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Nader
N. Chokr
Professor of Philosophy &
Social Sciences
“Bio-sophy as Philo-sophia: A Philosopher’s Story”
*
The kind of breadth and depth
that Professor Chokr displays in his research and
teaching as a philosopher is not common. This is all
the more remarkable that in his case depth is not
sacrificed at the expense of breadth. He has over 20
years of teaching experience at different levels and
in different cultural contexts. He has traveled and
lectured extensively around the world –and his
career so far spans four continents, including now
China.
1. How Did He Come to be in China? In Jinan, at
Shandong University?
He first came to China in August
of 2002 at the invitation of an American University
in order to help with its expansion into China and
set up its Department of Philosophy on a satellite
campus within the South China Normal University
system in the area of Guangzhou. Upon completing his
mission and fulfilling the terms of his contract, he
decided to stay on in China instead of returning to
the US, as he had initially planned to do. He had
barely begun to scratch the surface and get to know
first-hand about the historical changes taking place
in this old country which had fascinated him since
childhood.
As he was still trying to
figuring out how things worked, he decided to take
up a short-term position that was offered to him in
the Department of Social Sciences and Public
Administration at Jinan University (Guangzhou),
where he was asked to give a Seminar in the
Philosophy of Education: Theories and Practices. The
most interesting part of his task consisted in
providing training to faculty members in different
disciplines and across all departments and schools
in alternative teaching methodologies that were, as
he characterized them, “Interactive, Dialogical, and
Critical Thinking-Oriented.”
Subsequently, he was offered a
position in the Department of Philosophy at
Zhongshan University, again in Guangzhou, as well as
at Shandong University. Confronted with a choice, he
chose the latter in large measure, he says, because
of the School of Philosophy & Social Development
(SPSD). Its name corresponded to his own
philosophical outlook and principled position about
what the task and role of philosophy should be, and
he hoped that he would be able to consistently carry
through with what has been his long-standing goal
and interest. He has now been at Shandong University
at SPSD for almost three years now.
And when asked whether he would
stay on once his 3-year contract ends in December,
he replied without hesitation that he was in fact
looking forward to renewing his contract for at
least another 3 years and staying on even longer in
order to continue with the work and projects he has
undertaken since arriving here and taking up his
full-time position as a Professor of Philosophy &
Social Sciences. Besides, he added, Jinan-Shandong
(China) is now his second home away from home (US)
because his wife is originally from this province.
2. Background –Education and Early Professional
Experience
Professor Chokr can boast of
having several advanced degrees –not only in
Philosophy but in other disciplines in the
Humanities and the Social Sciences as well –and that
he was able to complete in the same amount of time
that it takes most other people to complete one
degree.
Though he had majored in
Philosophy while still in High School (French
system), switching to the dismay of his parents and
teachers alike from a science major, his
philosophical education and training began in
earnest while he was still in France at the
University of Paris I (Sorbonne), where he obtained
two Master’s degrees –one in Philosophy and History
of the Systems of Thought, and another in
Comparative Literature. His theses were
respectively: “The Impact and Legacy of Nietzsche in
French Contemporary Thought” and “Human Nature in
the Works of Colonial and Post-Colonial Writers.”
At the same time, he was also
particularly interested in the Philosophy and
History of Sciences, and more specifically in what
his friend and renowned scholar, Patrick Tort, once
characterized broadly as the “Analysis of Discursive
Complexes.” One thing leading to another, he took a
special interest in the work of French Philosopher,
Michel Foucault, and ended up doing some research
under his supervision and mentorship that is best
described as fitting within Foucault’s Archeology of
Knowledge and Genealogy of Power/ Knowledge.
Following this first episode of
his (undergraduate and graduate) studies, he decided
to travel and learn this time by reading the “great
big book of the world” rather than the usual
philosophy books of the Western canon. In a
memorable journey (that he likes to recount and
plumb as a source of examples), he left for West
Africa, most specifically for the Ivory Coast. His
journey by train, car, boat and finally on camel’
back took him south-bound across France, across the
Mediterranean Sea into North Africa, across the
Sahara and into West Africa. This journey into the
‘heart of Africa’ turned out in fact to be more of a
“spiritual journey” in inner space, a journey of
self-discovery and awakening, rather than merely a
displacement in extended outer space –as he often
like to remind his listeners. Intending initially to
stay only 18 months, he ended up staying about 7
years in the Ivory Coast.
To cut a long story short
however, the primary reason for over-staying is that
he got involved in a leading role in the reform of
the educational system and in particular, in the
teaching of philosophy at both the secondary and
tertiary levels. The main underlying principles and
leitmotiv for his work in this context were
these: (1) Methodology (logical, scientific and
philosophical) as a Propaedeutic to Philosophy; and
(2) Philosophy--Critical Thinking as a Propaedeutic
to Human Development and Participatory and
Deliberative Democracy.
