"‘YEAH, YEAH’: EULOGY FOR SIDNEY MORGENBESSER, PHILOSOPHER WITH A YIDDISH ACCENT The Tablet, by David Shatz"

“A proposed response to Heidegger's ontological query "Why is there something rather than nothing?" – "And if there were nothing? You'd still be complaining!”

“Asked to prove a questioner's existence, Morgenbesser shot back, "Who's asking?”

“Of Hilary Putnam – "He’s a quantum philosopher. I can’t understand him and his position at the same time.”

“Morgenbesser described ethics as entailing “ought implies can” while in Jewish ethics “can implies don’t.”

“During a lecture the Oxford linguistic philosopher J. L. Austin made the claim that although a in English implies a positive meaning, there is no language in which a double positive implies a negative. Morgenbesser responded in a dismissive tone, "Yeah, yeah.”

“Morgenbesser was leaving a subway station in New York City and put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the steps. A police officer told him that there was no smoking on the subway. Morgenbesser pointed out that he was leaving the subway, not entering it, and hadn't lit up yet anyway. The cop again said that smoking was not allowed in the subway, and Morgenbesser repeated his comment. The cop said, "If I let you do it, I'd have to let everyone do it." To which Morgenbesser, in a much misunderstood line, retorted: "Who do you think you are, Kant?" He was then hauled off to the police station, where The Categorical Imperative had to be explained to the police officers. .”