Professor relates philosophy with heavy metal

Newman University Associate Professor of Philosophy Chris Fox, Ph.D. can easily be spotted on campus with his signature style: loud shirts, curly long hair, and trendy glasses. Students and friends of Chris would tell you that his appearance is a reflection of his vocal demeanor and lifestyle.

On Apr. 1, Wichita’s KMUW Radio caught up with Chris to talk about the similarities of his work as a philosopher and as a bass player in a heavy metal band.

Chris Fox is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Newman University in Wichita. He grew up in the Seattle music scene of the 1980s and 1990s, recording with the band Bitter End and, later, in Memphis with The Also. He has toured with former Queensryche vocalist Geoff Tate and continues to play bass when he can.

“I do academic philosophy. I do western philosophy. I do the history of philosophy. So I’m a generalist—in some ways. I specialize. The stuff I publish on has to be narrow for a very small audience. But for me to understand the stuff I do philosophically, I have to be able to talk about the whole history of philosophy from the pre-Socratics through the post-postmoderns. And in a way that’s like being a bass player because you have to be a jack of all trades and you have to be able to see the whole and to know your part in the whole but not lose sight of the whole while doing your part.

Once you put out a heavy metal record people will remember you everywhere. I was in a heavy metal band in Seattle, Bitter End, we put out a couple of records. And my brother was in Italy—we were in Italy in 2010, family reunion kind of thing. We were in Milan and my brother finds these metal heads. So he says, ‘Yeah, I was in this band back in Seattle in the mid-80s called Bitter End.’ The guy looks at him and says, ‘Bitter End is’ (and I can’t use the word), ‘GREAT BAND!’”

Read the story on KMUW and listen to the radio clip