He once said in an interview that
if his life had ended then and he had done nothing
else, he would have nevertheless concluded that his
life was fulfilled because of the long-lasting
effects and impact his work there had –up to this
day. Not many people have such a unique opportunity
to impact the lives of so many and in such a
consequential manner so early in their life and
professional career. His
years in Africa also gave Professor Chokr the
opportunity not only to learn about non-Western
cultures, but also to get involved in the debate
raging then about African Philosophy –whether
strictly speaking there was any such thing, or
whether what some called “Ethno-philosophy” was
philosophy enough.
Upon his return to Paris,
Professor Chokr felt, in his words, somehow
“out-of-place and out-of-time.” And so he decided to
undertake an adventure and go this time to the US in
order to pursue further his advanced philosophical
studies, and eventually set his career on a more
secure and stable path. He proceeded in a record
time (about 16 months) to complete two Master’s
degrees, one in Continental European Philosophy and
another in Economics of Development/Political
Science at Ohio University. His theses were
respectively: “A Critical Examination of Michel
Foucault’s Archeology of Knowledge” and “Technology
Transfers, Dependency, and Economic Development.”
Subsequently, he accepted a
Fellowship at Rice University, in Houston, Texas
–which is recognized as one of the best universities
in the US, and referred to, at least in Texas, as
the “Harvard of the South.” There, he obtained
another MA, this time in an altogether different
philosophical tradition, namely, in Anglo-American
Analytic Philosophy, and finally a Ph.D. in
Philosophy/History of Sciences. His MA thesis was
titled: “Inquiry into the Logic(s) of Clusters” and
his dissertation: “Clusters’ Last Stand: A Theory of
the Process of Meaning-Making in Science” –followed
by a case-study on the Scientific Revolution in
Chemistry.
In the US, Professor Chokr took
up various teaching positions over the years. His
institutional affiliations included: Ohio
University, University of Houston, Rice University,
University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio
College, NorthVista College, and Trinity University.
During all these years, he has
also done some fair amount of work not only in the
Philosophy and History of Sciences, but also in
Social-Historical Epistemology, Philosophy of
Language, Philosophy of Mind (particularly as it
interfaces on the Problem of Consciousness with the
Cognitive Sciences, Neuro-Philosophy and the latest
scientific research in Neuro-Physiology) as well as
in Applied Ethics and Applied philosophy.
3. Early Phase of His Career—Brief Summary
His work in education reform and
on teaching methodologies of philosophy have brought
him to realize and conclude that teaching is itself
a quintessentially philosophical activity in its own
right; it cannot and should not be viewed (as many
academics unfortunately do) merely as somehow
secondary to “pure” philosophical research.
His interest and work in both the
Continental and Anglo-American traditions of
Philosophy have led him to conclude that the divide
that has for most of the 20th century
characterized the relationship between them is not
only untenable, but most profoundly unproductive,
and runs counter to the interests of philosophy
itself. He became acutely aware of the doubly
“aporetic” situation in which contemporary
philosophy finds itself as a result of this divide.
As he once wrote in a recent paper:
“Either philosophers remain with the old way of trying to establish
(timeless, trans-historical and universal) truths by
means of arguments alone, in which case they
restrict themselves to a self-enclosed “island’ of
fantastic reifications (Analytic Philosophers) or
they hopelessly struggle to free themselves without
much success and therefore go nowhere quickly
(Continental Philosophers). The former find it
increasingly difficult to explain themselves to
non-philosophers since that would require them to
deal with realities that are not to be found on
their Fantasy Island, while the latter find that
they can explain nothing at all to anyone, so they
become permanent subversive strugglers.”
For this reason, a good part of
Professor Chokr’s work has consisted on the one hand
in bridging and bring together the feuding
traditions, and on the other hand, in finding new
and creative ways to make philosophy relevant and
applicable to problems in the real world and to
people’s lives. For him, philosophy is first and
foremost a practice, and what’s more, a
transformative practice, even when it is manifested
in its most theoretical garb.
Not content of pursuing his love
for philosophy, and utmost commitment to it in the
most rigorous ways in the academic world, Professor
Chokr has sought and seized every opportunity to
‘humble himself,’ as he puts it, by choosing against
all odds to work outside of his “comfort zone” and
to practice philosophy beyond the “hallowed walls of
academia” –in such diverse areas and fields as
public policy, bio-medical ethics, public health,
health care, mental health, social development,
corporate management and governance, etc. For a
while, he even took on the job of consultant in both
the private corporate sector and the public sector.
