Philosophy

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Trinity College Dublin
University of Dublin
Dublin 2
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Professor Paul O'Grady

Professor Paul O'Grady

Professor, Philosophy

Head of School

3531896 1428http://people.tcd.ie/pogrady

Biography

My initial work in philosophy was on the philosophy of logic of Wittgenstein"s Tractatus (MA UCD 1990) and the debate about analyticity between Carnap and Quine (PhD TCD 1996). From this I became interested in the issue of cognitive relativism, how it emerged from this classic tradition of analytic philosophy and developed in later figures such as Davidson, Putnam and Rorty. I published Relativism (Routledge 2002) and a number of papers in this area. I worked at St Catherine"s college Oxford, coming back to TCD in 1997 and being made Fellow in 2003. Paralleling this I also had an interest in Philosophy of Religion, especially in the work of Thomas Aquinas, read in an analytic idiom. I published Philosophical Theology (Priory Institute 2008), Aquinas"s Philosophy of Religion (Palgrave 2014) and various papers on this. Training in and being accredited as a psychotherapist (MIACP 2009) led me to think about the factors that influence one"s choice of topic and style of doing philosophy. In recent years I have been writing about this, using ideas from virtue epistemology (specifically about the virtue of wisdom) and thinking about the connection between biography and philosophy. I edited Consolations of Philosophy: Reflections in an Economic Downturn (Dublin 2011). I was Head of Dept of Philosophy 2015-2020, becoming a member of College Council and also Head of School of Social Sciences and Philosophy in 2022.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • 'Aquinas's Philosophy of Religion', Duncan Pritchard, Oxford Bibliographies Online, 2015, [Paul O'Grady]Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 2015
  • Paul O'Grady, 'Epistemology and Wellbeing', European Journal of Philosophy of Religion, 10, (1), 2018Journal Article, 2018
  • Paul O'Grady, 'Grimm Wisdom', Annals of Philosophy, 66, (1), 2018, p67 - 77Journal Article, 2018
  • Paul O'Grady, "Theoretical Wisdom", Journal of Value Inquiry, Vol.54, (N.1), 2019Journal Article, 2019
  • Paul O'Grady, "Existence and Wisdom", Annals of Philosophy, Vol.67, (N.4), 2019Journal Article, 2019
  • "Aquinas and Agnosticism" in, F.Fallon and G.Hyman , Agnosticism: Explorations in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2020
  • "Relativism and Religion" in, editor(s)Martin Kusch , The Routledge Handbook of Relativism, London, Routledge, 2020, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2020
  • Paul O'Grady, La Philosophie de la Religion de Thomas d'Aquin, Rennes, Presses Universitaries de Rennes, 2019Book, 2019
  • Paul O'Grady, "McCabe: Philosophy and Theology", Doctrine and Life, 2021Journal Article, 2021
  • Paul O'Grady, Relativism, Chesham, Acumen, 2002Book, 2002
  • Paul O'Grady, Introduction to Philosophy, Dublin, Priory Institute, 2005Book, 2005
  • Aquinas: Summa Theologiae in, editor(s)John Shand , Central Works of Philosophy 1, Chesham, Acumen, 2005, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2005
  • Aquinas, Philosophical Theology and Analytical Philosophy in, editor(s)R. Van Niewenhove and J. Wawrykov , The Theology of Thomas Aquinas, Notre Dame, Notre Dame University Press, 2005, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2005
  • Paul O'Grady, Wittgenstein and Relativism, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Vol. 12, (3), 2004, p315 - 337Journal Article, 2004
  • Paul O'Grady, Carnap and Two Dogmas of Empiricism, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LIX, (4), 1999Journal Article, 1999
  • Paul O'Grady, How Far Can You Go? Reply to Gregory, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, LXVII, (3), 2003Journal Article, 2003
  • Paul O'Grady, From Lhasa to Rome, Contemporary Buddhism, 4, (2), 2003Journal Article, 2003
  • Paul O'Grady, Aquinas on Modal Propositions: A Translation and Study, International Philosophical Quarterly, 37, (1), 1997Journal Article, 1997
  • Paul O'Grady, Anscombe on the Tractatus, Philosophy, 71, (2), 1996Journal Article, 1996
  • Paul O'Grady, The Russellian Roots of Naturalized Epistemology, Russell: The Journal of the Russell Archive, 15, (1), 1995Journal Article, 1995
  • George Berkeley, Dictionary of Irish Biography, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, [Paul O'Grady]Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 2009
  • Spirituality: A Conceptual Analysis in, editor(s)M. Cogan , An Introduction to Christian Spirituality, Dublin, Priory Institute, 2004, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2004
  • Paul O'Grady, Aquinas and the Arguments of the Philosophers, Doctrine and Life, 2004Journal Article, 2004
  • Paul O'Grady, Zen and Some Unruly Dominicans, Spirituality, 9, (49), 2003Journal Article, 2003
  • Paul O'Grady, Anti-Foundationalism and Radical Orthodoxy, New Blackfriars, 81, (950), 2000Journal Article, 2000
  • Paul O'Grady, Karl-Otto Apel's Interpretation of Wittgenstein, Freiburger Zeitschrift fur Philosophie und Theologie, 46, (3), 1999Journal Article, 1999
  • Paul O'Grady, From Agnosticism to Zen, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 6, (3), 1998Journal Article, 1998
  • Paul O'Grady, Wittgenstein's Fundamental Thought, Milltown Studies, 38, (1), 1996Journal Article, 1996
  • Paul O'Grady, Reason and Madness - A Reply, Milltown Studies, 32, (1), 1993Journal Article, 1993
  • Paul O'Grady, "Wisdom and Methodological Diversity in Philosophy of Religion", Religious Studies, 2023Journal Article, 2023
  • Paul O'Grady, "Philosophy and Biography", Metaphilosophy, 2024Journal Article, 2024
  • Paul O'Grady, "Aquinas on Wisdom", New Blackfriars, Vol.104, (n.1113), 2023Journal Article, 2023
  • Paul O'Grady, "Incommensurability and Wisdom: Reply to Duttweiler", Theophron Journal of Christian Studies, Vol.2, (n.1), 2023Journal Article, 2023
  • Paul O'Grady, Themes in Modern Philosophy, Dublin, Priory Institute, 2006, 1 - 204ppBook, 2006
  • Paul O'Grady, Form and Emptiness: Aquinas and Nagarjuna, Contemporary Buddhism, Vol.6, (2), 2005, p173 - 188Journal Article, 2005
  • Paul O'Grady, Philosophical Theology, Dublin, Priory Institute, 2008Book, 2008
  • 'Two Dogmas and Empiricism' in, editor(s)O'Grady John, Scherle,Peter , Theology From the Rim, Lit Verlag, 2007, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2007
  • 'Buddhism' in, World Religions, Dublin, Priory Institute, 2007, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2007
  • 'Philosophy and Gestalt Psychotherapy' in, editor(s)Chase, M, Clarke, S., McGhee, M. , Philosophy as a Way of Life, Oxford, wiley-Blackwell, 2013, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2013
  • 'The Existence of God' in, editor(s)Shand J. , Central Problems of Philosophy, Oxford, Blackwell, 2009, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2009
  • Paul O'Grady, 'Relativism about Truth', International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 2010Journal Article, 2010
  • Paul O'Grady (ed), The Consolations of Philosophy: Reflections in an Economic Downturn, Dublin, Columba, 2011Book, 2011
  • Disaccordi Legitimi in, editor(s)Villa and Pini , Il Relativismo, Palermo, Aracne, 2010, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2010
  • 'Introduction: Philosophy and Irish Culture' in, editor(s)Paul O'Grady , The Consolations of Philosophy, Dublin, Columba, 2011, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2011
  • 'Finding Consolation in God: Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy' in, editor(s)Paul O'Grady , The Consolations of Philosophy: Reflections in an Economic Downturn, Dublin, Columba, 2011, [Paul O'Grady]Book Chapter, 2011
  • Paul O'Grady, 'Aquinas and Naturalism', European Journal of Philosophy of Religion, Vol.3, (2), 2011Journal Article, 2011
  • Paul O'Grady, 'McCabe, Wittgenstein and Aquinas', New Blackfriars, 2012Journal Article, 2012
  • 'Relativism', Duncan Pritchard (General Editor), Oxford Bibliographies Online, 2012, [Paul O'Grady]Item in dictionary or encyclopaedia, etc, 2012
  • Paul O'Grady, 'Faultless Disagreement', Irish Philosophical Journal, 11, (2), 2011Journal Article, 2011
  • Paul O'Grady, Aquinas's Philosophy of Religion, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, xiv + 246-Book, 2014

