Andrew Cooper was for many of us in the hegelpd community not only an interlocutor and collaborator, but a long-standing friend. His intellectual generosity, seriousness, and distinctive philosophical voice were always enriching our shared work and conversations. His sudden death has deeply shaken us. We therefore asked Christoph Schuringa, a close friend and colleague of Andrew’s and a long-standing friend to several of us in the hegelpd group, to write the words of remembrance that follow. The hegelpd group recognises itself in this text, in both its views and its sense of loss, and offers it here as a collective tribute.
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ANDREW COOPER
1986-2025
It is with great sadness that we have learned of the untimely death of Andrew Cooper. The many communities – within philosophy and beyond – into which Andrew radiated his unique personal and intellectual presence are coming to terms with a sudden and profound loss.
Many of us have been lucky enough to experience Andrew’s seriousness, curiosity, warmth, strength of mind, and humility. His philosophical knowledge was exceptional in both its depth and range, and his work somehow just as exploratory as it was rigorous. A philosophical conversation with Andrew was like no other: challenging and exhilarating, but also generative and full of humour.
Andrew had built an impressive career that had seen him travel through a series of prestigious institutions and appointments. Having settled into a post at Warwick University, he continued to find opportunities for visiting stints at other institutions, to all of which he brought his inimitable dynamism, openness to others’ ideas, and desire for intellectual community. He leaves behind him a formidable body of work, ranging across Kant, Hegel, the philosophy of biology, and much else, and including three monographs, an edited translation of Amalia Holst whose work he championed, and over 30 articles or book chapters. His academic production was bolstered by his broadcast work for the BBC and, most recently, Warwick’s Daybreak podcast.
For Andrew, it seemed natural that philosophy was deeply personal and existential, and the way he did his academic work seemed inseparable from the earnest, vivid, joyful, adventurous spirit in which he approached life. His care for others and for the environment in which we all live permeated all he did. In his most recent project, for which he had returned to his native Australia, his mission had been to explore the meaning of exploration itself, and to do so by work on the ground in a place defined by exploration and through conversations with fellow explorers. It was in pursuit of this that his life came to an end in the Tasmanian wilderness that he so loved. What he would have brought into the world had he been able to complete this adventure we will never know.
Our deepest condolences go out, at this very difficult time, to all those whose lives were touched by Andrew, across all the communities that he helped to shape. We will aim to post here, in due course, news of initiatives to celebrate Andrew and honour his memory.
Christoph Schuringa
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