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irishphilosophy.bsky.social
IrishPhilosophy
@irishphilosophy.bsky.social
1.4K followers 420 following 510 posts
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)
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irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Fascinating bit of obscure book history. #AmWriting so am using the inferior precursor of the book wheel, every flat surface, as shown here by Bonaventure Baron, from a fresco in St Isidore's, Rome. Maybe he's asking for a book wheel.
Bonaventure wears a Franciscan habit, and is sitting at a large table facing to our right. Behind him and to his left are shelves of books. He has a large book leaning against the edge of the table. On the floor one large book lies open, to its right a small piece of paper and right again a large book stands on its spine leaning against a stool.
November 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
You know, philosophy might be good at this "working out what's right, what needs further debate"

How about we call it...
imgflip.com/gif/a7acgq
September 26, 2025 at 12:49 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Theorist and champion of human rights, Conor Gearty, has died.

Suaimhneas síoraí dá anam.

#SpeirGorm #SpéirGorm

Screenshot from quoted post with added ALT text.
In my early twenties I once got on a train to Durham that didn't stop at Durham because I was so engrossed in a book. That, you might think, is to be expected of any academic. But as I sailed over the viaduct, a story for the conductor in the back of my mind, I barely glanced at the great cathedral. For I was buried deep in Conor Gearty's writings on rights and terrorism. This was the aftermath of 9/11; almost every legal academic was wrestling with these questions. But as I read I appreciated that Conor had already been doing this for years. He was one of the great intellectual forces behind human rights in the UK. His work led the way in developing a set of rights protections that could be made to work in the context of parliamentary sovereignty. And if this didn't suit purists at either end of the debate on rights, the Human Rights Act 1998 was a massive step forward for rights protections in the UK. When too many people reached for familiar comparisons between US and UK constitutional law, he injected a different strain of thinking about rights into legal thought. It is a testament to the effectiveness of Conor's influence in policy making circles in the 1990s. As a legacy, it has been remarkably enduring, in spite of the most phenomenal political pressure, Because it works. Conor had a debaters' spirit, and the Irish schools and university debating circuit does indeed mould people. He walked into any room and sought out the big topics in his field. That doesn't do him justice, it makes him sound like he was always on a soap box. What I mean by a debater is that he knew that having an argument sharpened his own thinking. And an argument was never a harangue. A conversation with Conor was in parts charming, cajoling and probing. He really did not care that I was the most junior postgraduate in the room the first time I met him. He sought out a point well made, and didn't put much stock in the rank of the sayer. He could tease out a way to bring you round to his… He was a great patron to young public lawyers of all stripes, but particularly, amid the financial crash, to the great wave of Irish legal academics who sought out jobs in Great Britain. He had done it all first. He took the time to comment on draft articles, to give career advice, to ask how you were doing. He would be endlessly encouraging. This is the man that I would rely on when I needed a reference, and he'd always come through. He was often not the intellectual voice that many in the UK establishment wanted to hear, but that they needed to hear. His diagnosis, little over a month ago, of the malaise afflicting public discourse was the last time I messaged him; "Britain has little credibility for three reasons. One, it is seen as the child of America, with no independent engagement. Two, Britain is an imperial nation that has not yet addressed what imperialism meant; it still largely believes that it granted independence to grateful global south entities. And three, having left Europe, it has no strategic vision of anything." It is a rallying cry to confront these realities - for all that he was close to Labour, he called out their failings in office. And, for a Northern Protestant steeped in a family of police and military service, this Longford man did more than anyone else to challenge and reshape my own thinking on rights, conflict and security. He was an academic powerhouse, a public intellectual and a real friend and mentor. I'm heartbroken for Aoife and the kids. I wouldn't be who I am today without Conor Gearty's influence, and I'm left in bits by his passing.
September 12, 2025 at 12:15 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
So weird to see an event covered in my thesis (1778 Act) as a potential plot point.
Pink post-it bearing a handwritten note. Text reads: 1778 Cath: Relief Act 1780 Gorden Riots BBC have highlighted "Gorden Riots" and added a note: "Gorden Riots" Bowie was using real-life events to create a structure for the musical
September 5, 2025 at 6:43 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Grabbing the excuse to post this shot of the #WonderfulBarn in Leixlip, CGIed to look as if it was the witch's tower of the royal castle, from #TheGreenKnight.

Especially enjoyed the CGI reworking of iron barriers meant to stop dangerous climbing IRL, into little stunted trees.
A dark, misty, evocative shot, tinted green, which however does nothing to disguise the distinctive outline and spiral staircase of the Wonderful Barn.
August 24, 2025 at 8:32 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
2/
Cod. Sang. 273, p.38, translated in Walker 1957, p.184-6.

