Dr Patrick O'Connor

Associate Professor

Digital, Tech, Innovation & Business

I’m an Associate Professor in Philosophy, with a background in Phenomenology and European Philosophy. I received my PhD in Philosophy from National University of Ireland, Galway in 2005. I have worked at NUIG, Open University, Manchester Metropolitan University and Nottingham Trent University. My research is primarily in European Philosophy, with special reference to Phenomenology, 19th and 20th Century European Philosophy, and twentieth and twenty-first century French Philosophy. I have published three books: one entitled Atheism Reclaimed, on atheism and existentialism, and the other entitled Derrida: Profanations, on phenomenology, ethics and the work of Jacques Derrida. My latest book Cormac McCarthy, Philosophy and the Physics of the Damned was published in 2022. I have written for The Conversation, Unknown Magazine, Open Democracy and 3am Magazine as well as several academic journals. I am currently working on the Philosophy of Film. I welcome PhD proposals from prospective students aiming to work in Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Film, Philosophy of Literature.

Professional memberships and activities

  • President of the British Society for Phenomenology (2019-2020)
  • Treasurer of the British Society for Phenomenology (2012-2015)
  • Reviewer for the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology
  • Peer Member of the Foucault Society
  • Member of The Cormac McCarthy Society

Academic qualifications

  • PhD, ‘Derrida: From Phenomenology to Community,’ National University of Ireland, Galway.
  • BA (Hons), English and Philosophy, National University of Ireland, Galway.
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Nottingham Trent University.
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher and Professional Education, Nottingham Trent University.

Research interests

  • European Philosophy
  • 20th Century French Philosophy
  • Phenomenology
  • Philosophy of Art
  • Philosophy of Film
  • Philosophy of Literature
  • Edmund Husserl, Jacques Derrida, Hegel, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty.
  • Cormac McCarthy
  • Existential and Continental Atheism.

Grants

2018: Vice Chancellor’s Teaching Award, Nottingham Trent University - £2000.

2018: British Association for American Studies Travel Grant - £1000.

2018: William J. Hill Visiting Researcher Travel Grant, Texas State University - $1700.

2018: British Society for Phenomenology, Workshop Series Funding, “Medical Humanities” - £500.

2017 – British Society for Phenomenology, Workshop Series Funding, “Cormac McCarthy and Philosophy,” £1224.

2011-2012 – Higher Education Academy Research Grant: Collaborative Grant with Manchester Metropolitan University, £6000 in total.

2008-2009 – Higher Education Academy Research Grant: The Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies: Developing Active and Autonomous Learning among Philosophy Students, £5000.

2008 – Manchester European Research Institute: Visiting Fellowship, £2000.

2007 - Royal Irish Academy Postdoctoral Mobility Grant: €1800.

Teaching

Postgraduate

On the MA in Continental Philosophy, I teach the following modules:

  • Transcendence and the Body
  • Phenomenology and Ontology
  • Research Topics in Continental Philosophy (shared)
  • MA dissertation projects.

On the MA in Continental Philosophy, I teach the following modules:

  • Posthumanism and Technology
  • Research Skills
  • MA dissertation projects.

I also supervise doctoral research in the areas of my interests and expertise.

Publications

Books

Cormac McCarthy, Philosophy and The Physics of the Damned. Forthcoming, Edinburgh University Press, 2022.

Atheism Reclaimed. Winchester & Washington: Iff Publications, 2014.

Derrida: Profanations. London: Continuum, 2010.

Published Articles

“Spiritual Cinema: Agel, Merleau-Ponty and the Cinematic Real," Journal of Religion & Film 28, no. 1, (April 2024), Article 62, 1-31.

“Screening Solidarity: Possible Lives in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers,” Herausforderung Solidarität: Konzepte – Kontroversen – Perspektiven, Wetzler: Transcript Publishing, 2024.

‘’Stay Broken: Nietzsche, Badiou, and The Leftovers’ Nihilism,’’ Cinema: Journal of Philosophy and the Moving Image, Vo. 3:1, December 2021.

“Embodied Social Work Practice Within Risk Society,’’ Journal of Social Work, 2019. https://bit.ly/2YXVC9e

‘‘The Character of Co-Operation: Reflections on Education and Co-Operative Learning,’’ Learning for a Cooperative World, London: UCL Press, 2019.

“Saving Sheriff Bell: Derrida and No Country for Old Men, Journal of Cormac McCarthy Studies, Vol. 15:2, 2017.

