Philosophy: Father William Warthling, Part II

Ernest R. Baxter III

I would be remiss in not mentioning the prior influence of Bob Baxter in my education.  Ernest R. Baxter III, or "Bob",  was my professor for ENG 101 and 102.  Although I learned some writing skills from him, more importantly, I began to read extensively outside of class.  That I was inspired to do so by any of these great professors was no small feat, as I had graduated from Niagara Wheatfield High School with an 82 average, and that included a fair number of 100's in band, phys. ed. and shop.

Writing class at NCCC was substantially different from anything I had experienced in high school.  In Bob's class, writing and reading had a purpose.  Not that he was didactic.  If anything, Bob Baxter has existentialist leanings. I am not sure if he is an empiricist pig. In any event, Bob Baxter is/was a professional writer, and I sensed that he took what he was doing quite seriously, so I figured I should take him seriously as well.

Professor Baxter was hired in the fall of 1970, along with Father Warthling. The year prior, Edmund Thomas was the chair of the humanities division. No doubt, professor Thomas - himself a very well educated man - had some influence on these hirings, and it was, in many ways, a positive step forward for liberal education at NCCC.  Ed Thomas also occasionally taught philosophy, and I have no doubt that he could have been a great influence in my education.

In the formative years at NCCC the influence of vocational/technical education must have been great.  Dr. Ernest Notar was a civil engineer, and was recruited from Erie Tech.  The school was also located in downtown Niagara Falls, which was still hustling and bustling with industry. A cursory look at the faculty in the early years also shows very strong math, science, technology and business departments.

I mentioned earlier that Bob Baxter's writing class had a purpose. As anyone who knows Bob Baxter would agree, he is a very outspoken environmentalist. Much to his credit, we were warned 35 years ago about the dangers of nuclear power. Now, after Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukashima Daiichi, it turns out Bob was right.  What was supposed to be an extremely unlikely event, with smaller than infinitesimal probability, in fact happened three times in 35 years.

If nothing else, Bob Baxter and Father Warthling taught us all how to think, a corollary of which is to question authority. As we all know, there is this thing called the "human condition." While the late Father Warthling and Bob Baxter probably never agreed on the cause of this phenomena, we can all agree that it is the Bob Baxters and the Father Warthlings of this world who work to keep the worst excesses of the human condition in check, and in doing so, enable the preservation of our democracy.

More to come....