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Intellectual Biography and Curriculum Vitae
Like all disciplines, philosophy has its rules for how one must work within its domain. But personal experiences usually compel us to enter a field in the first place and determine the themes we choose to take up under its tutelage. In my case, an MA and further graduate work in psychology as well as therapy work with people labeled schizophrenic led to my first philosophy book, Psychology and Nihilism: A Genealogical Critique of the Computational Model of Mind (New York: SUNY Press, 1993). I argued there that the key metaphor in cognitive psychology, the computer, couldn’t provide a basis for explaining our cognitive competence. I also conjectured that the model itself was driven by a millennium of intellectual and social history that culminated in a technocratic form of rationality as the reigning framework of thought and to a technocratic class as a major force in both capitalist and socialist societies. These conditions made it seem natural to privilege computational processes as the model for understanding our own minds, no matter how anomalous this model might be otherwise. We left aside a transfigurative form of rationality in favor of the routinizing of life that Nietzsche critically called “the last man.”
But there was another part of my history that had a greater influence on me than even my brief sojourn as a psychologist. I was against the Vietnam war but also against draft deferments for college students. No doubt the second of these two positions had to do with growing up in the Midwest and imbibing the equality that was preached everywhere but less frequently practiced in that part of the United States or elsewhere. Opposing the deferments was also a way to increase protest against the war. Whatever my original motivation, I chose to exchange my deferment for a free pass to work in the war arena, specifically in Laos, under the auspices of International Voluntary Services, a non-governmental, non-profit organization. I learned the Lao language, lived in the local culture, and stayed for five years (1969-1974). The first two years involved undertaking a base-line survey as part of an ultimately impossible community development project near the then Royal Capital of Laos, Luang Prabang; the next three years were more successful work-wise, but this time at the Lao National Orthopedic Center in the administrative capital, Vientiane. At the Center, I worked with a Lao amputee counterpart in order to set up a social worker position there. Surrounded by amputees, I learned that war criminals are those who start unnecessary military ventures.
Working in Laos, and later in Colombia as an exchange professor (1981-82), inspired my second single-authored book, The Multivoiced Body: Society and Communication, in the Age of Diversity (Columbia University Press, 2008, 2011 paperback). In this work, I addressed one of the most important questions of our time: how can we conceptualize diversity without succumbing to either a merely expedient pluralism or a homogeneous totality? In order to answer this question, I argued that society, global or national, is “a unity composed of differences” or, more specifically, what I called a “multivoiced body.” This conceptualization is an original way of thinking about society as well as language, communication, and our status as persons. It also, I maintain, compels us to affirm diversity rather than to repudiate it through “ethnic cleansing” or other policies of political and social exclusion. In clarifying these claims, I drew on art, literature, and science as well as my primary field, philosophy. Throughout the book, I critically engaged leading modernist and postmodernist thinkers in philosophy, cultural studies, linguistics, psychology and other intellectual fields. Moreover, the book straddled philosophy and political practice by specifying the implications that the idea of a multivoiced body has for globalization, democracy in the work place, and collective rights. Currently, I have just finish and am submitting for publication a new book that brings my theory of society as a multivoiced body to bear on the relation between art and citizenship within democracies. It is tentatively titled, Citizenship and Public Art: An Essay in Political Aesthetics. I am also carrying out research for a fourth single-authored book, this one on cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitics. My passion for this project comes in part from my overseas experience. The project will also include a more global version of my work on public art and earlies entries into environmental ethics.
Besides the above-mention books, as well as a co-edited volume of articles on Merleau-Ponty (Chiasms: Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Flesh, SUNY: 2000) and numerous journal articles and book chapters, I teach PhD level courses on Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze, Foucault as well as other figures and themes in contemporary philosophy. On the undergraduate level, I regularly conduct a course on the philosophical roots of psychology. I am also Coordinator and a founder of Duquesne’s Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research (CIQR). The Center engages in monthly meetings on qualitative research projects and methods and brings together scholars using non-quantitative or mixed quantitative and qualitative methods from across the major Schools that comprise the University (www.ciqr.duq.edu). Furthermore, I am one of the initiators of a social justice group on campus. Our efforts have played a major role in establishing the University Social Justice Committee (now defunct), inducting the University into the Workers’ Rights Consortium (a national-level organization against sweat shop abuses), helping adjunct faculty and graduate students to receive better health benefits, advocating successfully for the establishment of an official gay-straight alliance on campus, and encouraging the University to accept a living-wage ordinance that would help campus employees as well as those working for companies with which the University contracts for various services. For some of these efforts, I received the President’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Service, 2002. More importantly, I enjoyed the bonds that these activities helped me forge with numerous colleagues that I otherwise never would have met.
