Richard Swall Ownbey

For some reason I woke up thinking of this great teacher I was so fortunate to have. I googled him and am sad that I didn’t let him know how much I loved his class. He was passionate About finding truth and he was funny. I have thought of him a lot over the years and I’m sad he is gone. I took logic and world religions from him and I wish I could take another class. Condolences to his loved ones.

Richard Ownbey was a philosophy teacher of mine at Sacramento City College before my transfer to Sac State. Within the bounds of the classroom he was a good teacher, and showed a great understanding of his subject. He had a tendency to digress, and would often break into amusing personal anecdotes. His teaching style was not direct, but it was warm and friendly, and his course material was carefully selected and personally compiled into packets to help people understand quickly.

But it was not in the classroom that his status as a philosopher was best shown. From our increasingly longer philosophical conversations after class, it became obvious that his philosophical wheelhouse was not the academy, but philosophy of life, and his insight, life experience and outlook was best transmitted in person to person thoughtful dialogue. He helped me glean from philosophy many of the kinds of answers that I had been seeking, which the modern philosophical tradition does not attempt to answer.

He introduced me to the writings of Charles Peirce, who I now regard as my main influence in many way. He introduced me to the writings of Ortega Y Gasset, as well as the best ideas on the nature of consciousness. None of this on a curriculum of course. Ultimately his Eastern Zen influenced outlook and pragmatic practical philosophies were about real actual personal life - his family and friends.

To put it simply he was a mensch. It bothers me that I did not know of his passing. It bothers me that I did not better keep in touch. It bothers me that some testimony such as I have just written did not accompany his name when I searched for him online. So now I have written one.

The world is a poorer place for having lost you Ownbey.