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
Douglass was in Scotland on 14th February 1846, having left Ireland on 10th after finishing a 4 month tour of Ireland.
"Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, 1846" on Electric Scotland:
electricscotland.com/history/amer... (pdf)
"Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, 1846" on Electric Scotland:
electricscotland.com/history/amer... (pdf)
#OtD 14 Feb 1818 was the date chosen by formerly enslaved abolitionist Frederick Douglass to celebrate as his birthday. Douglass estimated that he was born in February 1818, but his exact date of birth is unknown because he was born into enslavement. stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9260...
February 14, 2026 at 8:09 PM
Douglass was in Scotland on 14th February 1846, having left Ireland on 10th after finishing a 4 month tour of Ireland.
"Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, 1846" on Electric Scotland:
electricscotland.com/history/amer... (pdf)
"Frederick Douglass and
Scotland, 1846" on Electric Scotland:
electricscotland.com/history/amer... (pdf)
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
February 14, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
Violets are blue
Ideas are green
And colourless too
This is one strength of the classical republican tradition of the Old Whigs. You don't try to decide which Christians are real Christians. You say everyone has freedom of conscience, and Church and State must be separate.
#mera #Molesworth
#mera #Molesworth
Indeed. The current US political discourse about who the "real" Christians are is both ahistorical and unproductive.
Christianity can be bad!
Christianity has been bad!
Christianity is not singularly defined by a maximally progressive reading of the Sermon on the Mount!!
Enslavers were real Christians! Crusaders were real Christians!
Christianity has been bad!
Christianity is not singularly defined by a maximally progressive reading of the Sermon on the Mount!!
Enslavers were real Christians! Crusaders were real Christians!
February 14, 2026 at 4:05 PM
This is one strength of the classical republican tradition of the Old Whigs. You don't try to decide which Christians are real Christians. You say everyone has freedom of conscience, and Church and State must be separate.
#mera #Molesworth
#mera #Molesworth
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Interested in women's & gender studies? You can now apply to join our MA Women's Studies 2026-27 cohort at @ucc.ie.
Use the QR code below or find out more via www.ucc.ie/en/cke03/.
March 12th is the GOI-IES fellowship deadline.
#UCC #womensstudies #genderstudies #Ireland #postgraduate #MA
Use the QR code below or find out more via www.ucc.ie/en/cke03/.
March 12th is the GOI-IES fellowship deadline.
#UCC #womensstudies #genderstudies #Ireland #postgraduate #MA
February 13, 2026 at 8:50 PM
Interested in women's & gender studies? You can now apply to join our MA Women's Studies 2026-27 cohort at @ucc.ie.
Use the QR code below or find out more via www.ucc.ie/en/cke03/.
March 12th is the GOI-IES fellowship deadline.
#UCC #womensstudies #genderstudies #Ireland #postgraduate #MA
Use the QR code below or find out more via www.ucc.ie/en/cke03/.
March 12th is the GOI-IES fellowship deadline.
#UCC #womensstudies #genderstudies #Ireland #postgraduate #MA
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
“I have searched the depths of Philosophical Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.” 👀
February 13, 2026 at 10:43 PM
“I have searched the depths of Philosophical Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.” 👀
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Valentine’s Day is often seen as a celebration of timeless, universal love, but in fifteenth-century Ireland love could also be treated as a medical condition. Evidence of this survives in a manuscript called the Book of the O’Lees (RIA MS 23 P 10 (ii)).
February 14, 2026 at 1:52 PM
Valentine’s Day is often seen as a celebration of timeless, universal love, but in fifteenth-century Ireland love could also be treated as a medical condition. Evidence of this survives in a manuscript called the Book of the O’Lees (RIA MS 23 P 10 (ii)).
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
On Trump's failed attempt to indict six members of Congress
At @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
And further points on the 1642/2026 comparison at my own blog:
emptycity.substack.com/p/1642s-five... /
davidallengreen.com/2026/02/1642...
>
At @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
And further points on the 1642/2026 comparison at my own blog:
emptycity.substack.com/p/1642s-five... /
davidallengreen.com/2026/02/1642...
>
Trump failed to indict six members of Congress. This is why it matters
Grand juries are preventing some of the grossest abuses of federal power
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
February 14, 2026 at 8:24 AM
On Trump's failed attempt to indict six members of Congress
At @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
And further points on the 1642/2026 comparison at my own blog:
emptycity.substack.com/p/1642s-five... /
davidallengreen.com/2026/02/1642...
>
At @prospectmagazine.co.uk
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...
And further points on the 1642/2026 comparison at my own blog:
emptycity.substack.com/p/1642s-five... /
davidallengreen.com/2026/02/1642...
