IrishPhilosophy
@irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Blog: IrishPhilosophy.com
Catherine Barry, Hume Scholar, working on a PhD at Maynooth University on religious toleration in 18th century Ireland.
#EarlyModern, with a broad interest in Irish intellectual thought.
Can't reply to messages (shrug)
Catherine Barry, Hume Scholar, working on a PhD at Maynooth University on religious toleration in 18th century Ireland.
#EarlyModern, with a broad interest in Irish intellectual thought.
Can't reply to messages (shrug)
Pinned
A first attempt at a list of philosophy departments and those working on philosophy in the island of Ireland.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Suggestions for addition and requests for removal gratefully received.
#SpéirGorm
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Suggestions for addition and requests for removal gratefully received.
#SpéirGorm
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
I edited a book. For bureaucratic reasons, I was told I could only be paid in books. After thinking about it, and the difficulties involved, I had an idea: instead of sixty books, I asked for *one* – I now have my own first edition of James Harrington's "The Common-wealth of Oceana" (1656).
February 8, 2026 at 2:05 PM
I edited a book. For bureaucratic reasons, I was told I could only be paid in books. After thinking about it, and the difficulties involved, I had an idea: instead of sixty books, I asked for *one* – I now have my own first edition of James Harrington's "The Common-wealth of Oceana" (1656).
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
‘Tiberius’ successor, Caligula, was barely in power long enough to be corrupted by it: he was a horror from the get-go. If Tiberius practised his vices in secret, Caligula revelled in openly flouting received proprieties.’
Thomas Jones on ‘The Lives of the Caesars’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Jones on ‘The Lives of the Caesars’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Jones · Lords of the World: Keeping Up with the Caesars
As Mary Beard has put it, ‘How could you control and defend a vast empire, stretching from Spain to Syria, with a...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 8, 2026 at 2:24 PM
‘Tiberius’ successor, Caligula, was barely in power long enough to be corrupted by it: he was a horror from the get-go. If Tiberius practised his vices in secret, Caligula revelled in openly flouting received proprieties.’
Thomas Jones on ‘The Lives of the Caesars’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thomas Jones on ‘The Lives of the Caesars’.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
I don't know if this has any relation to the philosopher (author of The Sea, The Sea) but its great anyway.
Adam O'Farrill, Elephant. I've slept on O'Farrill, whose For These Streets made best-of-2025 lists; trying out the follow-up, featuring pianist Yvonne Rogers. Linking to the track/video page for "Iris Murdoch"; intriguing title, very current NYC sound. adamofarrill.bandcamp.com/track/sea-tr... (4/7)
Sea Triptych, Pt. 3 - Iris Murdoch, by Adam O'Farrill
from the album ELEPHANT
adamofarrill.bandcamp.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:37 PM
I don't know if this has any relation to the philosopher (author of The Sea, The Sea) but its great anyway.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
The next talk in the Boole Lectures Series in Philosophy will be given by Professor István Aranyosi (Bilkent) on Wednesday, 11 February, CACSSS Seminar Room (ORB G27), 1500-1700
Everybody is welcome!
Title: "Flashbacks"
Everybody is welcome!
Title: "Flashbacks"
February 7, 2026 at 3:52 PM
The next talk in the Boole Lectures Series in Philosophy will be given by Professor István Aranyosi (Bilkent) on Wednesday, 11 February, CACSSS Seminar Room (ORB G27), 1500-1700
Everybody is welcome!
Title: "Flashbacks"
Everybody is welcome!
Title: "Flashbacks"
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Maynooth University Library Cat Update
I hadn't seen Maynooth University Library Cat for a while, so it was nice to see him today, on post, as large as life. Approaching him I saw him receive a number of back scratches. It seems he enjoyed them and continued to present his back to passers-by in…
I hadn't seen Maynooth University Library Cat for a while, so it was nice to see him today, on post, as large as life. Approaching him I saw him receive a number of back scratches. It seems he enjoyed them and continued to present his back to passers-by in…
Maynooth University Library Cat Update
I hadn't seen Maynooth University Library Cat for a while, so it was nice to see him today, on post, as large as life. Approaching him I saw him receive a number of back scratches. It seems he enjoyed them and continued to present his back to passers-by in the hope of getting more.
telescoper.blog
February 4, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Maynooth University Library Cat Update
I hadn't seen Maynooth University Library Cat for a while, so it was nice to see him today, on post, as large as life. Approaching him I saw him receive a number of back scratches. It seems he enjoyed them and continued to present his back to passers-by in…
I hadn't seen Maynooth University Library Cat for a while, so it was nice to see him today, on post, as large as life. Approaching him I saw him receive a number of back scratches. It seems he enjoyed them and continued to present his back to passers-by in…
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Simultaneously both saddened and tickled by the fact that the cover of the most recent edition of C.S. Lewis’s ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE 16th CENTURY replaces Sir Thomas More (of UTOPIA fame) with Romantic-era Irish songpoet Thomas Moore…
February 8, 2026 at 12:55 PM
Simultaneously both saddened and tickled by the fact that the cover of the most recent edition of C.S. Lewis’s ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE 16th CENTURY replaces Sir Thomas More (of UTOPIA fame) with Romantic-era Irish songpoet Thomas Moore…
Iris Murdoch died #OTD 1999.
