University Times

Gerald J. Massey, Distinguished Service Professor of Philosophy, professor of history and philosophy of science, and former director of the Center for Philosophy of Science, has been awarded the highest civilian honor conferred by Germany.

Massey received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesverdientskreuz erster Klasse) for his contributions to German-American understanding.

Consul General Cornel Metternich presented the decoration to Massey on behalf of German President Roman Herzog at a Sept. 10 ceremony at the German Consulate General in New York City. Chancellor Mark Nordenberg headed a small Pitt delegation that attended the event.

The award is personally determined by the German president upon the recommendation of the German Department of State in consultation with its embassy and consulate in the host country.

"I view the decoration primarily as an award to the Center for Philosophy of Science, and only derivatively as an award for me personally," said Massey, who directed the Pitt center from July 1988 through August 1997. "Our center has done much for philosophy and history of science in Germany, and the Germans in turn have done much for us. The future belongs to those universities that reach out creatively and constructively to fellow institutions around the globe." During Massey's years as director, many prominent German scholars made research visits to Pitt's Center for Philosophy of Science, and numerous conferences and workshops were staged jointly with German colleagues and institutes. Massey played a key role in establishing the Pittsburgh-Konstanz Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science, a biennial series of conferences that alternate between Pittsburgh and the German city of Konstanz; a jointly edited book series published by the University presses of Pittsburgh and Konstanz; a collaboration in which Pitt and Konstanz share and jointly develop their archival holdings in scientific philosophy; and a Pitt-Konstanz student exchange program.

"Philosophy in Germany owes enormously to Jerry Massey's incessant and highly successful efforts to bring together American and German students and scholars. This has led to a form of international cooperation that is unique so far in the history of philosophy," said Gereon Wolters of the University of Konstanz.