>
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
amoris
What happens when the philosophy of love meets a neo-Roman sense of liberty as independence? Are lovers doomed to be "made Slaves to Venus"? Read my essay on érōs as an enslaving and emancipatory power in the first close analysis of Algernon Sidney's "Of Love": classiques-garnier.com/le-republica...
February 14, 2026 at 12:21 PM
amoris
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Update: It is now closer to c.300,000 words of new Pocock
I am currently editing c.50,000 words of writings unknown to scholars by J.G.A. Pocock on the Second World War, historiography, political ideas, republicanism, and more for publication next year (with all permissions and family blessing). I look forward to sharing in due course.
February 14, 2026 at 10:52 AM
Update: It is now closer to c.300,000 words of new Pocock
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
In fields like archaeological illustration (and so many others) accuracy isn’t an aspiration, it is the starting point and essence of the activity. I make this point repeatedly wrt indexing - accuracy is *the whole point*, so an AI with *any* rate of inaccuracy is 100% useless to me
February 14, 2026 at 11:06 AM
In fields like archaeological illustration (and so many others) accuracy isn’t an aspiration, it is the starting point and essence of the activity. I make this point repeatedly wrt indexing - accuracy is *the whole point*, so an AI with *any* rate of inaccuracy is 100% useless to me
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
This is a crucial point: it’s just not good enough to hope LLMs will become ‘more accurate’ at stuff like this - the inaccuracy is a *feature* of LLM-generated content because it is trained on everything, the good and the bad. It will never be accurate.
🧪🏺 Authors assert:
"archaeologists must evaluate these implications to proactively shape the foundations of our engagement with [gen- #AI]"
My take?
We should we should boycott & call out its use in #scicomm as something which *by its nature* diminishes accuracy, nuance & educational benefit.
"archaeologists must evaluate these implications to proactively shape the foundations of our engagement with [gen- #AI]"
My take?
We should we should boycott & call out its use in #scicomm as something which *by its nature* diminishes accuracy, nuance & educational benefit.
🧪🏺 Update - authors have new paper showing how useless gen- #AI is for archaeological illustration.
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.
JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
All 400 images were multiply inaccurate (physically, socially, technologically, environmentally), even with improved prompts.
JUST USE HUMAN EXPERTS & ARTISTS
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
February 14, 2026 at 11:06 AM
This is a crucial point: it’s just not good enough to hope LLMs will become ‘more accurate’ at stuff like this - the inaccuracy is a *feature* of LLM-generated content because it is trained on everything, the good and the bad. It will never be accurate.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
#OTD 14 Feb. 1793: philosophical anarchist William Godwin published his celebrated love letter to the world, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, in which he envisaged a society based on justice, equality, tolerance, benevolence, & mutual moral accountability. #Valentine’sDay #LoveThyNeighbour
February 14, 2026 at 10:27 AM
#OTD 14 Feb. 1793: philosophical anarchist William Godwin published his celebrated love letter to the world, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, in which he envisaged a society based on justice, equality, tolerance, benevolence, & mutual moral accountability. #Valentine’sDay #LoveThyNeighbour
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Prepositions before nouns
Create an urú.
Violets are blue
Prepositions before nouns
Create an urú.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
February 14, 2026 at 8:49 AM
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Prepositions before nouns
Create an urú.
Violets are blue
Prepositions before nouns
Create an urú.
You've had the love, now the money.
Paschal Donohoe on Capitalism, A Global History by Sven Beckert: Demanding but magisterial. Its more than 1,000 pages require sustained focus and stamina but it should not languish unread on dusty shelves
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Paschal Donohoe on Capitalism, A Global History by Sven Beckert: Demanding but magisterial
Its more than 1,000 pages require sustained focus and stamina but it should not languish unread on dusty shelves
www.irishtimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 10:11 AM
You've had the love, now the money.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Roses are red
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
February 14, 2026 at 8:47 AM
Roses are red
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
Violets are blue
A regular verb in the past tense
Gets a séimhiú.
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
For the day that's in it you could pop to Whitefriars Church to see St Valentine's remains whitefriarstreetchurch.com/saint-valent...