Original Latin:
Casibus innumeris decurrunt tempora vitae,
Omnia praetereunt, menses volvuntur in annis;
Labitur in senium momentis omnibus aetas.
Ut tibi perpetuam liceat conpraendere vitam,
Molles inlecebras vitae nunc sperne caducae.
A closer look at the book of Latin poetry from St Gall. The first letters in the first 7 lines spell "COLUMBA"
August 23, 2025 at 8:56 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
1/
Do love the books, though. #WordsOnTheWave

So many chance events cram this brief passage
Seasons fly and months turn into years
As moments slip away, we fade into old age
To understand eternal life, you must
Shun the easy charms of earthly transcience
A book of poetry written in Latin, from St Gall. The black writing on creamy velum is unornamented, but has a quiet beauty.
August 23, 2025 at 8:56 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Could it be ChatGPT is not a PhD level expert on everything? No, it's the PhDs who are wrong.
August 8, 2025 at 4:01 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Jonathan Swift, on how worship in the union of Great Britain wasn't common.

www.online-literature.com/swift/poems-...

bsky.app/profile/twll...
Blest revolution! which creates Divided hearts, united states! See how the double nation lies, Like a rich coat with skirts of frize: As if a man, in making posies, Should bundle thistles up with roses. Who ever yet a union saw Of kingdoms without faith or law?
July 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
2/2 The plaque, put up in 1912, reads,

In No. 7 Hoey Court
(now demolished)
about a 100 feet NW of this spot
it is reported that
JONATHAN SWIFT
Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral
was born
on the 30th day of Nov 1667
He died on the 19th day of Oct 1745.
MCMXII
The foot of the Castle Stairs. On the right steps go up through the arch, along the wall of Dublin Castle. On the right, the memorial to Jonathan Swift is inset into the wall. The worn stone is a warm cream colour.
June 15, 2025 at 7:13 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Missed that, the county should adopt that moniker!
GAA President Jarlath Burns and his son Jarly Óg Burns of Armagh lift the Sam Maguire Cup against a background of overjoyed Armagh supporters. Over their heads is added the single word "Arrrgh!"
May 31, 2025 at 11:23 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Late, but here is a plaque to Wittgenstein in Dublin, on a step where he sat during the cold winter of 1948-9, slap bang on the main route though the Palm House in the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin!

More on his time in Dublin comeheretome.com/2013/05/22/l...
Bronze plaque bearing the words Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) Viennese Philosopher Stayed in Dublin in the winter 1948-1949 and liked to sit and write at these steps.
April 27, 2025 at 5:58 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Cáisc Shona daoibh go léir!

Happy Easter to those who celebrate on this day.

An Easter poem by a 9th century Irish philosopher.

Sedulius Scottus, "Carmen Paschale"
SEDULIUS SCOTTUS Easter Sunday LAST night did Christ the Sun rise from the dark, The mystic harvest of the fields of God, And now the little wandering tribes of bees Are brawling in the scarlet flowers abroad. The winds are soft with birdsong; all night long Darkling the nightingale her descant told, And now inside church doors the happy folk The Alleluia chant a hundredfold. O father of thy folk, be thine by right The Easter joy, the threshold of the light. The arches of Connolly's Folly rise dark against a purple sky. Through the central and right arch, turning trees into silhouettes, a golden sunrise blazes out against the purple.
April 20, 2025 at 11:29 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
The grave marker of Irish marble over Usshers grave in Westminster Abbey was put in place in 1904. (See alt text or link for translation.)

www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commem...
A black Irish marble grave marker, with gold lettering. At the top is a truncated Celtic Cross, at the base Ussher arms as Bishop. The Latin text says: In pious memory of JAMES USSHER who was born in Dublin in 1581, entered among the first students of Trinity College, promoted to the archiepiscopal see of Armagh, primate of all Ireland, the hundredth heir of St Patrick the apostle of Ireland, historian, critic, theologian, most learned among the holy, most holy among the learned, exiled from his own in this city of Westminster, he fell asleep in Christ in 1656. He was expelled from his sacred see and country by those same seditions which went on to grant him burial in this church among the most honoured. This stone was placed by George Salmon, Provost of the same college, 1904
April 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Crowds gathered in the hours before midnight to witness the 21 gun salute which marked the fully independent republic.

