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IrishPhilosophy

@irishphilosophy.bsky.social

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Blog: IrishPhilosophy.com Catherine Barry, Hume Scholar, working on a PhD at Maynooth University on religious toleration in 18th century Ireland. #EarlyModern, with a broad interest in Irish intellectual thought. Can't reply to messages (shrug)

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IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · Feb 13

A first attempt at a list of philosophy departments and those working on philosophy in the island of Ireland.

bsky.app/profile/did:...

Suggestions for addition and requests for removal gratefully received.

#SpéirGorm

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John McCafferty @jdmccafferty.bsky.social · 15h

The Ó Cléirigh seminars in UCD resume this Friday 10 Oct at 4pm with Conor McDonough OP (Galway): ’Melchisedech in Early Irish Biblical Tradition’

Fáilte roimh chách / all are welcome.

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NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 1d

One of Russia’s main supply routes from China has been shut down. From today, the border with Kazakhstan is fully stopped.. over 5,000 trucks are stuck, inspections are ongoing, and goods are being confiscated. Drones, EW gear, batteries, components, nothing is getting through.

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Christine Kooi @christinekooi.bsky.social · 15h

I often tell students that one of the major differences between modernity and pre-modernity is that pre-modernity regarded "innovation" as a very bad thing.

Carl Hendrick @carlhendrick.substack.com · 1d

The Innovation Illusion: Most of what’s worth knowing in education isn’t new, and most of what’s new isn’t worth knowing.

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IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 20h

If those of religion x will get priority, they should say so, I agree.

Should be clear how the system will work for children not of religion X whose parents don't want them receiving instruction too. Never yet heard of parents in that situation not having to explicitly ask.

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IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 20h

As in, they cannot exclude on religious grounds. Its all very messy.

IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 20h

The Act specifically excludes those examples from being discrimination (amended by Equal Status Act 2018 so you cannot be disqualified due to religion).

www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2000/act...

Doesn't seem to be an appetite to change it, or to have multidenominational schools throughout country.

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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 2d

The manuscript of the week is RIA MS 23 P 26, the Book of Fenagh. This 16th century manuscript is mainly a revision of an older Book of St Caillín which no longer survives. The mark the manuscript’s 500th anniversary in 2016, an online exhibition was created and two lunchtime lectures were delivered

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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 2d

Join us on 8 Oct at the RIA for Irish STEM Lives: Spotlighting Irish Contribution to STEM

Irish STEM Lives editors, Turlough O’Riordan and Jane Grimson will discuss some of the fascinating lives featured the book

Book your tickets now: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/royalirishacademy/1804403

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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 1d

Join us on 8 Oct for Collecting Ireland’s History, a lecture for the Dublin Festival of History in collaboration with @virtualtreasury.bsky.social

Explore 700 years of Irish manuscript collecting.

Book your tickets now: www.tickettailor.com/events/royal...

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Rachel Handley 🏳️‍🌈 @rachelahandley.com · 1d

I'm delighted to say that I will be running an online Ursula Le Guin themed creative writing workshop for @octocon.bsky.social on 11th October, 4 pm.

Get ready for some philosophical fiction!

You must be a member to join. Not a member yet? You can still sign-up here: 2025.octocon.com/join-us/

Poster showing a pink/red octopus with a cute face. The background is a white and blue water cartoon-like graphic. The text reads: Would you walk away from Omelas? An Ursula Le Guin Themed Creative Writing Workshop, 11th October, 4 pm, online. In this workshop, led by science fiction writer, poet, and philosophy lecturer Dr Rachel Handley, you will be invited to explore Le Guin's short stories and related themes. There will be opportunities to respond to writing prompts based on Le Guin's and other's work throughout the workshop. The workshop will be very interactive, and writers at all levels are very welcome to attend. You'll also have the chance to read out what you've written during the workshop.

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IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 21h

As far as I can tell, the first to call it a Glorious Revoution were writers in Ireland, where "James gave up the throne" was a difficult theory to sustain in the face of James taking over Ireland and William battling him to take it back.