The curriculum vitae below provides a more detailed and chronological record of my publications and other academic achievements.
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Curriculum Vitae
Frederick James Evans
Department of Philosophy
Duquesne University
330 College Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15282
Telephone (412)-396-6507
Fax (412)-396-5197
Web Page: http://www.home.duq.edu/~evansf/index.html
August, 2016
Current Position and Title
Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Director, Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
Executive Committee, Society for Phenomenological and Existential Philosophy (SPEP), 2012- 2015.
Academic Degrees
Ph.D., Philosophy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, 1986.
M.A., Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1977.
B.A., M.A., Philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1966, 1969.
Areas of Specialization
Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Psychology, Philosophy of Technology, Social and Political Philosophy
Areas of Competence
History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Ethics, Logic
Teaching Experience
Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 2002-Present.
Curso “Voces y oráculos en la representación periodística-televisiva de la sociedad”, Maestría en Estudios Políticos del Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Relaciones Internacionales Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Agosto de 2009, Bogotá, Colombia. The course was team taught with Professor Fabio López de la Roche of the Universidad Nacional.
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1994-2002.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1991-1994; Tenure
Track Appointment.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 1988-1991; Tenure Track
Appointment.
Visiting Instructor in Philosophy (full-time), University of New Hampshire, Durham, New
Hampshire, 1987-88.
Visiting Instructor in Philosophy (full-time), United Nations International School (Official
School of the United Nations), New York, NY, 1985-87.
Visiting Instructor in Philosophy, Empire State College, State University of New York at Old
Westbury, Westbury, New York, Summer, 1985.
Visiting Instructor (full-time), Universidad del Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia, 1981-82.
Graduate Student Instructor in Philosophy, State University of New York at Stony Brook,
1978-81; 1982-85.
Graduate Student Instructor in Psychology, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 1977-78.
Graduate Student Instructor in Psychology, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada,
1974-77.
Graduate Student Instructor in Philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 1967-68.
Other Professional Employment
Clinical Psychology Intern/Social Worker, Community Psychiatric Center, Prince Albert,
Saskatchewan, Canada, May-September, 1976.
Survey Research and Social Work Coordinator (with International Voluntary Services, Inc.), Lao
National Orthopedic Center, Vientiane, Laos, 1971-74.
Rural Development Agent and Researcher (with International Voluntary Services, Inc.), Luang
Prabang, Laos, 1969-71.
Publications
Books
The Multivoiced Body: Society and Communication in the Age of Diversity. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008; paperback edition, 2011.
Journal Reviews:
1) Dan Smith (Purdue University), “A Multi-Voiced Book,” Research in Phenomenology Vol. 41 (2011), 119-133.
2) Noëlle McAfee (Emory University), Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2011.07.10 (http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24756-the-multivoiced-body-society-and- communication-in-the-age-of-diversity/).
3) Tony Smith (Iowa State University), Philosophy and Social Criticism, 39 (6), 2013, 597-601.
4) Andreea J. Pitts (University of South Florida), Human Studies, 2010 33:465-471.
5) B. G. Murchland (Ohio Wesleyan University), Choice, 2010.
6) Robert Drury King (Purdue University), Journal of Philosophy: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry, Fall 2009, Vol. 4, No. 10, 63.
7) Matt Applegate (Binghamton University), Radical Philosophy Review, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2010), 227-231.
Chiasms: Merleau-Ponty’s Notion of the Flesh, eds. Fred Evans and Leonard Lawlor. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2000.
Journal Review: Kym Maclaren (University of King’s College), “Explications of the Flesh,” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2003, 148-152.
Psychology and Nihilism: A Genealogical Critique of the Computational Model of Mind. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1993.
Journal Reviews:
1) Henderikus J. Stam (University of Calgary), “A Nietzschean and Foucauldian Critique of Psychology,” Symposium: Journal of the Canadian Society for Hermeneutics and Postmodern Thought, Vol. 3, no. 2, Fall, 1999, 291-296.
2) John Ryder (SUNY, Cortland), The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, vol X, no. 2, 1996, 153-159.
3) Miles Groth (Wagner College), Review of Metaphysics, vol. XLVIII, no. 4, issue 192, June, 1995, 894-95.
4) Stewart Wolf (University of Oklahoma), Integrative Physiological and Behavioral Sciences: The Pavlovian Society, 28:4, 1993, 414.
5) Christopher M. Aantoos (West Georgia College), The Humanist Psychologist, vol. 22, vol. 1, Spring 1994, 116-117.
6) Robert N. McCauley (Emory University), Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. LXIV, no. 4, Winter 1996, 910-912.
7) Robert Hollinger (Iowa State University) and Anthony Boone (Stockton College) , Radical Philosophy Review of Books, No. 13, 1996, 54-57, 58-62.
