| From rock music to linguistics, to English, and ultimately to philosophy, the life of visiting Assistant Professor Christopher Johns has “taken many unexpected turns;” the latest led him to AUB’s Philosophy Department in September 2009.
Johns comes from St. Xavier University in Chicago where he has been teaching for the past two years.
Always a lover of philosophy, Johns started off as a professional musician in a rock band. After high school the band moved to the music scene in New York. But after a few years of odd jobs as beer truck driver, builder, plumber, and recording studio gopher, Johns turned to higher education, getting a BA in linguistics followed by an MA in English from Ohio State University between 1991 and 1997.
A PhD in philosophy from New York’s Stony Brook University in 2007 placed Johns in the field of his specialty, early modern philosophy. His dissertation dealt with the foundations of Leibniz's practical philosophy. His article, "The Grounds of Right and Obligation in Leibniz and Hobbes," was published in The Review of Metaphysics in 2009, and "Deontic Foundations in Leibniz's Practical Philosophy" will appear in the next edition of Studia Leibnitiana.
During the fall semester Johns gave courses in ethics and modern philosophy to undergraduates; in the spring he is teaching ethics and a graduate course on Leibnitz and Locke. Johns says he is “really amazed” by AUB students--“smart, energetic, fascinating, and full of ideas; they have lots to say and try to say it all at once.”
Johns appreciates the attitude of the Lebanese people: “They laugh more and do not allow life’s hardships to weigh them down.”
Although Johns’ favorite philosopher is whomever he is “studying at the moment,” his current research focuses on Leibniz's relation to modern moral theorists such as Locke, Pufendorf, and Kant, and to contemporary virtue theory.
Johns, who enjoys sports such as squash, jogging, and cycling, also likes poetry, reading, playing the guitar, and listening to music. Johns is motivated by a sense that “life matters,” coupled with a desire to “minimize suffering”; “philosophy is important to teach because it helps people think deeply and reflectively, making them better individuals.” He sums up his life’s wisdom: “Whatever you think is true is probably not.” |
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