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Associate Professor Nicholas Smith
BA Newcastle (UK), MA York (UK), PhD Glas.
Head of Department, Philosophy
| Email: | nicholas.smith@mq.edu.au |
|---|---|
| Phone: | +61 (0)2 9850 8881 |
| Fax: | +61 (0)2 9850 8892 |
| Office: | W6A 735 |
Profile
Before moving to Macquarie in July 1997 Nick lived in London, where he spent three and a half years as Research Fellow and lecturer in Modern European Philosophy at Middlesex University. Prior to that Nick lived in Scotland, where he did his doctorate and taught philosophy at the Universities of Glasgow and Paisley. He is also a graduate of the Universities of Newcastle and York in England. He was born and raised in Liverpool, England.
Nick has long-standing research interests in political philosophy, social theory, and theories of subjectivity. His first book (Strong Hermeneutics, 1997) examined three ways of thinking about the contingency of human identity and its implications for ethics and political theory: 'weak thought' as exemplified by Rorty, Lyotard and postmodernism; what he called the 'strong hermeneutics' of Gadamer, Ricoeur and Taylor; and the discourse ethics of Jürgen Habermas. His second book (Charles Taylor, 2002) sought to provide a comprehensive, critical account of Taylor's work. It looked in some detail at the claims Taylor makes about the structure of the human sciences; the link between identity, language, and moral values; democracy and multiculturalism; and the conflict between secular and non-secular spirituality. Nick's work on Taylor dovetails with a broader research interest in philosophical diagnoses of the times. He has written on Levinas, Habermas, Rorty and others with a view to reaching some philosophical understanding of the pathologies and possibilities of the modern world.
Current Research Projects
Applying the ethics of recognition: work and the social bond
A/Prof Nicholas Smith; Dr Jean-Philippe Deranty – ARC Discovery
This ARC project in social philosophy proposes that societies can flourish only when all members of the community are recognised in their skills and identity. As a consequence, all sections of social life, not only political participation but also the family and the economy, rely on the fulfilment of specific demands of recognition. The project focuses on the relations of recognition that underpin the economic order, and in particular asks what relations need to be in place for work to be a positive experience. The project combines philosophical analysis of key notions with an examination of recent empirical studies to throw light on the changing world of work.
Grants Awarded
2006-2008. Australian Research Council Discovery Project, for ‘Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond’, Chief Investigator with Dr Jean Philippe Deranty, worth $213,000.
2005-2007. Queen’s University Belfast International Research Fellowship, for ‘Political Philosophy and Social Hope’, Chief Investigator with Prof. Shane O’Neill, worth £10,000.
2005-2009. Macquarie University Research Centre Scheme for ‘Centre for Research on Social Inclusion’, Director, worth $30,000 pa.
2003-2008. Macquarie University Millenium Fund Grant to establish the ‘Centre for Research on Social Inclusion’ in the Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Director, worth $150,000 pa.
2005. RAACE Award for Self-Knowledge, Identity and Literary Imagination, Chief Supervisor, worth £18,000 per year over 3 years.
2004. RAACE Award for Applying the Ethics of Recognition, Chief Supervisor, worth £18,000 per year over 3 years.
2004. Macquarie University Research Development Grant, Visiting Scholar support for visit of Prof. Shane O’Neill in research program ‘Justice as social inclusion: the scope and limits of the discourse-theoretic conception of democratic politics’, worth $7,050.
Previous - Humanities Research Board of the British Academy Small Research Grant, for 'A Study of Charles Taylor'.
Publications
Monograph Books
Smith, Nicholas H. (2002) Charles Taylor: Meaning, Morals and Modernity, Cambridge, Polity, 296pp.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1997) Strong Hermeneutics: Contingency and Moral Identity, London and New York, Routledge, 208pp.
Edited Collections
Smith, Nicholas H. and Jean-Philippe Deranty eds (forthcoming), New Philosophies of Labour: Work and the Social Bond, Leiden and Boston, Brill.
Smith, Nicholas H. and Shane O Neill eds. (2008), special issue on Social Hope of Critical Horizons, vol. 9 no. 1, with Introduction by the editors, Stocksfield, Acumen, 112pp.
Robert Sinnerbrink, Jean-Philippe Deranty, Peter Schmiedgen and Nicholas H. Smith eds. (2006), Critique Today, with Introduction by the editors, Leiden and Boston, Brill, 292pp.
Smith, Nicholas H. ed. (2002), Reading McDowell: On Mind and World, with Introduction and two chapters translated from the German by the editor, London and New York, Routledge, 326pp.
Arto Laitinen and Nicholas H. Smith eds. (2002), Perspectives on the Philosophy of Charles Taylor, with Introduction by the editors, Helsinki, Acta Philosophica Fennica, vol. 71, 198pp.Chapters in Edited Books
Smith, Nicholas H. (in press), ‘Three Normative Models of Work’, in Nicholas H. Smith and Jean-Philippe Deranty eds, New Philosophies of Labour: Work and the Social Bond, Leiden and Boston, Brill.