Articles and Book Chapters in Philosophy
“Public Art in Urban Spaces,” Handbook of Philosophy and the City, eds. Sharon Meager and Ronald Sundstrom (New York: Routledge), forthcoming.
“‘Murmurs’ and ‘Calls’: The Significance of Voice in the Political Reason of Foucault and Derrida,” in Between Foucault and Derrida, eds. Yubraj Aryal, Vernon Cisney, Nicolae Morar (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press), forthcoming, 2016.
“The Dilemma of Diversity: Rawls and Derrida on Political Justice,” in Justice through Diversity?, ed. Michael Sweeny (New York: Rowan and Littlefield), forthcoming, 2016.
“Derrida and the ‘Autoimmunity’ of Democracy,” Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Special SPEP Edition, 30 (3), 2016, 303-15.
“The Dilemma of Public Art’s Permanence,” Public Art Dialogue, Special Edition on Permanence in Public Art, Guest Editor, Erika Doss, 6 (1), Spring, 2016, 58-81.
“Deleuze’s Political Ethics: A Fascism of the New?” Deleuze Studies, 10.1, 2016, 85-99.
“Martin, Derrida, and ‘Ethical Marxism’,” Radical Philosophy Review, vol. 18, no. 2, 2015, 203-221.
“Cosmopolitanism ‘To Come’: Derrida’s Response to Globalization,” in A Companion to Derrida, eds. Zeynep Direk and Leonard Lawlor (London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014), 550-565.
“Ethics and the Voices of the Past,” Postmedieval: A Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies, 5 2014, 5 (3), 359-373 (a special edition on ‘The Middle Ages and the Holocaust,’ eds. N. Caputo and H. Johnson).
“Foucault and the ‘Being of Language’,” in The Cambridge-Foucault Lexicon, eds. Leonard Lawlor and John Nole (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 236-42.
“Citizenship and Public Art: The Political Aesthetics of New York’s 9/11/01 Memorial,” Belmont University Symposium Journal, Vol. 3, 2013/backdated 2012, 79-105.
“The Clamor of Voices: Neda, Barack, and Social Philosophy,” Symposium:
Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy, 17 (2), Fall/Automne, 2013, 158-177.
“Voices and the ‘Spirit of Place’,” In Exploring the Work of Edward S. Casey: Giving Voice to Place, Memory, and Imagination, eds. Azucena Cruz-Pierre and Donald A. Landes (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013), 215-224.
“Citizenship and Public Art: Chicago’s Millennium Park,” in Outrage! Art, Controversy, and Society, ed. Richard Howells, Andreea Ritivoi, Judith Schachter (New York: Palgrave, 2012, pp. 144-171).
“9/11: The ‘Clash of Civilizations’ and Cultural Rights,” Journal of Philosophy: A Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry, vol. 6, no. 14, Winter, 2011.
“’Unnatural Participations’: Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze, and Environmental Ethics,” Philosophy Today, 54, 2010, 142-52. (SPEP Supplemental Volume 35 of Selected Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, eds. Cynthia Willett and Leonard Lawlor).
“Deleuze, Bakhtin and the ‘Clamour of Voices’,” Deleuze Studies, vol. 2(2), 2008, 178-200.
“La sociedad de todas las voces: Los zapatistas, Bajtín y los derechos humanos,” traducción por Juan Carlos Grijalva, Alteridad (revista académica, Facultad de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Ecuador), No. 5, Nov. 2008, 44-62 (Spanish trans. of published English versión).
“Iris Marion Young and ‘Intersecting Voices’,” Philosophy Today, 52, 2008, 10-18. (SPEP Supplemental Volume 33 of Selected Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, eds. Peg Birmingham and James Risser).
Entries on “Genealogical Critique” and “The Center for Interpretive and Qualitative Research,” for The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, ed. Lisa M. Given (London: Sage Publications, Inc.), 369-71, 73-74, 2008.
“Chiasm and Flesh,” in Merleau-Ponty: Key Concepts, eds. Rosalyn Diprose and Jack Reynolds. Stocksfield, UK: Acumen Publishing Limited, 2008, 184-193.
(with Barbara McCloskey), “Sixties Redux? A Report from the 2004-05 Carnegie International (or, Kutlug Ataman’s Provocation),” Kunst und Politik, Bd. 9, 2008, 175-181.
“Citizenship, Art and the Voices of the City: Wodiczko’s The Homeless Projection.” In Acts of Citizenship, eds. Engin Isin and Greg Nielsen. London: Zed Books, 2008, 227-246.
(with Barbara McCloskey) “The New Solidarity: A Case Study of Cross-Border Labor Networks and Mural Art in the Age of Globalization’,” Toward a New Socialism, ed. Anatole Anton and Richard Schmitt. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007, 483-496.