Alexander N. Chumakov

Alexander N. Chumakov was born in 1950 to a fisherman's family of Severnoe village, Caspian District, Astrakhan region, USSR. In 1972, he graduated from an industrial, technical college in the city of Khadyzhensk in Krasnodar Krai. Between 1972 and 1975, he worked as a bore-hole drilling master in the nuclear testing areas in Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya. In 1975, he was accepted into the preparatory division of the Department of Philosophy of Moscow State University (MSU), from which he graduated cum laude in 1981. He also completed his postgraduate studies at MSU, receiving his Candidate of Sciences in 1984 and his Doctor of Sciences in 1991. Chumakov's doctoral dissertation was on the topic of "Social and Philosophical Aspects of Global Problems." From 1987 to 2019, Chumakov has been a senior researcher, then the leading research fellow and head of the group "Global Studies" at the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1995-2017, part-time).[1] He became a full professor in 1993. From 2009 to 2017, he worked as a chair of the Department of Philosophy, and a head of the scientific school "Philosophy of Globalization" at the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation.[2] From 2008, he is a professor of the Faculty of Global Processes at MSU (2008-2019 concurrently), where he lectures on social philosophy, philosophy and history of science; as well as several specialized author's courses: "Theory of global studies", "Actual problems of global studies", "Russia in the global world", etc.

Alexander Chumakov is the leading Russian spokesman for Global studies, which he writes "represents a secular stream of thought that aims to formulate a worldview transcending the division between Russia and the West by providing a new philosophical basis for their integration and ultimate unity.[3] A book review of his book, Philosophy of Globalization, writes that Chumakov "devoted his career in philosophy to the study of globalization and authored more than 700 scientific works and seven scholarly books that have been published in Russian, English, German, French, Chinese, Polish and Czech.[4]

In his writings, Chumakov "formulated the fundamental principles, which constitute the philosophical foundation of globalistics as a special field of philosophical knowledge.[5] His analysis of globalization reveals that it "represents an objective historical process and does not depend on the positive (or negative) intentions of separate countries or nations.[6] It centers on the conceptual triad of culture, civilization, and globalization, which in Chumakov's works "are analyzed as fundamental characteristics of various cultural civilizational systems, characteristics that are closely connected with each other.[7] Chumakov argues that real and productive dialogue among different nations is possible because the universal character of civilization serves as the unifying factor for humanity, "while cultural diversity is the basis of differentiation of various countries and nations.[8]

A.N. Chumakov is the author of the general theory of globalization, which is devoted to three fundamental closely interrelated monographs (trilogy).

The first book “Globalization. Outline of the Holistic World ” is a fundamental fragment of the general theory of globalization developed by the author, in which he recreates a holistic (integral) picture of the world and considers globalization, on the one hand, as a natural-historical process, and on the other, as a sphere of mutual relations and confrontation of various forces and interests. History appears as a single, unfolding process in time, passing through certain stages, the change of which is marked by the main turning points of social development, as a result of which epochal metamorphoses take place. Ultimately, the logic of the development of objective events gives rise to globalization, covering the entire Earth at the level of its three main spheres: geological, biological and social, which are given a unified name - the triosphere. It is shown how the origin and formation of globalistics as an interdisciplinary field of scientific knowledge, formed at the intersection of philosophy, natural, technical and humanitarian sciences, took place.

In the second book “Metaphysics of Globalization. Cultural-cum-civilizational Context”, the focus is on culture, civilization and globalization, which are analyzed as closely interrelated, fundamental characteristics of various cultural and civilizational systems. It is substantiated that, due to objective reasons, global problems covered all spheres of social life of various peoples, and their cultural and civilizational development was drawn into the orbit of accelerating multidimensional globalization. The logic and a certain sequence of historical events are shown, when, as a result of the progressive development and improvement of culture, civilizational ties arose and began to develop, which gave rise to separate centers of civilization. Ultimately, civilizational development led to globalization, which, in turn, led to the emergence in the second half of the XX century. global problems of our time. Using a systematic approach to understanding social processes and relying on the latest scientific and philosophical achievements in this area, the author comes to the conclusion that the linear-plane world has given way to a three-dimensional, holographic world.

