UCD School of Philosophy

Scoil na Fealsúnachta UCD

Professor Brian O'Connor BA MA DPhil.

Contact Details

Title	Associate Professor
Address	School of Philosophy Newman Building Belfield Dublin 4
Telephone:	Ext. 8141
Email:	ei.dcu@ronnoco.nairb

Biography:

D.Phil. Philosophy
University of Oxford

M.A. Philosophy
University College Dublin

B.A. (Hons.) Philosophy & English Language & Literature
University College Dublin

Brian O'Connor is the author of Adorno's Negative Dialectic: Philosophy and the Possibility of Critical Rationality (MIT, 2004), the forthcoming Adorno: Routledge Philosophers (Routledge, 2012) and of papers on the German Idealist and Critical Theory traditions. He is editor of the Adorno Reader (Blackwells, 2000), coeditor of German Idealism: An Anthology and Guide (Edinburgh U.P. 2006 / U. Chicago P., 2007), and coeditor of the forthcoming Routledge Companion to German Idealism (Routledge, 2012).

Areas of Specialization
Critical Theory, German Idealism, Social Theory

Research Interests

Critical Theory, German Idealism, Social Theory

Books

Brian O'Connor (editor with Georg Mohr); (2006) German Idealism: An Anthology and Guide. Edinburgh \ Chicago: University of Edinburgh Press \ University of Chicago Press.

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Brian O'Connor; (2004) Adorno's Negative Dialectic: Philosophy and the Possibility of a Critical Rationality. Cambridge, MA / London: MIT Press.

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Brian O'Connor (editor); (2000) The Adorno Reader. Oxford / Malden, MA: Blackwells.

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Book Chapters

Brian O'Connor; (2012) 'Pathologisch; selig; Seligkeit; Temperament; Stimmung; Adiaphora; Animalität; moralische Gesundheit; Paradies; Sinnesart; Zerstreuung; Gerichtshof (metaphorisch); sokratisch; Sokrates' In: Georg Mohr, Marcus Willaschek, Jürgen Stolzenberg and Stefano Bacin (eds). Kant-Lexikon. Berlin: De Gruyter. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2011) 'Adorno's Reconception of the Dialectic' In: Stephen Houlgate and Michael Baur (eds). Blackwell Companion to Hegel. Oxford / Malden, MA: Blackwell. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2010) 'Adorno on the Destruction of Memory' In: Susannah Radstone and Bill Schwartz (eds). Memory: Histories, Theories, Debates. New York: Fordham University Press. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2009) 'Adorno and the Rediscovery of Autonomy' In: Stefano Giacchetti Ludovisi (eds). Nostalgia for a Redeemed Future: Critical Theory. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2008) 'Adorno: Philosophy of History' In: Deborah Cook (eds). Adorno: Key Concepts. London: Acumen. [Details]

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Peer Reviewed Journals

Brian O'Connor; (2009) 'German Idealism and Normativity'. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 17 (1):3-7. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2007) 'Hegel's Phenomenology and the Question of Semantic Pragmatism'. The Owl of Minerva (Journal of the Hegel Society of America), 38 (1-2):129-145. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2006) 'A Missing Step in Kant's Refutation of Idealism'. Idealistic Studies, 36 (3):83-95. [Details]

O'Connor, B; (2004) 'Adorno and the problem of givenness'. Revue Internationale De Philosophie, 58 (227):85-99. [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (1999) 'Hegel, Adorno and the Concept of Mediation'. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, 39/40 :84-96. [Details]

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Other Journals

Brian O'Connor; (2009) 'Review of Amartya Sen's The Idea of Justice' Sunday Business Post . [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2008) 'Retrieving the Idea of Progress' The Philosophers' Magazine 42 (3) :86-89. [Details]

