Bøker av Fran O'Rourke

Examines the influence of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas on James Joyce. O'Rourke demonstrates that Joyce was a philosophical writer who engaged creatively with questions of diversity and unity, identity, permanence and change, and the reliability of knowledge.

What Happened in and to Moral Philosophy in the Twentieth Century? is a volume of essays originally presented at University College Dublin in 2009 to celebrate the eightieth birthday of Alasdair MacIntyre-a protagonist at the center of that very question. What marks this collection is the unusual range of approaches and perspectives, representing divergent and even contradictory positions. Such variety reflects MacIntyre's own intellectual trajectory, which led him to engage successively with various schools of thought: analytic, Marxist, Christian, atheist, Aristotelian, Augustinian, and Thomist. This collection presents a unique profile of twentieth-century moral philosophy and is itself an original contribution to ongoing debate. The volume begins with Alasdair MacIntyre's fascinating philosophical self-portrait, "e;On Having Survived the Academic Moral Philosophy of the Twentieth Century,"e; which charts his own intellectual development. The first group of essays considers MacIntyre's revolutionary contribution to twentieth-century moral philosophy: its value in understanding and guiding human action, its latent philosophical anthropology, its impetus in the renewal of the Aristotelian tradition, and its application to contemporary interests. The next group of essays considers the complementary and competing traditions of emotivism, Marxism, Thomism, and phenomenology. A third set of essays presents thematic analyses of such topics as evolutionary ethics, accomplishment and just desert, relativism, evil, and the inescapability of ethics. MacIntyre responds with a final essay, "e;What Next?"e; which addresses questions raised by contributors to the volume.

Pseudo-Dionysius was, after Aristotle, the author whom Thomas Aquinas quoted most frequently. This work investigates the pervasive influence of Pseudo-Dionysius, yet the profound originality of Aquinas. Central themes discussed include knowledge of the absolute, existence as the first and most universal perfection, diffusion of creation, and more.

From 1968 until his death in 2003, Gerald Hanratty was professor of philosophy at University College Dublin. In this volume dedicated to his memory, Fran O'Rourke has assembled twenty-six essays reflecting Hanratty's broad philosophical interests, dealing with central questions of human existence and the ultimate meaning of the universe. Whether engaged in historical investigations into Gnosticism or the Enlightenment, Hanratty was concerned with fundamental themes in the philosophy of religion and philosophical anthropology. Human Destinies brings together a wide range of approaches to these central questions. Included are historical studies of classical thinkers of the ancient and medieval periods (Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, Aquinas) and studies of numerous modern authors (among them, Kant, Husserl, Heidegger, Marcel, Adorno, Derrida, Plantinga, Scruton, and many others). Contributors: Fran O'Rourke, Peter L. P. Simpson, Rowland Stout, Andrew Smith, Eoin G. Cassidy, Cyril O'Regan, Michael Nolan, Patrick Masterson, Tim Lynch, James R. O'Shea, Ciaran McGlynn, Maria Baghramian, Mark Dooley, Brendan Purcell, Brendan Sweetman, Ciaran Benson, Richard Kearney, Dermot Moran, Belinda McKeon, Brian Elliott, Eileen Brennan, Liberato Santoro-Brienza, Brian O'Connor, Timothy Mooney, David Walsh, and Gerard Casey.