Philosophers

A famous philosopher is coming to visit my university. Would it be inappropriate to ask for his autograph?

Comments

It depends on the setting. But if after the talk, there is an informal reception or something where you could talk with the philosopher and unobtrusively have him/her sign a book, I suspect s/he would be flattered not bothered. We philosophers tend not to get many such requests! (alas, not many of us count as famous)

Let me just register my agreement with Eddy. It is very common to ask an author to sign a book, and so it's not likely to be shocking or even entirely unexpected. Asking a philosopher to sign a napkin, on the other hand, or a baseball (!) might make the requester seem kind of silly. So if the person hasn't written a book, you might want to skip it.

Well, a book would be a natural thing to ask someone to sign. But it needn't be that (without being ridiculous): I don't think he would take it amiss if you asked him to sign an article he's written. Or perhaps even simply a small blank card. (Many autograph collections consist of such signed cards.) And I don't think you have to worry about being unobtrusive or to wait for an informal reception: I can see nothing wrong with approaching the individual after his talk and politely requesting an autograph.

I thought about the article idea. And, back in the day, one might have had an off-print for someone to sign. (I once saw an off-print that had apparently belonged to Henry Sheffer, he of the Sheffer stroke, signed by Gottlob Frege!) But it does seem odd to ask someone to sign a photocopy of an article. Anyway, it's nonetheless true that some people like to collect autographs, and that a blank card is often the format of choice, and there's nothing wrong with that. But don't do the napkin. ;-)

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