Research Expertise

I work in two areas of analytical philosophy - epistemology and philosophy of religion. In epistemology I am particularly interested in cognitive relativism, contextualism, and the a priori. In philosophy of religion I work on classical theistic arguments, particularly those associated with Aquinas and his conception of the nature of God. In recent years I have been working on the concept of wisdom, connecting it to topics in epistemology and philosophy of religion.

  • Title
    Wisdom and Virtue Epistemology
    Summary
    This is an investigation of the nature of wisdom. It draws on virtue theory, especially that of Aquinas and recent analytical virtue epistemology. It also explores the reasons why wisdom has largely disappeared as a topic of philosophical inquiry.
  • Title
    Aquinas's Philosophy of Religion
    Summary
    This book is an investigation of Aquinas's main contributions to philosophy of religion, viewed from the stance of analytical philosophy. It provides the required contexts and conceptual framework to understand his work and explores in detail the issues of faith and reason, arguments for God's existence, objections to God's existence, God's nature and attributes.
    Date To
    2014
  • Title
    Cognitive Relativism
    Summary
    I am writing a number of papers dealing with relativism about truth, epistemlogical pluralism and epistemological relativism, including "Relativism about Truth" "Future Contingents and Relative Truth" "Faultless Disagreement about Taste"

Recognition

  • D. Phil by Incorporation, Oxford University 1997
  • American Philosophical Association Essay Prize 1998
  • Finalist Provost's Teaching Award 2004
  • International Bertrand Russell Society Essay Prize 1995
  • Honorary President of the Theological Society 2000-2002
  • Fellow Trinity College Dublin 2003