Book Reviews

Brian O'Connor; (2011) Mark E. Button. Contract, Culture, and Citizenship: Transformative Liberalism from Hobbes to Rawls (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008), Journal of Moral Philosophy, Vol 8 (2011). Book Reviews [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2008) Karl Ameriks, Kant and the Historical Turn (Oxford University Press, 2006), Review of Metaphysics, Vol 61, No 4 (2008) (pp. 827-829). Book Reviews [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2006) Paul Franks, All or Nothing: Systematicity, Transcendental Arguments, and Skepticism in German Idealism (Harvard University Press, 2005), Notre Dame Philosophical Books. http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=6121: Book Reviews

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Brian O'Connor; (2005) Yvonne Sherratt, Adorno's Positive Dialectic (Cambridge University Press, 2002), The International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 13 No. 1 (2005) (pp. 128-131). Book Reviews [Details]

Brian O'Connor; (2001) Terry Pinkard, Hegel: a Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2000), The International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 9 (2001) (pp. 551-553). Book Reviews [Details]

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Conference Contributions

Brian O'Connor; (2011) Integration, Institutions and (Somehow) Autonomy. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institut für Philosophie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt, 5th July, 2011 , 05-JUL-11 - 05-JUL-11.

Brian O'Connor; (2011) Autonomy as Resistance: Adorno and the Criticism of Hegelian Practical Philosophy. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Political Theory Colloquium, Harvard University, 21st April, 2011 , 21-APR-11 - 21-APR-11.

Brian O'Connor,; (2011) Freedom and Institutional Life: A Critique of Recent Hegelian Practical Philosophy. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Faculteit Wijsbegeerte, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, 16th March, 2011 , 16-MAR-11 - 16-MAR-11.

Brian O'Connor; (2011) Freedom and Institutional Life: A Critique of Recent Hegelian Practical Philosophy. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Afdeling Wijsbegeerte, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 15th March, 2011 , 15-MAR-11 - 15-MAR-11.

Brian O'Connor,; (2010) Critical Theory and Rule Following Behaviour. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, New School for Social Research, New York, 28th October, 2010 , 28-OCT-10 - 28-OCT-10.