Smith, Nicholas H. (in press), ‘Expressivism in Brandom and Taylor’, in James Chase, Edwin Mares, Jack Reynolds and James Williams eds., On the Futures of Philosophy: Post-Analytic and Meta-Continental Thinking, London: Continuum.
Smith, Nicholas H. (in press), ‘Language, Work and Hermeneutics’, in Andrzej Wiercinski ed., Hermeneutics and the Art of Conversation, Toronto, The Hermeneutic Press.
Smith, Nicholas H. (in press), ‘Recognition, Culture and Economy: Honneth’s Debate with Fraser’, in D. Petherbridge ed., The Critical Theory of Axel Honneth, Leiden and Boston, Brill. (With response by Axel Honneth).
Smith, Nicholas H. (in press), ‘From the Concept of Hope to the Principle of Hope’, in Rochelle Green and Janet Horrigan eds, Hope, Amsterdam, Rodopi (accepted 2007) (Expanded version of Nicholas H. Smith, ‘On the Concept, Value and Principle of Hope’, in R. Green & J. Horrigan eds, Hope: Probing the Boundaries, Probing the Boundaries series vol 42, Oxford, Inter-Disciplinary Press, second edition, 2008, 285-301).
Smith, Nicholas H. (2006), ‘Hope and Critical Theory’, in R. Sinnerbrink, et al eds, Critique Today, Leiden and Boston, Brill, pp. 45-61.
Sinnerbrink, Robert, Jean-Philippe Deranty, and Nicholas H. Smith. (2006), ‘Critique, Hope, Power: Challenges of Contemporary Critical Theory’, in R. Sinnerbrink et al eds., Critique Today, pp. 1-21.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2005), ‘Is Monotheism Compatible with Pluralism? Reflections on Richard Rorty’s Critique of Religion’, in Avery Plaw ed., Frontiers of Diversity: Essays in Contemporary Pluralism, Amsterdam, Rodopi, pp. 17-32.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2004), ‘Taylor in the Hermeneutic Tradition’, in Ruth Abbey ed., Charles Taylor (Contemporary Philosophy in Focus), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 29-51.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2002), ‘Overcoming Representationalism’, in Arto Laitinen and Nicholas H. Smith eds., Perspectives on the Philosophy of Charles Taylor, Helsinki: Acta Philosophica Fennica, pp. 29-43.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2002), ‘Introduction’, Reading McDowell: On Mind and World, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 1-5.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2002), ‘Hans-Georg Gadamer’, in Jon Simons ed., From Kant to Levi-Strauss: the Background to Contemporary Critical Theory, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 181–196.
Laitinen, Arto & Nicholas H. Smith (2002), ‘Introduction’, Perspectives on the Philosophy of Charles Taylor, Helsinki: Acta Philosophica Fennica, pp 5-9.
McCarthy, Thomas, Shane. O’Neill, and Nicholas H. Smith (2001), ‘Critical Theory Today: An Interview with Thomas McCarthy’, in William Rehg and James Bohman eds, Pluralism and the Pragmatic Turn: The Transformation of Critical Theory, Cambridge MA, MIT Press, pp. 413–29.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1999), ‘Philosophy, Contingency and Social Criticism’, in Iain Mackenzie and Shane O’Neill eds, Reconstituting Social Criticism: Political Morality in an Age of Skepticism, London, Macmillan, pp. 123-137.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1987), 'Wittgenstein and the Logic of Justification', in Weingartner and Schutz eds, Recent Developments in Epistemology and Philosophy of Science (Reports of the Eleventh International Wittgenstein Symposium), pp. 174--76.
Dictionary / Encyclopaedia Entries
Entries on ‘Hermeneutics’, ‘Gadamer’, (1000 words); ‘Herder’, ‘Schleiermacher’, ‘Ricoeur’, ‘Taylor’ and ‘MacIntyre’ (500 words) in John Protevi ed., Edinburgh Dictionary of Continental Philosophy Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2005. (Also published as A Dictionary of Continental Philosophy, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2006).
Entry on ‘Charles Taylor’ (4000 words), in Stuart Brown ed., Dictionary of Twentieth Century British Philosophers, Bristol, Thoemmes Continuum, 2005, pp. 1027-1033.
Entry on ‘John McDowell’ (500 words) in Thomas Mautner ed., The Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2005.
Refereed Journal Articles
Smith, Nicholas H. and Arto Laitinen (2009 in press), ‘Taylor on Solidarity’, Thesis Eleven, no.98, August.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2009), ‘Work and the Struggle for Recognition’, European Journal of Political Theory, vol. 8, no. 1, 46-60.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2008), ‘Levinas, Habermas and Modernity’, Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol. 34, no. 6, July, 643-664. (Reprinted in David Rasmussen and James Swindal eds, Habermas II, 4 vols, Sage Masters in Modern Social Thought, New Delhi, Sage, 2009).
Smith, Nicholas H. (2008), ‘Analysing Hope’, Critical Horizons, vol. 9, no. 1, May, 5-23.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2007), ‘The Hermeneutics of Work: On Richard Sennett’, Critical Horizons, vol. 8, no. 2, December, 186-204.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2007), ‘Ekspressivisme hos Brandom og Taylor, Slagmark: tadsskrift for idéhistorie, summer, vol. 49, 99-112 (Danish translation of ‘Expressivism in Brandom and Taylor’).