A post on her thoughts about morality, which starts by looking outside the self and engaging with reality.
www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/07/15/m...
A post on her thoughts about morality, which starts by looking outside the self and engaging with reality.
www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/07/15/m...
Seeking the Sun: Murdoch and the Good – Irish Philosophy
"There is, of course, such a thing as Irish intellectual thought"
www.irishphilosophy.com
February 8, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Iris Murdoch died #OTD 1999.
A post on her thoughts about morality, which starts by looking outside the self and engaging with reality.
www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/07/15/m...
A post on her thoughts about morality, which starts by looking outside the self and engaging with reality.
www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/07/15/m...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”
~ Iris Murdoch, The Times on 15 April 1983.
Image: ManusVR Glove 2016 / Manus VR / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
~ Iris Murdoch, The Times on 15 April 1983.
Image: ManusVR Glove 2016 / Manus VR / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
February 8, 2026 at 10:32 AM
“We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion. The great task in life is to find reality.”
~ Iris Murdoch, The Times on 15 April 1983.
Image: ManusVR Glove 2016 / Manus VR / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
~ Iris Murdoch, The Times on 15 April 1983.
Image: ManusVR Glove 2016 / Manus VR / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.
Even better in Spanish. "We can only learn to love by loving." (Iris Mudoch)
February 8, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Even better in Spanish. "We can only learn to love by loving." (Iris Mudoch)
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
"Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real."
Iris Murdoch, easily my favorite philosopher, died on this day in 1999 and left us her abiding wisdom on art, goodness, and love: www.themarginalian.org/2022/01/08/i...
Iris Murdoch, easily my favorite philosopher, died on this day in 1999 and left us her abiding wisdom on art, goodness, and love: www.themarginalian.org/2022/01/08/i...
What Love Really Means: Iris Murdoch on Unselfing, the Symmetry Between Art and Morality, and How We Unblind Ourselves to Each Other’s Realities
“Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.”
www.themarginalian.org
February 8, 2026 at 5:47 AM
"Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real."
Iris Murdoch, easily my favorite philosopher, died on this day in 1999 and left us her abiding wisdom on art, goodness, and love: www.themarginalian.org/2022/01/08/i...
Iris Murdoch, easily my favorite philosopher, died on this day in 1999 and left us her abiding wisdom on art, goodness, and love: www.themarginalian.org/2022/01/08/i...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Silicon Valley: Move fast and break things.
Socrates (in a dialogue called Acosta by Iris Murdoch if I recall correctly): In philosophy if you are not moving at a snail’s pace you are not moving at all.
Socrates (in a dialogue called Acosta by Iris Murdoch if I recall correctly): In philosophy if you are not moving at a snail’s pace you are not moving at all.
February 7, 2026 at 10:55 PM
Silicon Valley: Move fast and break things.
Socrates (in a dialogue called Acosta by Iris Murdoch if I recall correctly): In philosophy if you are not moving at a snail’s pace you are not moving at all.
Socrates (in a dialogue called Acosta by Iris Murdoch if I recall correctly): In philosophy if you are not moving at a snail’s pace you are not moving at all.
"[Thiel] reads this as proof that Enlightenment ideals of equality, rational debate, and shared institutions have failed, critics argue the crisis reflects the opposite—a failure to live up to those ideals in the face of massive inequality and corporate concentration."
February 8, 2026 at 1:37 PM
"[Thiel] reads this as proof that Enlightenment ideals of equality, rational debate, and shared institutions have failed, critics argue the crisis reflects the opposite—a failure to live up to those ideals in the face of massive inequality and corporate concentration."
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Kindle edition currently 99p. www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Saxons...
February 5, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Kindle edition currently 99p. www.amazon.co.uk/Anglo-Saxons...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Cui bono, indeed.
Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor.
Who benefits when AI is introduced into higher education?
By Ulises A. Mejias (adapted from an earlier op-ed at Future U blog.) www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
Who benefits when AI is introduced into higher education?
By Ulises A. Mejias (adapted from an earlier op-ed at Future U blog.) www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Academic Labor
AI is reinscribing academic labor in ways that privilege certain economics interests.
www.aaup.org
February 7, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Cui bono, indeed.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Am pre-emptively doing this in plenty of time before tomorrow morning
February 7, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Am pre-emptively doing this in plenty of time before tomorrow morning
Bannon interviewing Epstein is as distasteful as you imagine, but had to share this gem #philosophy #AncientGreece
Apparently Epstein thought writing forces “linear” and “narrow” patterns of thinking, whereas the greatest thinkers never wrote.
Apparently Epstein thought writing forces “linear” and “narrow” patterns of thinking, whereas the greatest thinkers never wrote.
February 7, 2026 at 1:41 PM
Bannon interviewing Epstein is as distasteful as you imagine, but had to share this gem #philosophy #AncientGreece
Apparently Epstein thought writing forces “linear” and “narrow” patterns of thinking, whereas the greatest thinkers never wrote.
