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Dr Bob Plant
email:
r.plant@abdn.ac.uk
Biography
Having completed my PhD at The University of Aberdeen in 2001, I rejoined the Philosophy department in 2004 as a Teaching Fellow. I became a Lecturer in 2005. My interests are relatively broad, though most of my work has focussed on the relationship (including tensions) between so-called 'Analytic' and 'Continental' philosophical traditions; in particular Wittgenstein, Levinas and Derrida. I also have interests in the following areas/topics: Pyrrhonian scepticism, meta-philosophy, philosophy of religion, ethics, philosophical anthropology, laughter and humour, testimony and confession, phenomenology, trust, philosophy of sex, and philosophical appeals to 'commonsense', the 'ordinary' and 'everyday'.
Teaching
(2004-06)
Moral Philosophy; Ethical and Religious Themes in Wittgenstein, Levinas and Derrida; Feminist Philosophy; Philosophy and 'Ordinary' Life; The Meaning of Life; Ethics and Aesthetics; Social and Political Philosophy.
Some New Courses (2006-07)
Ethics
and Personal Relations; The Human Condition
Publications
A Book:
Wittgenstein and Levinas: ethical and religious thought (Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2005)
Some Articles
(2003-):
- 'Playing games / playing us: Foucault on sadomasochism', forthcoming in Philosophy & Social Criticism (USA), (2007)
- ‘On Testimony, Sincerity, and Truth’, Paragraph: A Journal of Modern Critical Theory (special edition Trauma, Therapy and Representation), Vol. 30, No. 1 (March 2007)
- 'Perhaps...: Jacques Derrida and Pyrrhonian Scepticism', 'Special Issue: Encounters with Ancient Thought', Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, 11:3 (December 2006)
- 'The Confessing Animal in Foucault and Wittgenstein', Journal of Religious Ethics (USA), 34:4 (2006)
- 'Apologies: Levinas and Dialogue', in International Journal of Philosophical Studies (Ireland), 14:1 (March 2006)
- 'The Wretchedness of Belief: Wittgenstein on Guilt and Religion Without Recompense', in Journal of Religious Ethics (USA), 32:3 (Winter 2004)
- 'Christ's Autonomous Hand: Simulations on the Madness of Giving', in Modern Theology (USA), 20:4 (October 2004)
- 'The End(s) of Philosophy: Rhetoric, Therapy and Wittgenstein's Pyrrhonism', in Philosophical Investigations (UK), 27:3 (July 2004)
- 'Ethics Without Exit: A Response to C.F. Alford on Levinas and Murdoch', in Philosophy and Literature (USA), 27:2 (October 2003)
- 'Blasphemy, Dogmatism and Injustice: The Rough Edges of On Certainty', in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (USA), 54 (2003)
- 'Our Natural Constitution: Wolterstorff on Reid and Wittgenstein', in Journal of Scottish Philosophy (UK), 1:2 (Autumn 2003)
- 'Doing Justice to the Derrida-Levinas Connection: A Response to Mark Dooley', in Philosophy & Social Criticism (USA), 29 (2003)
Other Articles (2006-):
- 'The Wittgenstein Archive' (with Peter Baumann), in Philosophy Now, 58 (November/December 2006), 26-7
Some Book Reviews (2002-):
- Who's Afraid of Philosophy? Right to Philosophy I , Jacques Derrida, in Philosophy in Review (Canada), Vol. XXIII, No. 4 (August 2003)
- Is It Righteous To Be? Interviews With Emmanuel Levinas, Jill Robbins (ed.), in Philosophy in Review (Canada), Vol. XXII, No. 6 (December 2002)
- The Jewish Derrida , Gideon Ofrat, in Philosophy in Review (Canada), Vol. XXII, No. 3 (June 2002)
- Arguing with Derrida , Simon Glendinning (ed.), in Philosophy in Review (Canada), Vol. XXII, No. 3 (June 2002)
- Futures of Jacques Derrida , Richard Rand (ed.), in Philosophy in Review (Canada), Vol. XXII, No. 3 (June 2002)
Some Conference Papers (1999-):
- 'Against Testimony: On Truth, Sincerity and Trust', at Trauma, Therapy and Representation, University of Aberdeen (2003)
- 'Perhaps: Jacques Derrida and Pyrrhonian Scepticism', at Ancient and Continental: A One Day Workshop, Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick (2003)
- 'Pluralism, Justice and Human Vulnerability: Misappropriations of Wittgenstein', at Space, Time and Power, University of Aberdeen (2000)
- 'Eschatology and Ethics in Wittgenstein, Levinas and Derrida', at A Biblical Theology of Hope, University of Aberdeen (1999)
- 'For the Love of a Stranger: Reflections on Love, Knowledge and the Gift in Milan Kundera's Identity', at Second Conference of the New Novel Association; The Millennial Border: New Novel 1950-2050, University of Aberdeen (1999)
- 'Resisting Silence in the Face of Evil: Re-Thinking the Holocaust; Speaking the Unspeakable with Emmanuel Levinas', at Face to Face with the Real World: Contemporary Applications of Levinas, Walsh University, Ohio (USA) (1999)
- 'Levinas, the Other and Guilt', invited paper, University of Riga, Latvia (2007)
- 'Good Dogs in Orwell and Levinas', invited paper, University of Riga, Latvia (2007)
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