www.theguardian.com/world/from-t...
Massive crowds on O'Connell St Bridge, Dublin, just before midnight 17th April 1949
April 17, 2025 at 11:50 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
George VI send a telegram of good wishes on the eve of the declaration, recalling "the services and sacrifices of the men and women of your country who rendered gallant assistance to our cause in the recent war & who made a notable contribution to our victory" wishing Ireland "every blessing".
6 pm Buckingham Palace OHMS 103 The President of the Republic of Ireland Dublin. April 18th stop send you my sincere good wishes on this day being well aware of the neighbourly links which hold the people of the Republic of Ireland in close association with my subjects of the United Kingdom stop I hold in most grateful memory the services and sacrifices of the men and women of your country who rendered gallant assistance to our cause in the redent war and who made a notable contribution to our victory stop I pray that every blessing may be with you today and in the future. George R.
April 17, 2025 at 11:44 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Speaking of which, my latest purchase.
Cover of Quentin Skinners 2025 book, "Liberty as Independence: The Making and Unmaking of a Political Ideal". The cover image is Nanine Vallain's "La Liberté" (1794) featuring a seated woman in Ancient Roman style clothing, bearing a staff topped by a red liberty cap in her right hand and a scroll (of a Declaration of Human Rights) trailing from her left hand.
April 10, 2025 at 12:46 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
If you're around #Maynooth there's an interesting exhibition on Professor Jan Łukasiewicz, "Polish Genius of Logic, Philosopher and post-war refugee in Ireland in the JPII Library at @maynoothuniversity.ie
One of the screens from the exhibit, listing Łukasiewicz's scientific legacy, including his discovery of many-valued logic (admitting intermediate values between true and false), his work in the history of logic, and his notation for the propositional calculus, "Polish notation".
April 9, 2025 at 3:03 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Already piggybacked on this for 17th century Cartesians, so turning to a modern expert on Descartes, Desmond Clarke (1942-2016).

No DIB yet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond...

From the blog, Clarke quote on Toland's similarity and dissimilarity to Descartes.

www.irishphilosophy.com/2016/09/04/d...
Toland also argues that there is no benefit in making a distinction between what is inconsistent with reason and what merely appears to be inconsistent with reason, and then accepting that we may be required by divine revelation to believe what appears to be irrational. Toland's answer to this is remarkably similar to Descartes's: if we relax the criterion of what is credible to admit propositions that at least appear to be irrational, then there is no limit to what we may be invited or required to believe. [...] However in contrast to Descartes, Toland seems to establish reason not only as a criterion of what we can believe, but also as a criterion of what is possible for God.
March 30, 2025 at 12:37 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
PS: O'Connell was arrested for conspiracy for organising the Clontarf meeting. He argued that if Repeal was deemed illegal, so would all campaigns for improvement, and such a attitude would have thwarted outlawing slavery.

www.irishphilosophy.com/2013/08/06/o...

#FreeSpeech
Ah Gentlemen, do not presume to interfere between humanity and its resources. Do not venture to arrest the progress of any movement for the amelioration of the institutions of the country. Do not attempt to take away from your fellow subjects the legitimate mode of effecting useful purposes by public meetings, public canvassing - speaking bold truths boldly and firmly.
March 22, 2025 at 2:39 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
If you see this, quote post with a beach photo from your gallery.
August, 2024. A symphony of muted tones: pale blue sky, pale teal sea waves, brown rocks on the left with contrasting vivid green moss. A lone seagull contemplates as he sits on a boulder.
February 13, 2025 at 2:55 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
This was the occasion where Yeats famously described his people (the people of Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell) and hoped for future change which might transform Ireland.
www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/d...
I wish to close more seriously; this is a matter of very great seriousness. I think it is tragic that within three years of this country gaining its independence we should be discussing a measure which a minority of this nation considers to be grossly oppressive. I am proud to consider myself a typical man of that minority. We against whom you have done this thing, are no petty people. We are one of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. (We have) created the most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence. Yet I do not altogether regret what has happened. I shall be able to find out, if not I, my children will be able to find out whether we have lost our stamina or not. You have defined our position and have given us a popular following. If we have not lost our stamina then your victory will be brief, and your defeat final, and when it comes this nation may be transformed.
February 12, 2025 at 10:48 AM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
I love that poem!

This is good too.

The manuscript is
St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek MS 904 (9th centuty)

The line with cross hatching on it is Ogham, an Irish writing form more usually found in stone.

It says LATHEIRT, "hungover" 😆 a heavy night, recorded for posterity!
A 9th century manuscript written in Ireland and later brought to the continent, with a line in the top margin with small lines drawn out from it (a script version of Ogham).
February 11, 2025 at 3:31 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
A serious issue for philosophy.

Learning to do anything, like carpentry, or research, or critical reading, starts with the routine and builds on those skills.
"[A] key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise," the researchers wrote.
February 11, 2025 at 1:11 PM
irishphilosophy.bsky.social
Is there anything to be said for another fast?
January 31, 2025 at 2:52 PM