Apparently Epstein thought writing forces “linear” and “narrow” patterns of thinking, whereas the greatest thinkers never wrote.
Sir Thomas More, born #OnThisDay 1478, was unlucky in his kings but lucky in those writing posthumous speeches for him.
Reupping this speech for our times.
Reupping this speech for our times.
Ian McKellen performs “The Strangers’ Case” speech from “Sir Thomas More” on Colbert.
February 7, 2026 at 9:37 AM
Sir Thomas More, born #OnThisDay 1478, was unlucky in his kings but lucky in those writing posthumous speeches for him.
Reupping this speech for our times.
Reupping this speech for our times.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Dunblane's historic Leighton Library has 1629 edition of "Utopia" by author, statesman, & England's Lord High Chancellor Sir Thomas More, born #OnThisDay 1478 - satire about social, political & religious system & customs of imaginary, ideal island nation
February 7, 2026 at 8:23 AM
Dunblane's historic Leighton Library has 1629 edition of "Utopia" by author, statesman, & England's Lord High Chancellor Sir Thomas More, born #OnThisDay 1478 - satire about social, political & religious system & customs of imaginary, ideal island nation
Fresh from thinking about "Christianity Not Mysterious", very much appreciate the strict definition of mystery as used here.
bsky.app/profile/joer...
bsky.app/profile/joer...
for all of you heading to #MSC2026, here's a little primer on how (not) to talk about European security
@ipq.bsky.social
@ipq.bsky.social
February 7, 2026 at 9:27 AM
Fresh from thinking about "Christianity Not Mysterious", very much appreciate the strict definition of mystery as used here.
bsky.app/profile/joer...
bsky.app/profile/joer...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
In case you didn't catch it in last Saturday's print edition, my review of Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly is now up on the Irish Times website.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly – A lively tradition that still has much to teach us
Claire Connolly’s ambitious study captures well both the gradual development of Irish Romanticism and its ‘copiousness’
www.irishtimes.com
February 6, 2026 at 6:58 PM
In case you didn't catch it in last Saturday's print edition, my review of Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly is now up on the Irish Times website.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Call for papers, Irish Conference of Medievalists!
Trinity College Dublin, 28-29 May (in person)
Registration €40 (students €20). 1/4
Trinity College Dublin, 28-29 May (in person)
Registration €40 (students €20). 1/4
February 6, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Call for papers, Irish Conference of Medievalists!
Trinity College Dublin, 28-29 May (in person)
Registration €40 (students €20). 1/4
Trinity College Dublin, 28-29 May (in person)
Registration €40 (students €20). 1/4
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue” www.openculture.com/2026/02/the-...
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue”
'The three volumes of Green's Dictionary of Slang demonstrate the sheer scope of a lifetime of research by Jonathon Green, the leading slang lexicographer of our time. A remarkable collection of this ...
www.openculture.com
February 6, 2026 at 2:06 PM
The Largest Historical Dictionary of English Slang Now Free Online: Covers 500 Years of the “Vulgar Tongue” www.openculture.com/2026/02/the-...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Delighted to announce our seminar - 'Race and the Early Modern' - now has a full schedule of events. We'll be convening monthly to discuss research on race, racemaking, and racialisation across #earlymodern studies.
@kingsartshums.bsky.social @folger.edu
kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...
@kingsartshums.bsky.social @folger.edu
kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...
Race and the Early Modern — CEMS KCL Blog
kingsearlymodern.co.uk
February 6, 2026 at 8:17 AM
Delighted to announce our seminar - 'Race and the Early Modern' - now has a full schedule of events. We'll be convening monthly to discuss research on race, racemaking, and racialisation across #earlymodern studies.
@kingsartshums.bsky.social @folger.edu
kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...
@kingsartshums.bsky.social @folger.edu
kingsearlymodern.co.uk/race-and-the...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
HistParl is now on Substack!
We are very pleased to announce the launch of Scribble Book - a History of Parliament newsletter written by our Director @jhdavey.bsky.social ! Our first post, on the history of the Trust, will be out on Monday.
Be sure to subscribe now to keep up to date!
We are very pleased to announce the launch of Scribble Book - a History of Parliament newsletter written by our Director @jhdavey.bsky.social ! Our first post, on the history of the Trust, will be out on Monday.
Be sure to subscribe now to keep up to date!
Introducing Scribble Book
A History of Parliament Newsletter
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:23 PM
HistParl is now on Substack!
We are very pleased to announce the launch of Scribble Book - a History of Parliament newsletter written by our Director @jhdavey.bsky.social ! Our first post, on the history of the Trust, will be out on Monday.
Be sure to subscribe now to keep up to date!
We are very pleased to announce the launch of Scribble Book - a History of Parliament newsletter written by our Director @jhdavey.bsky.social ! Our first post, on the history of the Trust, will be out on Monday.
Be sure to subscribe now to keep up to date!
Meeting the contemporary safety standards in #earlymodern Europe by wearing a helmet - decorated with plumes. Safety first, #skystorians.
February 6, 2026 at 1:57 PM