Brian O'Connor.; (2010) Self-Determination, Autonomy and Moral Personality. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, Fordham University, New York, 26th October, 2010 , 26-OCT-10 - 26-OCT-10.
Brian O'Connor,; (2010) Adorno's Concept of Autonomy. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Philosophie Seminar, Universität Erfurt , 16-JUN-10 - 16-JUN-10.
Brian O'Connor; (2010) Phronesis, Reason and the Phenomenology of Everyday Expertise. [Chaired Session], Philosophy and the Social Sciences, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, 15th May 2010 , 15-MAY-10 - 15-MAY-10.
Brian O'Connor,; (2010) Critical Theory and the Phenomenology of Everyday Expertise. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, University of Essex, 11th March, 2010 , 11-MAR-10 - 11-MAR-10.
Brian O'Connor.; (2010) Phronesis, Reason and the Phenomenology of Everyday Expertise. [Plenary Lecture], Renewing Phenomenology: Spring Conference of the Irish Philosophical Society, National University of Ireland, Galway, 7th March, 2010 , 07-MAR-10 - 07-MAR-10.
Brian O'Connor,; (2010) Dumb Phenomenology: A Critique. [Invited Lecture], Dublin University Metaphysical Society, Trinity College Dublin, 16th February, 2010 , 16-FEB-10 - 16-FEB-10.
Brian O'Connor,; (2010) Phronesis, Reason and Rule-Following. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Ethics Programme, University of Oslo, 14th January, 2010 , 14-JAN-10 - 14-JAN-10.
Brian O'Connor,; (2009) Immanent Critique and Justification. [International Refereed Conference], 2009 Joint Conference of the Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy, Cardiff School of Art and Design, UWIC, 28th August, 2009 , 28-AUG-09 - 28-AUG-09.
Brian O'Connor,; (2009) Critical Theory and Transcendental Criticism. [International Refereed Conference], Conference of the British Society for the History of Philosophy, Transcendental Philosophy: Its History and Nature, Manchester Metropolitan University, 16th April, 2009 , 16-APR-09 - 16-APR-09.
Brian O'Connor.; (2009) Critical Theory and Rule Following. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, 18th March, 2009 , 18-MAR-09 - 18-MAR-09.
Brian O'Connor,; (2009) Can there be a Normative Critique of Experience?. [Invited Lecture], Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture, Univeristy of Dundee, 19th November, 2009 , 19-NOV-09 - 19-NOV-09.
Brian O'Connor,; (2008) Immanent Critique and Its Norms. [International Refereed Conference], Beyond Reification: Critical Theory and the Challenge of Praxis, John Cabot University, Rome, 23rd May, 2008 , 23-MAY-08 - 23-MAY-08.
Brian O'Connor,; (2008) The Critique of Psychologism. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Facoltá di Filosofia e Scienze Sociali, Universitá di Siena, 18th March, 2008 , 18-MAR-08 - 18-MAR-08.
Brian O'Connor,; (2008) The Idea of Radical Experience. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, NUIG, 11th March, 2008 , 11-MAR-08 - 11-MAR-08.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2007) Purposiveness without Intention? Adorno on Critical Art. [International Refereed Conference], Joint Conference of the Forum for European Philosophy and the Society for European Philosophy, University of Sussex, 9th September, 2007 , 09-SEP-07 - 09-SEP-07.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2007) Adorno and the Rediscovery of Autonomy. [International Refereed Conference], Nostalgia for a redeemed future: Critical Theory, John Cabot University, Rome, 27th April, 2007 , 27-APR-07 - 27-APR-07.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) The Idea of Social Totality. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bremen, 18th May, 2006 , 18-MAY-06 - 18-MAY-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) Liberalism and Free Speech. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bremen, 17th May, 2006 , 17-MAY-06 - 17-MAY-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) The Idea of Non-Identity. [International Refereed Conference], Adorno Workshop 2006 -- Negative Dialectics: forty years on, University of Sussex, 12th May 2006 , 12-MAY-06 - 12-MAY-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) A Missing Step in Kant's Refutation of Idealism. [Invited Lecture], Invited Lecture, Facoltá di Filosofia e Scienze Sociali, Universitá di Siena, 22nd March, 2006 , 22-MAR-06 - 22-MAR-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) Is Radical Experience Possible?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Politics, University of Newcastle, 15th March, 2006 , 16-MAR-06 - 16-MAR-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2006) Adorno on the Idea of the Social Totality. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, 31st January, 2006 , 31-JAN-06 - 31-JAN-06.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2005) Humboldt's Libertarianism. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institute of Philosophy, Warsaw University, 18th November, 2005 , 18-NOV-05 - 18-NOV-05.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2005) Adorno on Society. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 15th November, 2005 , 15-NOV-05 - 15-NOV-05.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2005) What is Radical Experience?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Studiengang Philosophie, Universität Bremen, 25th May, 2005 , 25-MAY-05 - 25-MAY-05.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2004) Eros and Freedom: Looking Back on Marcuse's Critical Theory. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Philosophy Society, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick, 25th November, 2004 , 25-NOV-04 - 25-NOV-04.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2004) Hegel: Speculation or Pragmatism?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Philosophical Society, University of Sussex, 5th November, 2004 , 05-NOV-04 - 05-NOV-04.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2004) Can 'Autonomy' be an Aesthetic Criterion?. [International Refereed Conference], Rediscovering Aesthetics, University College Cork, 11th July, 2004 , 11-JUL-04 - 11-JUL-04.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2004) What is the Problem of Nonidentity?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bern, June 2004 , 22-JUN-04 - 22-JUN-04.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2003) Gerechter Krieg? Zur Kritik des sogennanten Realismus. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Studiengang Philosophie, Universität Bremen, July, 2003 , 08-JUL-03 - 08-JUL-03.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2003) Ist Hegel Pragmatist?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Studiengang Philosophie, Universität Bremen, July, 2003 , 08-JUL-03 - 08-JUL-03.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2002) Hegel on Experience: A Non-Pragmatist Reading. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, November, 2002 , 14-NOV-02 - 14-NOV-02.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2000) Zur Rezeption des Deutschen Idealismus in Irland. [International Refereed Conference], Die Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus im europäischen Vergleich, Universität Bremen, July, 2001 , 22-JUL-00 - 22-JUL-00.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2000) Spontaneität in G.W.F. Hegels Phänomenologie des Geistes. [International Refereed Conference], Die Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus im europäischen Vergleich, Universität Bremen, July, 2001 , 22-JUL-00 - 22-JUL-00.
Brian O'Connor, ; (2001) Äußere Gegenstände bei Kant. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Institut für Philosophie, Universität Bern, May, 2001 , 02-MAY-01 - 02-MAY-01.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1999) Idealismus bei Kants Widerlegung des Idealismus. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Philosophisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg, November, 1999 , 04-NOV-99 - 04-NOV-99.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1998) The Concept of Mediation in Hegel and Adorno. [International Refereed Conference], Conference of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, Pembroke College, Oxford, September, 1998 , 08-SEP-98 - 08-SEP-98.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1998) Concepts and the Priority of the Object in Adorno. [International Refereed Conference], Conference of the British Society for Phenomenology, St Edmund's Hall, Oxford, April, 1998 , 05-APR-98 - 05-APR-98.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1997) The Idea of Negative Experience. [International Refereed Conference], Conference of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, University of Sunderland, November, 1997 , 06-NOV-97 - 06-NOV-97.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1997) Nietzsche, Adorno and the Problem of the Object. [International Refereed Conference], Conference of the U.K. Friedrich Nietzsche Society, St. Andrew's University, September, 1997 , 07-SEP-97 - 07-SEP-97.
Brian O'Connor, ; (1997) Is Kant's Refutation of Idealism too Idealist?. [Invited Lecture], Colloquium, Philosophy Colloquium, Trinity College, Dublin, February, 1997 , 28-FEB-97 - 28-FEB-97.
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Committees

