Gary Brodsky taught philosophy at the University of Connecticut from 1963 to 1997

Gary Brodsky taught philosophy at the University of Connecticut from 1963 to 1997.

He was a mid-level philosophy professor, joint editor of a book called Contemporary Readings in Social and Political Ethics, author of articles in Journal of Metaphysics, Transactions of the C.S. Peirce Society, and other specialized publications.

Frida Ghitis: No one gets any respect unless they deserve it in philosophy class.

She says Brodsky was a standup comic himself, using mockery and ridicule to subvert prejudices.

Ghitis says he was a straight-A student but otherwise a hopeless misfit.

He says the harshness of his style was an ideal or even an entirely successful method of instruction.

Frida Ghitis: I struggled to understand how these abstruse philosophical systems could possibly relate to a lived life.

She was dazzled by the comic brio of his invective against religion.

She says he was thrillingly clear about the necessity of overcoming our ignorance.

Ghitis says he's tried to do all those things in his life, if with none of his panache.