Throughout the early part of his
career, Professor Chokr’s main concern was showing
the practical relevance of philosophy by bringing to
bear on the numerous and at times daunting problems
he confronted the full “arsenal of the philosophical
toolbox” (broadly construed –beyond all divisions
and boundaries) in an effort to find concrete and
feasible solutions. In the spirit of Karl Marx, and
to paraphrase one of his most famous statements, he
often wondered: what’s the point of philosophy if it
consists merely in piling up (esoteric,
cir-convoluted, jargon-prone) interpretations after
interpretations, or even interpretations of
interpretations ad infinitum and ad
nauseatum, and if it does not seek to make a
contribution to the real and effective
transformation of the world in which we live for the
better.
It is often said that some
(perhaps most) people go into the teaching
profession because in effect they cannot do anything
else, and are not competent or qualified to do
anything else. Similarly, it has been assumed and
even said that some (perhaps most) people who go
into philosophy do so because, in effect, they
cannot do anything else –except perhaps become what
Professor Chokr once called “professional
bullshitters.” Although this common view may be true
in some cases unfortunately, Professor Chokr has
always been prepared to argue that it cannot and
should not be generalized. He was thus eager to
demonstrate by example (and not merely by words on
paper) not only that some philosophers can do
something else, but that they can even do it better
than most, if and when given half the chance.
It is clear from all of the above
that Professor Chokr’s career consists in fact
already of several careers in one, as his interests
and areas of inquiry and activity comprise not only
many different areas in philosophy –beyond the
established divisions in terms of traditions and
schools of thought—but also many different
disciplines in the humanities and social sciences-
beyond traditionally established disciplinary
boundaries.
4. Recent Work--Directions
In recent years however, his work
and efforts have been concentrated primarily in the
following areas: Contemporary (American/European)
Philosophy, Applied Ethics and Applied Philosophy,
Social, Moral and Political Philosophy.
His interests are today more
narrowly and squarely focused on problems and issues
dealing with human and social development, human
rights, social and global justice. In this regard,
he is particularly interested for example in the
promise of the Capabilities Approach –the framework
articulated by Amartya Sen and developed further by
Martha Nussbaum for dealing with human and social
development.
He is also endeavoring to
articulate a new conceptual framework for human
rights that is situated beyond traditional moral
universalism and cultural relativism –one that
attempts to make a compelling case for a
“pluralistic, historically enlightened ethical
universalism” that is reasonably and defensibly
anchored in a multiple foundational perspective
achieved through intra- and inter-cultural dialogue
under the normative constraints of respect,
reciprocity, and responsibility.
Finally, in an effort to address
the problems of justice in a fast globalizing world,
and resolving or dissolving the “fundamental dilemma
of liberalism” when extended to the international,
transnational, supra-national or global context,
Professor Chokr is attempting to clear the
theoretical ground between the Scylla (Rawls’ point
of view) and Charybdis (the view defended by
cosmopolitan liberals such Charles Beitz and Thomas
Pogge). His aim is to articulate and defend a view
that he characterizes as “cosmopolitan
pluralism.”
Some of his most recent writings
include the following:
“Rawls’ Law of Peoples:
Why is it More Realistic than Utopian?”
“Justification and Normativity
in Moral and Political Philosophy-An Examination of
Rawls’ Contractarian and Constructivist Methodology”
“Notes on ‘Reflective
Equilibrium’ as a Non-Metaphysical and
Anti-Foundationalist Form of Justification”
“Amartya Sen on the Capabilities,
Development-as-Freedom, and Social Justice—Another
Take”
“What Kind of Cosmopolitan is
Thomas Pogge? A Cosmopolitan Liberal or a
Cosmopolitan Pluralist?”
“Critical Thoughts on Pogge’s
Strong Misreading of the Capability Approach”
“A Fundamental Misconception of
‘Culture’: Philosophical and Political Implications”
“Human Rights: Beyond Moral
Universalism and Cultural Relativism: Toward a New
Conceptual Framework”
“Human Rights in the Emerging
Global World: Multiple Foundations and
Inter-Cultural Dialogue: Is an ‘Overlapping
Consensus’ Possible?”
“The Paradoxes of Rorty’s Roars:
On Solidarity, Moral Universalism and
Cosmopolitanism without Emancipation”
“A Pointed Critique of Rorty’s
Ethnocentrism and Closet Relativism”
“’Conversations’ in Postmodern
Discourses and Hermeneutics”
“Foucault: On Power and
Resistance: Another Take –Toward a Post-postmodern
Political Philosophy”
“Foucault Revisited: On the
Analytics of Power”
“Faith and the Edifying Life from
a Pragmatist’s Point of View”
“What Kind of Philosophy is
Philosophy Enough? –Or, How Quine Got Hoisted With
His Own Petard?”
