Sahar Joakim is a 27-year-old doctoral candidate at Saint Louis University writing in epistemology under John Greco. She enjoys poetry, music, and the outdoors but spends most of her time with her eyes on a book (these days, sadly, in PDF form).
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
My education is my greatest accomplishment (so far). My parents are immigrants who left Iran for better opportunities. I was born in Los Angeles where money and movies are the highlight. Nevertheless, I focused on school. I feel accomplished knowing I pursued my education in a way that was not possible for me in many other counties. My parents did not leave their homeland in vain. Today, I have an associates, a bachelors, a masters, and I’m a step away from a doctoral degree (all in philosophy!). With time, I can lose my great long curly hair, grow obnoxiously overweight, shrink in height, and I can even lose a finger or arm! Not even time can take away my education. I feel good about that.
If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future, or anything else, what would you want to know?
I would ask the crystal ball if my grandchildren will be well off financially and emotionally. This would help me understand if I need to do more (or less?) for my children to make sure they do well with their own kids. I see myself as a tiny piece of a great line of people, and I want to know I’m not taking too much away from the future. I read somewhere that the world is not inherited from our parents but borrowed from our children. I took that to heart, and I want to make sure I am leaving enough good stuff for what is to come after me.
What is your favorite sound in the world?
The ocean ebbing and flowing late at night makes my favorite sound. The cars and people are absent, even most birds are asleep, and the crashing water into itself makes me calm. It is all water, dancing with itself to the music of the moon; it is magic.
What’s your personal philosophy?
In a word: love. If it is not out of love, don’t do it. Life throws us into frustrating situations and all the more reason to holdfast to our courage to love in the face of challenge. We are consummated out of love, and we learn to walk and talk through love. Now if only everyone continued their lives doing and speaking to one another with love then we (and the environment, other animals, fish, and all of nature) would all be better than otherwise. If philosophy is the study of how to think or reason well, then my philosophy is simply love because the best standard for how to think or how to live well reduces to love.
What are your goals and aspirations outside work?
Beyond academia, my goals ironically involve more work. I hope to start a family; become a wife, have children. I don’t want a housekeeper or babysitter. It would be a dream come true to manage my household through shared responsibilities with my husband and teach philosophy courses. A garden from which I cook would be essential. If I make it big in the philosophy world and have no time to garden vegetables or cook elaborate meals, remind me that something is missing from my life!
If you could have a one-hour conversation with any philosopher or historical figure from any time, who would you pick and what topic would you choose?
Socrates! Especially if I had a nice pen and sheets of paper. I would love to talk about philosophical topics with him. I want to know why he thought it was better to voice his ideas than write them like Plato or have them written like Aquinas. I read somewhere that he often said the written word was frozen and dead, able to be misunderstood and taken out of context. I don’t understand how saying something aloud is any better and since I’m in a publishing-oriented profession, I would love to understand his view.
What would you like your last meal to be?
Seared steak from a free-range cow who lived a long and healthy life recently dead from natural causes alongside crispy asparagus grown from my own garden with a side of potatoes I mashed myself cooked with way too much butter and sprinkled with garlic salt. And a tall glass of water with a wedge of lemon! I mean it about the glass; it better not be plastic for my last meal!
This section of the APA Blog is designed to get to know our fellow philosophers a little better. We’re including profiles of APA members that spotlight what captures their interest not only inside the office, but also outside of it. We’d love for you to be a part of it, so please contact us via the interview nomination form here to nominate yourself or a friend.
Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall is an editor at the Blog of the APA who currently teaches philosophy, religion, and education courses solely online for Montclair State University, Three Rivers Community College, and St. John’s University.
Love your thoughts !!1
Dear Sahar,
The comment about what question you would ask your future grandchildren was very impressive. I don’t think that I’ve ever thought of it that way; I suppose that I tend to be much more of a selfish thinker than you, and I also don’t always think about “reality” as much as I should. (lol) Anyways, it’s an awesome thing to think, and I’m glad you shared it.
I also think that the fact you’d rather interview Socrates than Plato was really interesting. I myself would have chosen Plato, but I think that Plato himself would have rather interviewed Socrates than another version of himself.
I hope you reach great heights, and I hope that your heart can fly free for as long as you wish. This was a great interview.
Thanks,
KK