Obituary of Clement Joseph Dore

Clement Joseph Dore, Jr., 1930—2016. Clement Dore died Friday November 4, 2016 at UNC Memorial Hospital at the age of 86. Cracking arguably inappropriate jokes, remembering his deep loyalty, complaining about his alcohol addiction, and celebrating his inimitable character, his four vibrant children surrounded and cared for him as he passed away. Clem was born of Clem Senior, who owned Congress Billiard and Bowling Supply Company in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Florence Weiler Dore. Clem was raised in the Catholic Church, though his maternal grandfather Ralph Weiler was Jewish. Catholicism vexed Clem most of his adult life, and religion occupied him to the end. He is the author of four books on the topic, Theism (1984); God, Suffering and Solipsism (1989); Moral Skepticism (1991); and On the Existence and Relevance of God (1995). At his death he was completing a book on secular theism. Clem graduated Magna Cum Laude in English at Harvard University in 1953, going on to take his MA in 1954 and PhD in philosophy in 1961. Clem studied with Perry Miller, and attended J. L. Austin's William James lectures in 1955. Clem was at the same time an avid popular music fan, circulating in the Boston music scene of the 1940s and 1950s, and whistling jazz standards up until his death. Clem lived at Lowell House; he and other Irish and Jewish students were not allowed entry into some of Harvard's clubs. A Boston local, Clem was able to find cooler ways to spend his social time there, reportedly introducing many a Harvard student to jazz, taking them to see live performances by Billie Holliday, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Sarah Vaughan, to name a few. Clem took up a faculty post in philosophy at Vanderbilt University in 1958 and enjoyed a long career there, retiring in 1992. In 1962 Clem married Eleanor Graham Fuqua of Nashville, Tennessee. The couple divorced in 1974. A committed liberal his whole life, Clem was involved in the Civil Rights Movement at Vanderbilt during the 1960s, protesting the expulsion of James Lawson from the Divinity School. Clem's last act before he died was to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton in the swing state of North Carolina. "I think the reason that many people go into philosophy is because people who are concerned about whether anything is objectively right or wrong are not totally at home in the world," Clem told the Vanderbilt Hustler upon his retirement. "Or they wonder whether the world really exists—I mean, that's a good example of not being at home in the world." Clem relished what he called the "royal battles" he inspired in his "Moral Problems" class. He has written on the ethics of abortion, the "Trolley Problem," and recently, on death. Philosophers, Clem said, "try to come up with a final philosophy, after which there will be no more need for any more philosophizing." Clem noted, "they're not going to succeed, because in order to undermine philosophy, you have to do philosophy." He is survived by the four aforementioned children, Mary Graham Dore of Charlotte, North Carolina; Florence Weiler Dore of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Clement Joseph Dore, III of Brooklyn, New York; and Katherine Nunnelly Dore, also of Brooklyn, New York. Clem leaves behind a legacy of five spectacular grandchildren, Ruby and Dexter Dore, Frank and Mary Rives Fowlkes, and Georgia Rigby. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks that memorial donations be made to TABLE, 205 W. Weaver St. Carrboro, NC 27510, https://www.tablenc.org/make-a-donation.