Professor Irene McMullin
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Email
i.mcmullin@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872711
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Location
5B.141, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
I joined the department of Philosophy at the University of Essex in 2013 after a postdoctoral year at Bergische Universität in Wuppertal, Germany and six years teaching at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. I completed my PhD at Rice University and my MA at the University of Toronto. I am the author of Existential Flourishing: A Phenomenology of the Virtues (Cambridge UP, 2018) and Time and the Shared World: Heidegger on Social Relations (Northwestern UP, 2013), as well as articles on Husserl, Heidegger, Kant, Sartre, Arendt, and virtue ethics. I am primarily interested in questions of personhood, agency, and self-becoming - espeically the role that other people play in those things. I draw inspiration from both Continental and Analytic approaches. I am currently pursuing research into the phenomenology of ideality and the role that encounters with the good play in the functioning of practical agency. Key Research Interests: Existentialism and Phenomenology Ethics (especially virtue ethics and Kantian ethics), Moral Psychology
Qualifications
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PhD Rice University,
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MA University of Toronto,
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BA Hons St. Francis Xavier University,
Appointments
University of Essex
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Professor, Philosophy, University of Essex (1/1/2013 - present)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Existentialism
I am primarily interested in questions of personhood and self-becoming - espeically the role that other people play in those things.
Phenomenology
My methodological approach is grounded in the work of Husserl, Heidegger, and Levinas.
Ethics
Conferences and presentations
Keynote Speaker
Invited presentation, Keynote presentation, Society for European Philosophy Conference, University of Cardiff, 2024
Existential Flourishing
Keynote presentation, Modern Ethical Ideals, Belfast, United Kingdom, 29/3/2019
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Self and Identity (PY110)
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Introduction to Philosophy (PY111)
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Ethics (PY408)
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Existentialism and Phenomenology (PY454)
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Philosophy Capstone Module (PY455)
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 13/3/2024
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 25/3/2019
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 12/2/2018
Publications
Journal articles (12)
McMullin, I., Trust in the World: Løgstrup on the Conditions of Shared Moral Life. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal
McMullin, I., (2020). Levinas and Løgstrup on the Phenomenology (and Metaphysics?) of Moral Agency. The Monist. 103 (1), 38-62
McMullin, I., (2020). Response to Commentators on Existential Flourishing. International Journal of Philosophical Studies. 28 (2), 239-253
McMullin, I., (2017). Embodied Expression: The Role of the Lived Body in Husserl's Notion of Intention Fulfilment. European Journal of Philosophy. 25 (4), 1739-1767
McMullin, I., (2015). A Response to Mark D. White’s “A Modest Comment on McMullin: A Kantian Account of Modesty”. Journal of Philosophical Research. 40, 7-11
McMullin, I., (2013). Kant on Radical Evil and the Origin of Moral Responsibility. Kantian Review. 18 (01), 49-72
McMullin, I., (2013). Review of Iain D. Thomson. Heidegger, Art, and Postmodernity. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. Journal of the History of Philosophy. 51 (2), 324-325
McMullin, I., (2011). The Amnesia of the Modern. Philosophical Topics. 39 (2), 91-116
Mcmullin, I., (2011). Love and Entitlement: Sartre and Beauvoir on the Nature of Jealousy. Hypatia. 26 (1), 102-122
McMullin, I., (2010). A MODEST PROPOSAL: ACCOUNTING FOR THE VIRTUOUSNESS OF MODESTY. The Philosophical Quarterly. 60 (241), 783-807
McMullin, I., (2009). Sharing the ‘now’: Heidegger and the temporal co-constitution of world. Continental Philosophy Review. 42 (2), 201-220
McMullin, I., (2006). Articulating Discourse. Southwest Philosophy Review. 22 (1), 173-183
Books (3)
McMullin, I., (2019). Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Routledge
McMullin, I., (2018). Existential Flourishing: A Phenomenology of the Virtues. Cambridge University Press. 978-1108471664
McMullin, I., (2013). Time and the shared world: Heidegger on social relations. 9780810129030
Book chapters (7)
McMullin, SI., Curiouser and Curiouser: On Curiosity as Epistemic Vice. In: The Cambridge Critical Guide to Being and Time. Editors: Wendland, A. and Keiling, T., . Cambridge University Press
McMullin, S., (2025). Patience and Virtuous Passivity. In: The Virtue of Patience. Editors: Pianalto, M. and Schnitker, S., . Oxford University Press
McMullin, S., (2024). Ideal Value and Exemplary Experience. In: Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism. Editors: Aho, K., Altman, M. and Pedersen, H., . Routledge. 9781003247791
McMullin, I., (2024). Ideal Value and Exemplary Experience 1. In: The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Existentialism. Routledge. 315- 326
Mcmullin, SI., (2019). Rational Ideals and the Unity of Practical Agency: Kant’s Postulates of Practical Reason and their Heideggerian Reconceptualization. In: Transcending Reason: Heidegger’s Reconceptualization of Rationality. Editors: Burch, M. and Mcmullin, SI., . Rowman & Littlefield
Mcmullin, SI., (2019). Resoluteness and Gratitude for the Good. In: Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Editors: Burch, M., Mcmullin, SI. and Marsh, J., . Routledge. 137- 154. 9781138479913
Burch, M., Marsh, J. and McMullin, I., (2019). Introduction. In: Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Routledge. 1- 6