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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 1d

Treason never prosper, for if it prospers, none dare call it treason.

Josh Fruhlinger @jfruh.bsky.social · 1d

I think the historiography is changing but it used to be taken for granted that England had never been successfully invaded since 1066. London was occupied by Dutch troops for a year and half!

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 5d

Friedrich Hayek explains MAGA:
"Much of our occasional impetuous desire to smash the whole entangling machinery of civilisation is due to the inability of man to understand what he is doing."

In the midst of an crowd of Trump supporters, a woman holds up a sign saying "Drain the Swamp"

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Royal Irish Academy @ria.ie · 4d

Grant Spotlight: Archaeology Legacy Grant

Michael Monk’s excavation project, supported by this grant, brought long-standing research to life and provided experience to nearly 100 students.

Apply for 2025 funding until 15 Oct: https://www.ria.ie/grants/archaeology-legacy-grants-scheme/

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Simon Gray @protexblue.bsky.social · 4d

In politics as in science, Occham's Razor holds true -- even if this excellent article challenges and then refines it:
"To paraphrase Einstein, we should try to make things as simple as possible, but no simpler."

Marylin Delgado @philosophypills.bsky.social · 4d

The search for simplicity is a mistake

#philsky

iai.tv/articles/occ...

Occam's razor is leading cosmology astray | Jim Al-Khalili

iai.tv

IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 3d

Excellent piece on free speech, particularly in the early United States, where Washington's successor outlawed criticism of POTUS, and an Irish-born Congressman, Spitting Lyons, criticised him for it & was jailed.

#m17ra #mera

Peter Foster @pmdfoster.bsky.social · 4d

Magnificent peroration to Simon Schama’s @financialtimes.com weekend essay on defending freedom of speech in the era of Trump - with help from Milton, Jefferson et al.

on.ft.com/4gSqvDw Simon Schama: What America’s Founders can teach Trump about liberty

IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 3d

While politics of identity doesn't help, Skinner (Liberty as Independence, p. 277) has a point re the limits of liberalism.

He cites Berlin (Two Concepts of Freedom) "there is no necessary connection between individual liberty and democratic rule" in liberalism.

IrishPhilosophy @irishphilosophy.bsky.social · 3d

Kenan Malik on the danger of swapping (the best of) liberalism for the leopards of illiberalism

👎"liberals have long sought to deny others the values they prized for themselves."

👍"Out of these struggles emerged the universalist radical tradition"

observer.co.uk/news/columni...

#m17ga #mera

Liberalism has betrayed the working class, but illiberali...

If we fail to uphold equality and democracy, where will our society be?

observer.co.uk

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Richard D. Morey @richarddmorey.bsky.social · 4d

Also - contrast b/w the response when I advocate teaching R instead of SPSS -- "No hurry, let's not rush into it" (still waiting) -- & others re: use of LLMs -- "It's inevitable, we're behind; need it implement it ASAP!" -- is telling. Learning to code is freeing. Overhyped LLMs create dependency.

Excerpt from Guest & van Rooij, 2025:

As Danielle Navarro (2015) says about shortcuts through us-
ing inappropriate technology, which chatbots are, we end up dig-
ging ourselves into “a very deep hole.” She goes on to explain:

"The business model here is to suck you in during
your student days, and then leave you dependent on
their tools when you go out into the real world. [...]
And you can avoid it: if you make use of packages
like R that are open source and free, you never get
trapped having to pay exorbitant licensing fees." (pp.
37–38)

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Elizabeth Boyle @thecelticist.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you to everyone who participated in the excellent @ria.ie conference on the Book of Lecan. It was a fantastic couple of days. The talks were recorded and will appear on SoundCloud soon!
@scs-dias.bsky.social @ceilteachomn.bsky.social 📚

The speakers at the Royal Irish Academy conference on the Book of Lecan, standing on the stairs at the RIA. I'm at the front on the right.

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Donal Coffey @donalcoffey.bsky.social · 4d

Collectio canonum Hibernesis, on loan from St Gallen to the National Museum of Ireland.

