Saju Chackalackal

Saju Chackalackal

Date of Birth: 15 March 1965 (in Meladoor, Thrissur, Kerala, India)

Permanent Address: Dharmaram College, Bangalore 560029, Karnataka, India; Tel: +91 80 41 116263; Mob: +91 94 80 022339 Email: saju@chackalackal.com; Website: www.chackalackal.com;  Blog: https://dvk.academia.edu/SajuChackalackal/Analytics#/activity/documents

Biography

Saju Chackalackal (born on 15 March1965, in Kerala, India), currently Professor of Philosophy at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bengaluru, and Christ University, Bengaluru, studied philosophy and theology in India and Italy. He obtained his Bachelor of Philosophy (1987) and Licentiate in Philosophy (1989) from Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (DVK), Bengaluru. He completed his Bachelor of Theology at Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV), Pune, in 1993. In 2002, he was awarded a PhD in Philosophy, with a specialisation in Kantian philosophy, by the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas (PUST), Rome, Italy.

Prof. Chackalackal has specialised in ethics and epistemology. His first published research work in the area of ethics was Ramayana and the Indian Ideal (1992) in which he has explored the contemporary relevance of the purusharthas, as they are enshrined in the Indian epic Ramayana. Later, he continued his research in the area of ethics in western philosophy, especially with a reference to the moral theory of Immanuel Kant, which was published under the title Unity of Knowing and Acting in Kant (2002). Subsequently, he has come out with a number of scientific works, including a series of articles exploring various ethical issues and social concerns, especially focusing on the contemporary Indian reality through which he offers critical as well as creative solutions.

Academic Contributions

In June 1994, Saju Chackalackal stared teaching in the Faculty of Philosophy at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bengaluru. He was promoted to the status of a Professor of Philosophy (by the Congregation for Catholic Education, Vatican) in 2012, and continues to teach subjects like Epistemology, Theoretical Ethics, Ethics of Kant, Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Nature and Science, Contemporary Western Philosophy, Contemporary Indian Philosophy, Research Methodology at DVK and other institutes of higher learning. He is also a Professor and Head of Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy at Christ University, Bengaluru. He offers seminars on subjects such as Enlightenment in Kant and Ambedkar, Value Consciousness in Indian Classics, Value Depiction in Contemporary Literature, Hindu Revivalism, Religious Philosophy of Ramanamaharshi, etc. He has been offering the following seminars for various groups of students: Globalization, Discrimination and Justice, Media and Moral Controversies, Merging Boundaries of Science, Philosophy, and Religion, Compatibility and Incompatibility of East-West Ethical Theories, Indigenous Philosophizing: Indian Horizons, Philosophy of Ministries, Perennial Philosophical Tradition and Its Contemporary Relevance, Epistemological Foundations of Ethical Theories, Relevance of Ethics: A Critique from the Perspective of Practice, Wilful Denial of Human Life: Ethical Critiques.

Academic Positions

Chackalackal is currently Professor of Philosophy and the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram; simultaneously, he also serves as the Head of the Department of Philosophy at Christ University, Bengaluru. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Dharma, an international quarterly journal, which is indexed also in ISI and Scopus. Earlier, he served Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram as its President (2012-2015) as well as the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy (2009-2012; 2015-). He was the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Dharma (2002-2011) and serves on a number of editorial boards of a few scientific journals published from India. He is the founder director of the Centre for Environmental Studies, established within the Faculty of Philosophy at DVK and was also the Associate Director of the Centre for the Study of World Religions (CSWR). He also served as the first Director of Globethics.net India, with its headquarters in Geneva (http://www.globethics.net). He is currently a Research Fellow at The University of the Free State, South Africa (2015-2016) and the Postgraduate Examiner at the Department of Philosophy, University of Mysore.

Current Research Interests

The research interests of Saju Chackalackal include the following: “A Post-Modern Critique on the ‘Enlightenment’ of Kant and Ambedkar,” “Unions to Build or to Betray: Exploring the Moral Grounds of Trade Unions and Student Unions under the Patronage of Political Parties,” and “Religion and Society: Philosophical Perspectives on Ongoing Encounter.”

Contributions

Publications of Prof. Chackalackal include over a dozen books and around one hundred articles in the areas of philosophy, religion, and Indian social reality. The following are the major works of Chackalackal: (1) An Indian Initiative in Christian Formation: Reflections on the Vision and Mission of Dharmārām for an Indian Church, Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2015. [ISBN: 978-3-659-32004-0], (2) Igniting Minds to Transform the Society: “Legacy of K. E. Chavara for Innovative and Inclusive Education” and Other Essays on Education (Dharmaram Chavara Studies: 1), Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2013. [ISBN: 978 81 89958 74-9], (3) Towards a Strong Global Economic System: Revealing the Logic of Gratuitousness in the Market Economy (edited), Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2013. [ISBN: 978-81-89958-69-5], (4) Tradition and Innovation: Philosophy of Rootedness and Openness (edited), Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2011. [ISBN: 978-81-7086-610-7], (5) ACPI Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2 vols., (Sectional Editor with Johnson J. Puthenpurackal, editor-in-chief), Bangalore: Asian Trading Corporation, 2010, (6) Indigenous Philosophizing: Indian Horizons (edited), Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2010 [pages: xii + 586; ISBN: 978-81-89958-33-6], Reviews: http://indigenousphilosophizing.blogspot.com/, (7) New Horizons of Indian Christian Living: A Festschrift in Honour of Vadakethala Francis Vineeth (edited), Bangalore: Vidyavanam Publications, 2009 [pages: xii + 932; ISBN: 978-81-905799-6-4], Reviews: http://newhorizonsofindianchristianliving.blogspot.com/, (8) Christian Leadership and Integration (Festschrift in Honour of Prof. Dr. Thomas Aykara CMI), co-edited with Thomas Kollamparampil, Paulachan Kochappilly, and Jose Thadavanal, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2007, (9) Research Methodology, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2004, (10) Unity of Knowing and Acting in Kant:A Paradigmatic Integration of the Theoretical and the Practical, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2002; Online Text: http://books.google.com/books?id=E1YWN4k527oC&dq=chackalackal&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=XJGceueYl2&sig=tuksBmdTaZfkseJm3BQOSppjeAM#PPP1,M1, (11) Stephen Hawking’s Quest for a Theory of Everything, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2000, (12) Euthanasia, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 2000, (13) The Word in the World: A Study on the Use of the Scriptures of the World Religions in Christian Worship, Bangalore: Vidyavanam Publications, 1994, (14) Ramayana and the Indian Ideal, Bangalore: Dharmaram Publications, 1992.