Committee : Chair / Head of UCD School of Philosophy, January 2007 - August 2009

Committee : Chair (2010-2013) of the Royal Irish Academy National Committee for Philosophy and Ethics

Other Activities

Conferences and Workshops organized

"Fourth Annual Joint Conference of the Society for European Philosophy and the Forum for European Philosophy"
Three Day (International) Conference
29-31 August, 2008: University College Dublin

"German Idealism and Normativity"
Two Day (International) Conference (6 speakers – UCD Seed Funding)
14-15 March, 2007: University College Dublin - Humanities Institute of Ireland

"Critical Theory: Fundamental Questions"
One Day (International) Workshop (4 speakers – School of Philosophy funded)
5 May, 2006: University College Dublin - Humanities Institute of Ireland

"On Humanism"
Two Day (International) Workshop (6 speakers – Socrates funded)
28-29 April, 2005: University College Dublin

"Philosophy of the Subject"
Three Day (International) Workshop (8 speakers – Socrates funded)
5-7 March, 2003: University College Dublin

Teaching Interests

Current Teaching (2011/12)

BA (Level I) Lectures, Introduction to Continental Philosophy
BA (Level II) Lectures, German Idealism
BA (Level III) Lectures, Critical Theory
MA Seminar, Autonomy as a Philosophical Problem

Recent Postgraduates

Dissertation Supervision

Current Research Students

Evangelos Giannakakis, Models of Alternative Experience: Adorno, Badiou, Rancière

Catherine Lawlor, Foucault, Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment

Previous PhD Students

Duncan Russell, PhD thesis (2010) Social Labour and Experience in the Critical Theory of Adorno and the Frankfurt School (IRCHSS Scholar)

Greg Campbell, PhD thesis (2009) Violence and Experience in Hegel's Philosophy: Adorno's Critique and its Limitations

Stan Erraught, PhD thesis (2009) Kant's Political Aesthetic: Space, Time and Judgment (IRCHSS Scholar)

Andrea Oppo, PhD thesis (2005) Philosophical Aesthetics and Samuel Beckett

Joe Casey, PhD Thesis (2002) Hegel's Concept of Experience and its Relevance to Adorno, Heidegger, and Dewey

