History

The Department of Philosophy is one of four constituent departments of the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy. The Chair of Moral Philosophy was established in 1837, the (former) School of Mental and Moral Science in 1904, and the Department of Philosophy in 1964, but philosophy has been an important part of the Trinity College curriculum since its foundation in 1592.

Undoubtedly the College's most significant contribution to philosophy to date has come from George Berkeley (1685–1753) who enjoys a prominent place among the great philosophers. Most of his more influential works, such as, An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision (1709), A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous (1713) were written during his time as a fellow of Trinity College Dublin. After Berkeley the most significant philosopher to come out of Trinity was the political philosopher Edmund Burke (1729–1797) who, while a student at Trinity, inaugurated the college debating society, which, after merging with the Historical Club, became the College Historical Society – the oldest undergraduate student society in the world. Burke's most famous work is Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790); and among his other texts, an influential book on aesthetics, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, was written while Burke was reading for his BA degree at Trinity College.

In the 19th and 20th centuries the major influences on Trinity philosophy were Platonism, German Idealism and Berkeley. These themes were propagated by a number of influential scholars who occupied the Chair of Moral Philosophy during this period. Some of the more eminent philosophers to hold the position were the noted Hegelian Henry S. Macran, and the great scholar of Berkeley and his philosophy A.A. Luce. In recent years the department has continued to maintain strong interests in these areas, but has also broadened out to incorporate contemporary analytic philosophy, continental philosophy, psychoanalysis and a range of specialised interests in the history of philosophy. In the current academic year the Department is comprised of seven full–time members, supplimented by a number of associate and adjunct faculty and graduate teaching assistants.