“Anti-Matters: Blanchot, McCarthy and The Road,” European Journal of North American Studies, Vol. 12:3, 2017.

“Literature, Religion and Death: Blanchot, McCarthy and Suttree,” Beyond Reckoning: Philosophical Approaches to Cormac McCarthy, London: Routledge, 2017.

“Learning together: Foucault, Sennett and the crisis of the co-operative character,” Journal of Co-operative Studies (with Keith Crome), Vol 49:2, 2016.

“Letting Habits Die: Derrida, Ravaisson and the Structure of Life,” Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy, Vol. 19:2, April 2015.

“The Courage for Infinity: Mortal and Immortal Ethics in Alain Badiou,” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology (with Frederick Aspbury), Vol. 44:2, May 2013.

“The Philosophy and Pedagogy Channel: An Archive of Best Practice,” Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies (with Lisa Clughen and Ruth Griffin), Vol. 11:2, 2013.

“The Embodied Writer: Merleau-Ponty, Writing Groups and the Possibilities of Space,” in Writing in the Disciplines: Building Supportive Cultures for Student Writing in UK Higher Education (with Melanie Petch), Bradford: Emerald, 2012.

“Redemptive Remnants: Agamben’s Human Messianism,” in The Messianic Now: Politics, Religion and Culture, London: Routledge, 2010.

“Agamben’s Human Messianism,” Journal of Cultural Research, Vol. 13:4, September 2009.

“What is Autonomous Learning?” Discourse: Learning and Teaching in Philosophical and Religious Studies (with Keith Crome and Ruth Farrar), Vol. 9:1, 2009.

“There is No World without End (Salut): Derrida’s Phenomenology of the Extra-Mundane,” Journal of the British Society of Phenomenology, Vol. 39:3, October 2008.

“On the Importance of Not-Being Earnest: A Dialogue with Terry Eagleton,” Irish Studies Review, Vol. 16:1, 2008.

“Derrida’s Worldly Responsibility: An Opening between Faith and the Sacred,” Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 45:2, June 2007.

Derrida: Revolutionary Agape and Community,” Kinesis: Graduate Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 32:2, 2005.

Special Issues of Journals

Foucault: Politics, Power, Pleasure: Special Edition of the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol. 42:3 (co-edited with Keith Crome), 2012.

Online Journalism

‘’Solus Sanctus: On The Young Pope,’ Bright Lights Film Journal, 2017. https://bit.ly/39yVHH9

“Left's Labour's Lost,” Open Democracy, 2016. http://bit.ly/2bpyHhF

“The Irish book of the Dead: a review of Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s ‘The Dirty Dust’”. 3:AM Magazine, 2016. https://goo.gl/E4ZXSj

“Toiling, triumphing and terraforming: a review of Ridley Scott’s The Martian. Unknown Magazine, 2015. https://goo.gl/HRhCKf

“Atheism must be about more than just not believing in god.” The Conversation, 2015. https://goo.gl/vyJpZi

Proceedings, Reviews, Encyclopaedia Entries, etc.

Review of Craig Martin, Capitalizing Religion: Ideology and the Opiate of the Bourgeoisie, Religious Studies: An International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 44.3, 2016.

Review of Miles Kennedy, Home: Bachelard’s Concrete Metaphysics, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol. 44:3, 2013.

Review of Martin Hägglund, Radical Atheism: Derrida and the Time of Life, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol. 41:1, 2010.

‘Derrida’ in The Continuum Companion to Continental Philosophy, Beth Lord and John Mularkey (Eds), London: Continuum, 2009.

‘Deconstruction’ in The Continuum Companion to Continental Philosophy, Beth Lord and John Mularkey (Eds), London: Continuum, 2009.

Review of Joanna Hodge, Derrida on Time, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Vol 40:1, January 2009.

Review of Giorgio Agamben, Profanations, Philosophy in Review/Comptes Rendus Philosophiques, Vol. 28: 4, 2008.

Review of Peter Hallward, Out of this World: Deleuze and the Philosophy of Creation, Philosophy in Review/Comptes Rendus Philosophiques, Vol. 27:3, 2007.

Review of Brian O’Connor, Adorno’s Negative Dialectics: Philosophy and the Possibility of Critical Rationality, Philosophy in Review/Comptes Rendus Philosophiques, Vol. 26:2, April 2006.

in the UK for Quality Education

Sustainable Development Goal 4, Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Facilities

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

for Social Inclusion

The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023

of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

Research Excellence Framework 2021

Four Star Rating

QS Star Ratings 2021