during his tenure as a faculty
member in the Philosophy Department. He was one member of
the faculty noted for serious scholarship, and in particular
for his writing on philosophy that made him the most quoted
philosopher in America, and a prominent member of the philosophic
community on St. Nicholas Terrace and in Morningside Heights.
Class of 1900
