About Me…

ABOUT ME…

This website is designed to supplement the themes and ideas in my book Atheism Reclaimed. In addition, I would like this space to be a point where I can record my responses to the reception, make reaction to critical feedback and comment on any current thoughts on atheism that intersects with the way in which I formulate the notion of atheism.

I am currently teach Philosophy at  Nottingham Trent University. Nottingham Trent has a very unique way of doing Philosophy, and is a great place to study. If you are a prospective University student, and would like to study with us you can find more information here .

I am also available on Twitter @drphilocity

You can find some of my other writings here

Here is my profile with John Hunt publishing

 BIO:

I come from Co. Kerry in the Republic of Ireland. I studied for a degree in Philosophy and English at the National University of Ireland at Galway, which I completed in 2000. Subsequently, I completed my PhD at NUIG, studying primarily the intersection of phenomenology and post-structuralism.  During my PhD I taught at NUI Galway’s very brilliant Philosophy Department. Following that, I studied at Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as doing some part-time teaching there, and with the Open University. Other than that, I have spent time teaching and lecturing students, and am currently investigating ways in which Philosophy can be applied to outreach work.

In terms of writing, I have published a revised version of my PhD thesis as Derrida: Profanations (Continuum, 2010). Along with that I have published articles on Derrida, Levinas, Husserl, Badiou and Agamben.  Other interests include the Philosophy of Education and the Philosophy of Literature. I am currently composing an article on philosophical themes in the work of Cormac McCarthy.

While much of the European Philosophy I am trained in deals with core thinkers – and I love them all – there is I think right now a shift to using these thinkers to deal with philosophical problems, this is to say there is I would argue a swing to applying the insights of thinkers such as Heidegger, Badiou, Derrida to working out their thoughts in terms of arguments and issues. This is of course what the true legacy of phenomenology should be about. This is something I welcome both philosophically and politically.  It marks a move from a scholastic and intensely textual approach to texts and thinkers, to a practical, logical and engaged understanding of the consequences of ideas.

On another level, this shift also means there is a less hierarchical approach to thinkers, a consequence of which is a leveling of the priority of ideas in favour of a working through of their implications. Basically, philosophical ideas, at least in the tradition of European Philosophy, are becoming less focussed on following the truths of master thinkers, and more concerned with finding the most compelling ways to put the ideas to work in a philosophical way.  Atheism Reclaimed is I hope a small contribution to this shift, one where I develop the insights of existential phenomenology as means through which we can begin to think what a lived and engaged atheism might look like.

Also, in other news, I like to watch rugby and sports of all kinds, I like to cycle, and I play football very badly.

Patrick