Supervised Master's theses (MLitt by research)

David Wood, MLitt thesis (2002) Philosophical Influences in Novalis' Universal Brouillon: Examination and Translation of Text

Thom Brooks, MA Thesis (2000) Is the Death Penalty Justifiable? An Analysis of Kant, Beccaria, Bentham, Mill, Hegel and their Contemporary Relevance

Antoinette M. McGowan, MLitt thesis (1999) Analysis of the Legitimacy of the Modern State with Special Reference to its Use of Force

Barbara Stafford, MLitt thesis (1999) Relations, Totality and the Limits of Human Knowledge

David O'Mahoney, MLitt thesis (1997) On Friedrich Nietzsche's Response to the Problem of Nihilism

Tsarina Doyle, MLitt thesis (1996) Nietzsche's Aesthetic Response to Nihilism

Tina Hayes, MLitt thesis (1996) Adorno's Philosophy of Music

Brian O'Connor & Georg Mohr; (2006) 'Introduction' In: Brian O'Connor & Goerg Mohr (eds). German Idealism: An Anthology and Guide. Edinburgh & Chicago: University of Edinburgh Press (2006) & University of Chicago Press (2007). [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (2006) 'Adorno and the Problem of Givenness (reprint of 2004 article)' In: Simon Jarvis (eds). Theodor Adorno: Critical Evaluations in Cultural Theory. Oxford: Routledge. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (2006) 'Adorno; Dialectic; Hegelianism and Neo-Hegelianism; Idealism; Master and Slave' In: Austin Harrington, Barbara L. Marshall and Hans-Peter Muller (eds). The Routledge Encyclopaedia of Social Theory. London: Routledge. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (2006) 'Kantowski problem odparcia idealizm (Polish translation of: A Missing Step in Kant's Refutation of Idealism, Idealistic Studies, Vol. 36, No. 3 (2006)' In: Maciej Potępa and Zbigniew Zwoliński (eds). Dwieście lat z filozofią Kanta. Warsaw: Genessis. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (2005) 'System und Methode' In: Hans-Jörg Sandkühler (eds). Handbuch Deutscher Idealismus. Stuttgart: Metzler Verlag. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (2000) 'Introduction' In: Brian O'Connor (eds). The Adorno Reader. Oxford / Malden MA: Blackwells. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1998) 'Nietzsche on Enlightenment Science: A Dialectical Reading' In: Babette E. Babich and Robert C. Cohen (eds). Nietzsche's Epistemological Writings and the Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Kluwer. [Details]
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Brian O'Connor; (1999) 'Liberty and Liberal Constraints'. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 7 :243-250. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1998) 'Adorno, Heidegger and the Critique of Epistemology'. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 24 :43-62. [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1994) 'Adorno's Dialectical Epistemology'. Idealistic Studies, 24 (1):61-76. [Details]
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Brian O'Connor; (1997) Theodor W. Adorno, Aesthetic Theory (Athlone Press, 1997), The Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, No. 36 (1997) (pp. 52-56). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1994) Theodor W. Adorno, Hegel: Three Studies (The MIT Press, 1993), The Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, No. 30(1994) (pp. 152-154). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1994) Frederick Beiser (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hegel (Cambridge University Press, 1993), Philosophical Books, Vol. 35 (1994) (pp. 179-180). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1993) Drucilla Cornell, Philosophy of the Limit (Routledge, 1992), The Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain, No. 27/28 (1993) (pp. 85-88). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1993) Stephen Houlgate, Freedom, Truth, and History: Introduction to Hegel (Routledge, 1991), The International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 1 (1993) (pp. 79-81). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1992) Keith Ansell Pearson (ed.), Nietzsche and Modern German Thought (Routledge, 1991), Philosophical Studies, Vol. 33 (1992) (pp. 321-326). Book Reviews [Details]
Brian O'Connor; (1991) Leon Pompa, Human Nature and Historical Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, 1990), Philosophical Studies, Vol. 32 (1991) (pp. 352-356). Book Reviews [Details]
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