An old manuscript with some decorative feaures, particularly on sentences beginning with D.

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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 5d

So there's an EU-funded campaign to get millenials to eat potatoes and - I swear to Jesus I'm not making this up - it's slogan is: "Europe's favourite since 1536."

A screenshot of a website that says "DISCOVER THE TASTY VERSATILITY OF POTATOES! Europe's favourite since 1536." banner ads say "funded by the european union" and "enjoy - it's from europe."

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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 6d

My day opened with this excellent @theguardian.com piece by a social scientist who respects historians' value: www.theguardian.com/news/2025/oc...
and closed with affirmation of that need for historians' brains by @royalhistsoc.org: blog.royalhistsoc.org/2025/10/02/t...

And that's good bookending.

In the same essay reflecting on stupidity, Arendt distinguished between “preliminary” and “true” understanding. Because it involves applying existing concepts to particular situations, preliminary understanding has a kind of circularity. It can be clever and correct, but it falls short when confronting the genuine novelty of human actions. One can escape the most brute form of stupidity, yet not truly understand the significance of the political and historical moment. Even the cleverest person or system can get trapped in a “preliminary” understanding of events.

Arendt argued that there was a second human faculty, in addition to judgment, that allowed understanding to progress to a truer grasp of meaning: imagination. Imagination, for Arendt, is the uniquely human capacity to grasp truth via speculative leaps, drawing on empathy and creativity in the process, as opposed to scientific methods. Politics requires us to navigate situations which are incomparable and immeasurable, because they are genuinely new. This in turn requires something closer to aesthetic judgment than to scientific judgment.
“Imagination alone,” Arendt wrote, “enables us to see things in their proper perspective.” The challenge Arendt poses to us is to think of truth and meaning not from the perspective of the economist, financial analyst, data scientist or sociologist, but of the historian, the kind who sees human events as a series of breaks, anomalies and initiations.

This is what the “closed world” of platform and market surveillance can’t provide: a kind of understanding that is not reducible to empirical data. Artificial or market “intelligence” has the capacity to learn at ultra-high speed from existing data, but its range of possible outcomes, while extremely large, is nevertheless enumerable and therefore finite. In the gamified space of such “closed worlds”, history is finished, and all that remains is lots and lots of behaviours. Every conceivable event, utterance or idea is already

We believe this future will be easier (if never easy) to navigate with recourse to the skills and temperaments integral to a historical (and humanities) approach to life.

The value of history goes further. We live at a time of considerable uncertainty and peril— environmentally, technologically and politically—and many are justifiably concerned about a future shaped without adequate appreciation, and application, of the skills of those trained in the humanities. We believe this future will be easier (if never easy) to navigate with recourse to the skills and temperaments integral to a historical (and humanities) approach to life: contextualisation, scepticism, a seeking after evidence, an acknowledgment and tolerance of complexity, and an appreciation of the value, and precarity, of civic responsibility and democracy.

Presently, we are failing to be heard when we make this case—notwithstanding the popularity of history as a pursuit. It is incumbent on organisations like the Royal Historical Society, in collaboration with others, to do better: to make the place, contribution and potential of academic history (much of which takes place far beyond higher education) more legible and intelligible to those who, while ‘liking history’, struggle to see its place in education, its potential as a degree or its value to society.

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Fabienne Peter @fabiennepeter.bsky.social · 6d

A nice discussion of recent work on political legitimacy -- including my book!

What Is the Point of Legitimacy? - Enzo Rossi, 2025 journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

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Richard Roche @rrocheneuro.bsky.social · 5d

Very sad to hear this, had a lovely chat with him about art and the brain for his Almanac podcast, and he became a real champion for our CúChulainn books. A fascinating, interested and kind soul, RIP a chara

RTÉ News @news.rte.ie · 6d

The writer, broadcaster and documentary maker Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55, his family has confirmed

Broadcaster and scríbhneoir Manchán Magan dies aged 55

The writer, broadcaster and documentary maker Manchán Magan has died at the age of 55, his family has confirmed.

www.rte.ie

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