The First Step of Evolution:
From the very beginning, he left al-Qurna, the city of his birth, for the capital, Baghdad, to pursue university studies. Having achieved a remarkably high grade surpassing ninety, a rare feat in those days his aspirations naturally turned toward the College of Medicine, like any young man guided by the prevailing conventions of his time.
On that dramatic day, filled with shocking events, he first confronted the stark reality of his material poverty, a shock rooted in the cruel stratifications of social class. As he recounts:
“I traveled from al-Qurna at dawn, wearing clothes in which my shirt served as the upper part of my pajamas, for I did not own a proper shirt. This was in 1931. I arrived in Baghdad, heading to the College of Medicine around noon, carrying my graduation file, which I submitted to the dean’s office, headed by (Sandersen Pasha), the physician of King Faisal I.
I was told to wait until I was called. I sat on the bench outside, awaiting my turn to enter. Meanwhile, many sons of pashas and those in affluent circumstances would park their luxury cars, enter with their children or relatives, and emerge at day’s end laughing and joyful. Eventually, I was compelled to approach the secretary’s desk, only to find that they had forgotten me. Yet my graduation file came to my aid, for when they saw that my grades surpassed those of all the students who had preceded me, I could no longer be overlooked.
I entered the office of Sandersen Pasha and found him scrutinizing my graduation file. When he finally looked up at me, he lifted his glasses to adjust his gaze, and in the stillness of that moment, I sensed his astonishment at my appearance, as if struck by the visible signs of poverty. He spoke with an accent:
Sandersen Pasha: What does your father do?
Nouri Jaffar: A farmer, Pasha.
Sandersen Pasha: Can you manage five dinars a month for your study expenses?
Nouri Jaffar: Neither my father nor I have ever seen five dinars.
Sandersen Pasha: “I advise you to go to the Higher Teachers’ Institute, it would be better for you.
The meeting ended, and Nouri Jaffar’s hope of being admitted to the College of Medicine was dashed.
In this moment, a keen awareness of social class began to take shape in his consciousness, rapidly evolving into a psycho-epistemological affinity with Marxist thought, particularly as he embarked on systematic reading. Yet, he never formally affiliated himself with any political party.
The Second Step of Evolution:
The Second step of evolution in Nouri Jaffar’s journey came with Dr. Fadhel Al-Jamali, his teacher at the Higher Teachers’ Institute. Al-Jamali discerned an academic and intellectual future in his exceptional student, shaping a formative encounter that left a lasting mark on Jaffar.
Through Al-Jamali’s liberal outlook, he was among the foremost Iraqi liberals, and his exceptional expertise in educational studies, Jaffar was exposed to a distinctive model of political and intellectual thought.
Jaffar engaged with this liberal perspective while simultaneously grappling with his own emerging Marxist inclinations, which he had cultivated privately. This created a productive tension between the liberal arguments presented by his teacher and the Marxist ideas he explored in secret, a dynamic that would later intertwine with the insights gained from the third and fourth Steps of Evolution in his intellectual development.
The Third Step of Evolution:
His delegation to the United States for study, where, by a favorable turn of circumstances, he studied under the pragmatist philosopher John Dewey. This experience opened before him philosophical dialogues and debates that intertwined philosophy with psychology and education. Thereby, psychological and educational readings were elevated into philosophical systems, and the discourse of Nouri Jaffar developed interpretive frameworks through a methodological synthesis characterized by a concealed allegiance to Marxism, which remained behind the scenes in his analytical systems.
However, the influence of John Dewey occasionally caused his orientation to take an inverse direction, evident in his political writings. This unique reading, which synthesized Marxism, liberalism, and pragmatism, yielded a distinctive richness in his philosophical, political, and historical analyses, and constituted a foundational addition that complemented the fourth step of evolution.
The Fourth Step of Evolution:
Is marked by his first major accomplishment beyond the realm of university research: the translation of a book by Bertrand Russell in 1949, following his return from studying abroad. It appears that he had prepared for this project while still in the United States. Notably, Russell belonged to a philosophical tradition distinct from that of Dewey, being a pioneer of logical positivism, or the philosophy of science.
A series of letters between Dewey and Russell reveal an intellectual dialogue, occasionally marked by disagreement. It is certain that Jaffar was aware of these exchanges or engaged in discussions with Dewey on the points of convergence and divergence between the two philosophical poles. This experience inspired him to present Russell’s work as his first major contribution outside the academic sphere.
In this step of evolution, we observe Jaffar’s nuanced reading of the contrast between Dewey’s pragmatism and Russell’s positivism, which enabled him to develop intellectual and politically oriented insights. Through this synthesis, he approached history with a perspective rooted in liberal-leftist thought, while remaining attentive to objective and practical concerns in a distinctly pragmatic manner.
The Fifth Step of Evolution:
Occurred during the 1954 elections, when he ran as a candidate from his hometown, al-Qurna, only to face manipulated results. Confronting his rivals with determination through the press and public speeches, thereby provoking the government, which led to his summons before the Prime Minister and a formal reprimand. Nevertheless, he adopted a courageous stance in his own defense.
In this moment, his approach to confrontation and self-defense transformed from restraint and silence to direct engagement. He continued to face challenges head-on, defending rights and justice without concern for the personal consequences.
This steadfastness, however, made him a target: efforts were made to marginalize him and suppress the dissemination of his ideas across various periods and circles.
The Sixth Step of Evolution:
His Contributions to Education and Psychology. After completing his doctoral studies, specializing in the philosophical foundations of education, his research led him to develop a distinctive intellectual framework that integrated education, teaching, and the psychological structures of the individual. This framework aimed to create an advanced system contributing to general educational development through schooling.
Having studied under the pragmatic philosopher John Dewey, the influence of school-based education was evident in his scholarly output.
The Seventh Step of Evolution:
Contributions to Neuroscience and Creativity. In this phase, Jaffar reached the pinnacle of his creativity in interpreting the sciences of the brain. He transformed the understanding of the brain from its purely physiological function in generating outputs, particularly within the cerebral cortex, into a synthetic function governed by a dialectical relationship between physiological structures and accumulated performance. This approach reconceived the brain from a fixed material structure into a dynamic entity capable of growth and development, much like muscles that strengthen through repeated activity or atrophy through disuse.
He explored the relationship between creativity and brain physiology, as well as the interactive role of performance in creative output. This analysis was grounded in his psycho-epistemological understanding and enriched by his ability to draw upon both pragmatic and Marxist philosophical frameworks.
The Eighth Step of Evolution:
His Contributions to Language, Literature, History, Politics, and Society. This body of work reflects a distinctive vision characterized by a singular, nuanced understanding. His analyses, as well as his poetic and linguistic output, reveal a passion underpinned by intensive reading and scholarship. In history, particularly Islamic history, he offered interpretations informed by the philosophical framework previously outlined.
In all his social and political writings, he demonstrated a progressivism and a liberalism imbued with a leftist tendency that opposed all forms of despotism.
Writing about this exceptional figure, who has not received his due recognition, is a task fraught with difficulty, for it admits neither purely historical narratives nor descriptive sentimentalism. To write about Nouri Jaffar requires a meticulous reading of his oeuvre and the various domains of his research, particularly his intellectual evolutions across the periods of his work from the late 1940s to the early 1990s.
In light of what we have outlined, these eight steps of evolution will form the chapters of this book, through which we may perhaps contribute to rendering what is due to an unparalleled professor and mentor. Indeed, to a human being in whose person humanity, with its sublime and transcendent values, was truly embodied.