“Philosophy in Time, or How to
Inhabit Time? –A Critique of Temporal Reason”
“Mapping out a Shift: From
Paranoid Visions of History to Ethico-Political
Optimism”
“Consequences of Cultural
Complexity”
“On Justice and Values in the
Global Era: Liberalism, Cosmopolitanism, and
Pluralism”
Professor Chokr has also more
recently completed the following book-length
manuscripts:
On the Uses and Abuses of
‘Culture’ in Contemporary Philosophy.
(slated for publication in 2007
by Rodopi).
On Justice in a Globalizing
World: The Fundamental Dilemma of Liberalism and the
Case for Cosmopolitan Pluralism.
(Under contract with Ashgate,
forthcoming in 2007-8).
He is currently writing a book
titled: The Capabilities Approach: Philosophical
Foundations. (Proposal submitted to Value
Inquiry Book Series at Rodopi).
Already under way and fairly
advanced, but which he has been unable to complete
for lack of time and competing demands crowding his
schedule, a book currently on the back burner
titled: Beyond John Rawls’ Law of the Peoples:
Toward a More ‘Realistic Utopia’
He also intends to write two
other books, one consisting in a comparative and
critical analysis of Sen’s Capabilities Approach and
Rawls’ Justice as Fairness, that the tentatively
calls: Sen vs. Rawls—On Social Justice, and
the other consisting in the further
articulation and defense of his new conceptual
framework for Human Rights –whose broad outline and
main thrust he has already presented in a paper
(referred to earlier), tentatively titled: “Human
Rights in a New World.”
Finally, Professor Chokr will
also be editing the proceedings of the forthcoming
International Symposium on the Capabilities Approach
–the first of its kind at Shandong University, in
April 2007. It will be titled: The Capabilities
Approach: Critical Perspectives (slated for
publication by Shandong University Press, in 2007).
5. Future Projects and Long-Term Goals
Because of his long-standing
concern with the fate of philosophy and its possible
demise at its own hand, Professor Chokr has
undertaken to carry to term what he calls “his
life-long project” and perhaps the only project he
wishes to see his name attached to in the end, when
“all the chips are down,” so to speak. It is
ambitious, broad in scope and vision –and is
tentatively titled: Philosophy –After the End of
Philosophy. It consists essentially of 3 volumes
–comprising in all 7 books, according to the
following structure:
Volume 1:
A Revisionist Reading of the History of Western
Philosophy--Toward a Radical Critique of the
Tradition
Book 1: From Plato through
Descartes, to Kant.
Book 2: From Hegel, through Marx
and Nietzsche, to Heidegger, and Beyond.
Volume 2:
A Re-Appraisal and Radical Critique of
Postmodernism –Toward a Post-Analytic and
Meta-Continental Approach: Derrida, Rorty, Foucault,
Lyotard, Deleuze, etc.
Volume 3:
In Defense of
Post-postmodern Philosophy—Or, Philosophy
Transformed and Reconstructed
Book 1:
Prolegomena to a Transformative Philosophy
Book 2: Philosophy as a Way of Life
Book 3:
Philosophy for Social and Global Justice
Book 4:
Philosophy as Eco-Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm
* In closing, Professor Chokr’s
overriding concern so far seems to have been to
reject the claim of postmodern skeptics and
nihilists in both the Analytic and Continental
traditions who have all but sealed the fate of
philosophy by trumpeting its end, and turned
themselves into happy ‘undertakers’ all too content
or merely resigned to celebrate its demise. In order
to defer and prevent the demise of philosophy by
philosophy itself, or by its increasingly
threatening irrelevance, he has therefore sought to
show in so many ways how it can be made more
relevant and responsive to the problems of human
beings in the world as we know it, by reconstructing
and transforming it, if need be, so as to make it
more transformative and more practically oriented.
* The singularly most fundamental
aspect of his philosophical outlook can perhaps best
be summarized by the question he asks himself
everyday –as reported by one of his students: “How
can I be a better human being today –than I was
yesterday?” He believes that one of the most
important problem and challenge we face is this: The
ever-yawning gap across the board and at all
levels of individual and collective life between
words and actions, promises and fulfillments,
statements and practices, ideals and realities,
utopian dreams and actualizations, etc.
* “Does the Owl of Minerva have
to take its flight only with twilight closing in, or
does it have to wait till daybreak?” --As
paradoxically as this may sound, Professor Chokr,
ever suspicious of ‘false dilemmas’ that present
themselves as offering real alternatives, would
very likely say: ‘yes’ and ‘yes,’ in some respects,
and ‘no’ and ‘no’ in other respects –in other words,
both and neither.
____________________________________
* Based
on an
original piece by Nader N. Chokr: “Bio-sophy
as Philo-sophia” (unpublished manuscript).
Office
Phone: 0531-88377982
Email:
nnc@sdu.edu.cn
© June 29,
2006. Prepared by Arden Rhock for SPSD.
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