The third book "Global World: Clash of Interests" is the final part of the trilogy. Based on previous studies of the nature and direction of global processes, the author shows the multifaceted structure and dynamics of the development of the modern world, analyzes international relations in the context of universal interdependence. Particular attention is paid to the contradictory nature of both the person himself and social relations, which underlies the clash of various interests and incessant social conflicts. Possible scenarios of historical development are considered and the most optimal ways to solve urgent socio-economic and political problems both for individual countries and for the world community as a whole are proposed.

Chumakov has devoted a great deal of time to administrative and organizational activities in the fields of philosophy, culture, and education. He was the General Secretary of the Philosophical Society of the USSR (1987-1991); First Vice-President of the Russian Philosophical Society (from 1991 to 2019). He has also been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Professors of Philosophy since 2012, as well as an acting member of the Presidium and Chairman of the Global Studies Section of Russian Ecological Academy since 2013.[9]

In 2003, Chumakov organized a philosophical action that had great cultural significance in Russia and was widely publicized by the Russian media.[10] During the 1920s the Soviet government expelled hundreds of prominent Russian intellectuals from the newly created Soviet Union, including many philosophers. Most of them were transported by boat to Germany and Turkey. In Russian historiography, this event is known as the "philosophers' ships." Eighty years following the event, Chumakov organized a symbolic return of the "philosophers' ships" back to the motherland, which became open to freedom of expression and independent investigation of truth. To this end, he rented a ship, the Maria Ermolova, which sailed on route from Novorossiysk to Istanbul and back to Novorossiysk with hundreds of Russian philosophers on board to take part in the XXI World Congress of Philosophy in Istanbul in 2003.[11]

In 2008, after the XXII World Philosophical Congress in Seoul, Chumakov organized the return of the Russian delegation with the participation of prominent foreign philosophers (85 people) from South Korea to Vladivostok by boat, and then by "Philosophical train" from Vladivostok to Moscow (with stops and scientific conferences in the largest Russian cities: Khabarovsk, Chita, Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk (with a trip to the lake. Baikal), Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Kazan). (see: Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society, 2008, No. 3, 4;)

Chumakov participated in the last seven World Congresses of Philosophy, in Brighton in 1988, in Moscow in 1993, in Boston in 1998, in Istanbul in 2003, in Seoul in 2008, and in Athens in 2013, and in Beijing in 2018. Throughout the events, he delivered scholarly presentations, including plenary addresses, and also served as chair of various roundtables, panels, and sections. Chumakov was also one of the initiators and main organizers of the Russian philosophical congresses that have taken place every three years, starting in 1997 and up to the latest in 2015, which took place in Ufa.[9]

In 2003, he created a website, dedicated to global studies and global processes. Since 2020, the site has been working under his scientific supervision and under the auspices of the Faculty of Global Processes of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. He also founded and is the head of the permanent (since 2001) monthly interdisciplinary theoretical seminar "Topical Problems of Global Studies".

Chumakov, co-founder (with L. E. Grinin) and editor-in-chief of the journal "Age of Globalization"; initiator of the publication and editor-in-chief of the journal "Bulletin of the Russian Philosophical Society" (1997-2018); Member of the editorial boards of many Russian and foreign journals.[12]

He is a visiting Professor of the Beijing Normal University (Beijing, China, 2007–2010); visiting Professor at Link Campus University (Rome, Italy, 2019–2021); Invited researcher of the Center for Cultural Studies of the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Beijing, China, 2019).

Chumakov was named laureate in the 2003 Russian publishers' "Book of the Year" contest in the nomination category of "Encyclopedist". He was awarded for the publication of his international encyclopedia, Global Studies, which had been published in Russian and English languages.

In 2004, he was also named laureate of the international award named after N. K. Ba'bakov, bestowed by the International Fuel and Power Association (IFPA) "for great accomplishments in resolving the problems of stable development of the power engineering and society."

In 2006, Chumakov received a diploma for co-authoring the fourth edition of the textbook "Philosophy", one of the "300 best textbooks for higher education in honor of the 300th anniversary of Saint-Petersburg."

In 2015, Chumakov became Doctor Emeritus of the Bashkir State University and Honored Professor of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation (2016).

In 2015 Chumakov also became a recipient of the International Gusi Peace Prize.