The Carl Cohen papers is comprised of correspondence, memoranda, writings, and topical files reflecting his teaching and other responsibilities as a member of the faculty of the University of Michigan. In addition, other files document his activities in other organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and as a labor and grievance arbitrator. Many of the files concern his continuing interest in such contemporary issues as affirmative action and the use of animals in medical research.
Carl Cohen is Professor of Philosophy at The University of Michigan where he has taught political philosophy, ethics, and logic since 1955. He was born April 30, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. He received an A.B. from the University of Miami, an M.A. from the University of Illinois, a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles, and an honorary L.D. from Ripon College.
At the University of Michigan, Cohen was one of the founders of the Residential College, serving as Associate Director (1967-1972) and Acting Director (1981). In addition, Professor Cohen has served as Chairman of the University Senate, Faculty Assembly, and the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs of Michigan (1974-1975) and as a member of the Executive Committee of the University's College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (1977-1980). From 1985 to 1996, he also was Director of Program in Human Values in Medicine in the University of Michigan Medical School.
Outside the University, Carl Cohen served as Chairman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan (1971-1974), and as a member of the National Board of Directors of the ACLU. He served as a labor/management arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and for the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. He has taught as a visiting professor at universities in Peru, Israel, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand, at the Universities of Illinois and Miami, and at Davidson College in North Carolina.
Professor Cohen has published widely in learned journals (Ethics, The Journal of Philosophy The New England Journal of Medicine, and others) and frequently in journals of political and literary opinion (The Nation, Commentary, The Yale Review, and others). He is the author, among other titles, of Civil Disobedience (Columbia University Press), Democracy (The Free Press/Macmillan), Four Systems (Random House), and Naked Racial Preference (Madison Books, 1995). With Irving M. Copi he is co-author of Introduction to Logic, multiple editions (Macmillan/Prentice Hall). His writings and lectures reflect his interest in a variety of moral and ethical topics, including the use of animals in medical research, the theory and practice of democracy, and the politics and underlying philosophy of the law on such issues as affirmative action and civil disobedience.
