Canadian philosopher at the University of Manitoba and McLuhan's first formative teacher. By 1930 McLuhan had chosen to work closely with him; from Lodge's thesis that philosophy comes in three flavors — idealism, realism, pragmatism — Cameron traces McLuhan's lifelong interest in threefold structures, reinforced by reading Hegel together and carried directly into his doctoral thesis on the Trivium.
Across the dialogues
The Manitoba seed — Lodge's threefold philosophy, carried into McLuhan's trivium thesis and beyond
By around 1930 McLuhan had settled on Lodge as the philosopher to work under, and did so closely for several years.
"By 1930 or so, he had already decided that Rupert Lodge in philosophy was the guy that he needed to work with. And he worked closely with Lodge for several years."
Lodge's thesis — that philosophy comes in three kinds (idealism, realism, pragmatism) — gave McLuhan his foundational notion of a threefold reality, reinforced by reading Hegel together.
"Lodge's primary idea was that philosophy comes in three flavors — idealism, realism, and pragmatism. And so McLuhan had this notion of a threefold reality from Lodge; and then reading philosophers with Lodge like Hegel, that became reinforced."
Lodge's threefold survives directly in McLuhan's Trivium thesis (rhetoric / dialectic / grammar) — McLuhan still working out how to apply the structure to the world.
"And so in his PhD thesis, he is still very much involved with his professor Lodge influence, and he's trying to see if there is a way of applying that threefold to the world."
Folded into the Nova Scotia lineage — McLuhan's chief Manitoba teacher turns out to have begun at Dalhousie, a one-semester substitute
Bob ties Lodge to Nova Scotia — his earliest, perhaps first, academic post was a one-semester substitution at Dalhousie for Herbert Leslie Stewart, pulling McLuhan's single biggest Manitoba influence into the Halifax School.
"and the guy that substituted for him for one semester was none other than Rupert Lodge, the guy who would be the single biggest influence on McLuhan at the University of Manitoba."
Connections
McLuhan's Manitoba philosophy professor from c. 1930; Lodge's threefold (idealism / realism / pragmatism) seeded McLuhan's lifelong interest in threefold structures, carried into his trivium thesis.