Smith, Nicholas H. and Robert Sinnerbrink (2005),'Critique Hope, Power: Challenges of Contemporary Critical Theory', Critical Horizons, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-21.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2005), ‘Hope and Critical Theory’, Critical Horizons, vol. 6, no. 1, 45-61.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2005), ‘Rorty on Religion and Hope’, Inquiry, vol. 48, no. 1, February, 76-98.
Smith, Nicholas H. (2000), ‘Levinas, Subjectivity and the Sacred', Synthesis Philosophica, 29–30, 1-2, 129–43. (Croation translation: 'Levinas, subjectivnost I sveto', Filozofska Istrazivanja, 81–82, 2-3, 2001, 397–408).
Smith, Nicholas H. (2000), 'Levinas's Modern Sacred', Law Text, Culture, vol. 5, no. 1, 145–60.
McCarthy, Thomas, Shane. O’Neill, and Nicholas H. Smith (1997), ‘Critical Theory Today: An Interview with Thomas McCarthy' Imprints, vol. 2 no. 1, 3-18 (Reprinted in W. Rehg and J. Bohman eds, Pluralism and the Pragmatic Turn, Cambridge MA, MIT Press, pp. 413-29).
Smith, Nicholas H. (1996), ‘Contingency and Self-Identity: Taylor's Hermeneutics vs. Rorty's Postmodernism', Theory, Culture and Society, 13:2, 105-20.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1994), ‘Charles Taylor, Strong Hermeneutics and the Politics of Difference’, Radical Philosophy 68, Autumn, 19-27.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1994), ‘The Entwinement of Reason and Violence: The Frankfurt School’, Cogito, 8:3, 241-48.
Review Articles
Smith, Nicholas H. (1997), ‘Reason after Meaning’ (reviewing Philosophical Arguments by Charles Taylor), Philosophy and Social Criticism, vol.23:1, 133-42.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1993), ‘Social Power and the Domination of Nature’ (reviewing The Critique of Power by Axel Honneth), History of the Human Sciences, vol.6:3, 101-10.
Smith, Nicholas H. (1992), ‘The Spirit of Modernity and its Fate - Jürgen Habermas’ (reviewing The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity and other works), Radical Philosophy, 60, 23-29.Edited Refereed Conference Proceedings (CD ROMs)
Jean-Philippe Deranty, Michael Fine, Nicholas Smith and Amanda Wise (eds) Mobile Boundaries/Rigid Worlds: Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference of CRSI (2004) Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University.
Michael Fine, Paul Henman and Nicholas Smith (eds) Social Inequality Today: Proceedings of the 1st Annual Conference of CRSI (2003) Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University.Translations
‘Between Hermeneutics and Hegelianism: John McDowell and the Challenge of Moral Realism’, a translation of ‘Zwischen Hermeneutik und Hegelianismus: John McDowell und die Herausforderung des moralischen Realismus’ by Axel Honneth, in Nicholas H. Smith ed. Reading McDowell, pp. 246—265.
‘Bildung and Second Nature’, a translation of ‘Bildung und zweite Natur’ by Rüdiger Bubner, in Nicholas H. Smith ed. Reading McDowell, pp. 209—216.Book Reviews
Review of The Idea of Evil by Peter Dews, Critical Horizons, vol. 9. no. 1, May 2008, 100-102.
Review of Charles Taylor by R. Abbey, Australasian Journal of Political Science, 36:3, 2001, 618.
‘Last Philosophy’, reviewing The Limits of Disenchantment: Essays on Contemporary European Philosophy by Peter Dews, Radical Philosophy, 80, Nov/Dec 1996, 40-2.
‘Critical Theory in Question’, reviewing Critical Theory by T. McCarthy and D. Hoy, and Of Critical Theory and its Theorists by S. Bronner, Radical Philosophy 73, Sept/Oct 1995, 42-4.
Review of Justification and Application: Remarks on Discourse Ethics by Jürgen Habermas, Cogito, Vol.8:3, 1994, 288-90.
‘Putting Practice into Theory’, reviewing Jürgen Habermas by R.C.Holub, and The Role of Ethics in Social Theory by T. Smith, Radical Philosophy, 63, Spring 1993, 42-4.Short Reviews
E. Gellner, Language and Solitude, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2001
A. Honneth, The Struggle for Recognition, Political Studies, 44:5, 1996, 1019.
J. Bernstein, Recovering Ethical Life, Political Studies, 44:4, 1996, 818-9.
W. Outhwaite, Habermas, Radical Philosophy, 76, March/April 1996, 53.
J. Tully, Philosophy in an Age of Pluralism, Political Studies, 43:3, 1995, 591.
R. Wiggerhaus, The Frankfurt School, Political Studies, 43:2, 1995, 407.
P. Stirk, Max Horkheimer, Political Studies, 42:2, 1994, 360.
Brand, The Force of Reason, Radical Philosophy, 59, Autumn 1991, 56.