Saint Valentine - Whitefriar Street Church Dublin
whitefriarstreetchurch.com
February 14, 2026 at 9:30 AM
For the day that's in it you could pop to Whitefriars Church to see St Valentine's remains whitefriarstreetchurch.com/saint-valent...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Happy #ValentinesDay! 💌
In this #loveletter, James Pearse writes to Margaret Brady after calling “into your old shop” — but “no Maggie.” A simple, longing line that says it all. ❤️
💕 Love stories live on in our archives: https://ow.ly/A9fJ50YeioU
In this #loveletter, James Pearse writes to Margaret Brady after calling “into your old shop” — but “no Maggie.” A simple, longing line that says it all. ❤️
💕 Love stories live on in our archives: https://ow.ly/A9fJ50YeioU
February 14, 2026 at 10:05 AM
Happy #ValentinesDay! 💌
In this #loveletter, James Pearse writes to Margaret Brady after calling “into your old shop” — but “no Maggie.” A simple, longing line that says it all. ❤️
💕 Love stories live on in our archives: https://ow.ly/A9fJ50YeioU
In this #loveletter, James Pearse writes to Margaret Brady after calling “into your old shop” — but “no Maggie.” A simple, longing line that says it all. ❤️
💕 Love stories live on in our archives: https://ow.ly/A9fJ50YeioU
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Another thrilling #ValentinesDay at #WBYeats house
February 14, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Another thrilling #ValentinesDay at #WBYeats house
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Early Cross Slab • Clonmacnoise • Offaly • 7th—9th century
There are over 700 examples of cross slabs known to have associations with Clonmacnoise, making it the largest assemblage known from either Ireland or Britain.
#Ireland #SpéirGhorm
There are over 700 examples of cross slabs known to have associations with Clonmacnoise, making it the largest assemblage known from either Ireland or Britain.
#Ireland #SpéirGhorm
February 13, 2026 at 8:19 PM
Early Cross Slab • Clonmacnoise • Offaly • 7th—9th century
There are over 700 examples of cross slabs known to have associations with Clonmacnoise, making it the largest assemblage known from either Ireland or Britain.
#Ireland #SpéirGhorm
There are over 700 examples of cross slabs known to have associations with Clonmacnoise, making it the largest assemblage known from either Ireland or Britain.
#Ireland #SpéirGhorm
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Next Friday, I will be speaking at the Ó Cléirigh seminar on my forthcoming article in the Proceedings of the RIA, which analyses surviving letters sent by Irish kings and provides a full edition and translation of them. All are welcome! @historytcd.bsky.social
February 13, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Next Friday, I will be speaking at the Ó Cléirigh seminar on my forthcoming article in the Proceedings of the RIA, which analyses surviving letters sent by Irish kings and provides a full edition and translation of them. All are welcome! @historytcd.bsky.social
Gorgeous interior well worth a visit (only possible on tours like this or with a readers card).
Explore the National Library of Ireland with Director Dr Audrey Whitty.
📅 Monday, 23 February at 6pm:
https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/directors-tour-national-library-ireland-9
🏛️ Meet in the Front Hall of National Library of Ireland, 7/8 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
📅 Monday, 23 February at 6pm:
https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/directors-tour-national-library-ireland-9
🏛️ Meet in the Front Hall of National Library of Ireland, 7/8 Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
Director's Tour of the National Library of Ireland
www.nli.ie
February 13, 2026 at 7:39 PM
Gorgeous interior well worth a visit (only possible on tours like this or with a readers card).
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
You can visit #Yeats: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats, a free exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin.
📆 Open Monday to Sunday: https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/exhibition-yeats-life-and-works-william-butler-yeats-0
📆 Open Monday to Sunday: https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/exhibition-yeats-life-and-works-william-butler-yeats-0
February 13, 2026 at 9:00 AM
You can visit #Yeats: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats, a free exhibition at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin.
📆 Open Monday to Sunday: https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/exhibition-yeats-life-and-works-william-butler-yeats-0
📆 Open Monday to Sunday: https://www.nli.ie/exhibitions-events/exhibition-yeats-life-and-works-william-butler-yeats-0
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman's lungs www.newscientist.com/article/2515...
World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman's lungs
Finding rhinoviruses, which cause the common cold, in preserved medical specimens and analysing their RNA genome could let us trace the evolution of human illness
www.newscientist.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:19 PM
World’s oldest cold virus found in 18th-century woman's lungs www.newscientist.com/article/2515...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
Very pleased to have a chapter with Avner de-Shalit published in this new collection edited by Alice Baderin and David Miller: Why Political Theory Needs Social Science.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
February 12, 2026 at 11:54 AM
Very pleased to have a chapter with Avner de-Shalit published in this new collection edited by Alice Baderin and David Miller: Why Political Theory Needs Social Science.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by IrishPhilosophy
‘Couriers communicated gossip, rumour and political intelligence between cities and states, labourers in a vast information infrastructure that worked across languages and borders.’
@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
John Gallagher · Quickly Quickly Quickly: Early Modern News
In early modern Europe, couriers represented the increased connectivity of the Continent. They travelled faster and...
www.lrb.co.uk
February 13, 2026 at 12:10 PM
‘Couriers communicated gossip, rumour and political intelligence between cities and states, labourers in a vast information infrastructure that worked across languages and borders.’
@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@earlymodernjohn.bsky.social on early modern news.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...