Felmon Davis, a professor emeritus of philosophy and luminous presence in the world of philosophical education, died May 7, 2025, in his adopted home of Mannheim, Germany. He was 76.
Davis, who joined Union in 1980 as a visiting instructor and retired in 2018, was a central figure in the Philosophy Department. During his career, he served as department chair and co-director of the department’s senior thesis program. He was active on the Humanities Faculty Development Committee and the president’s colloquia on minority hiring. He also founded Ephemeris: An Undergraduate Journal of Philosophy in 2001.
Ephemeris was the first undergraduate philosophy journal in the United States. It has grown into an internationally recognized publication that receives submissions from across the U.S. and abroad and boasts tens of thousands of monthly downloads.
Davis continued to act as a faculty sponsor on the student-run journal after his retirement. Andrea Pedeferri, who was co-sponsor with Davis for the last five years, remembers him as the heart and soul of the publication.
“Ephemeris is a crown jewel of the Philosophy Department and of Union College as a whole, a tangible and successful embodiment of a liberal arts education,” said Pedeferri, an adjunct professor of philosophy. “All of this was made possible thanks to Felmon’s courage, initiative, commitment and unwavering dedication.”
“The publication stands as a testament to his wit, intellectual acumen, dedication to students and education, and his unique character,” he continued. “Even though it is difficult to accept that Felmon will no longer be with us, Ephemeris will continue to honor his legacy and his extraordinary contribution.”
A Philadelphia native, Davis earned a B.A. from Haverford College, where he was first introduced to the thoughts of Jürgen Habermas. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. His dissertation offered a critical analysis of Habermas’s theory of communicative action, and his early scholarly work included a formative year at the Starnberg Max Planck Institute in Munich during Habermas’s tenure there.
“In addition to his welcoming smile, quick wit and wry sense of humor, Felmon possessed one of the sharpest philosophical minds encountered. As an African American he could and did reach out to minority students,” recalled Bob Baker, the William D. Williams Emeritus Professor of Philosophy. “He also brought well-known faculty from Princeton to give talks at Union.
“As a student of the famous German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who developed a theory of discourse ethics and used it to examine democratic societies, Felmon brought Habermas to Union for a week. It was a memorable experience for many of us.”
Davis was a bilingual author who published in English and German and was active in German philosophical circles. He focused his research on moral theory and the philosophy of religion, with influential publications in the European Journal of Philosophy and International Journal of Political Philosophy, among others.
During his retirement in Germany, he was a regular visitor and guest at doctoral colloquia in political theory at Gießen University. He taught his final course on “Fear, Truth and Democracy” in winter 2021/22 at Hamburg University.
Davis was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, a Danforth Fellowship and a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Scholarship. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
“The generosity of Felmon’s mind was legendary – he often devoted more attention to the intellectual pursuits of others than to his own,” said Leo Zaibert, the Andreas von Hirsch Professor of Penal Theory and Ethics at the University of Cambridge. “I often felt that I had an unfair advantage in the profession, since I had the benefit of sharing my drafts with him before submitting them elsewhere.”
“He devoted the same attention to students and their drafts. Not surprisingly, Union’s very best students adored him,” added Zaibert, who was formerly the William D. Williams Professor of Philosophy, Law and Humanities at Union. “He was a beautiful, wise and truly loveable man – one whom I truly loved. He will leave an immense hole in the lives of all of those who were fortunate enough to count him amongst our friends.”
Krisanna Scheiter, associate professor of philosophy, echoed these sentiments.
“When I was hired at Union College, Felmon made me feel like an important and valued member of the department. It is difficult to speak up in meetings when you are new (and young), but Felmon always made me feel like my voice was important and my views were valid,” she said. “He was also an excellent mentor and teacher, who cared deeply about his students’ intellectual growth.”
“Students told me time and again how much their writing and their thinking improved as a result of Felmon’s instruction,” Scheiter added. “Felmon had a brilliant mind, a wicked sense of humor, and I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor or colleague. He will be deeply missed.”
Davis is survived by his spouse, Elisabeth Egetemeyr.