Timothy O'Leary, BA (UCD); MA (Paris X); PhD (Deakin)
I joined the Department of Philosophy at HKU in 2001, after spending several years completing a PhD and teaching in Australia. Originally from Ireland, where I did my BA at UCD, I spent some years in Paris doing an MA at the University of Paris X, and researching at the Foucault Archives (now at IMEC in Caen).
My major research interests are in the fields of ethics, politics, and the philosophy of literature and art, with a particular focus on 20th century European philosophy. In recent years I have published in the area of the philosophy of literature, especially in relation to the works of modern and contemporary Irish writers.
My first book on Foucault was published in 2002 (Foucault and the Art of Ethics, Continuum) and re-published in 2006. Another book, on literature and the transformation of experience, is published in 2009 (Foucault and Fiction: The Experience Book, Continuum). This book brings together thinkers such as Foucault, Deleuze, Dewey and Gadamer with writers including Swift, Joyce, Beckett, Friel, and Heaney. It develops a unique approach to thinking about the transformative power of literature by drawing upon the much-neglected concept of experience in Foucault's work.
I am also co-editing several volumes to be published in the near future: including, Foucault and Philosophy and A Companion to Foucault (both with Blackwell); and Ethics in Early China (with HKU Press). Another area of interest is the field of film and philosophy, in which I have organised several events at HKU. I also began the ‘Happiness East and West’ initiative at HKU which has led, among other things, to a major conference in December 2009.
In recent years, I have taught courses on Foucault, happiness, contemporary European philosophy, philosophy of art and literature, Plato, and the philosophical problems of modernity.
I supervise students in the fields of 20th century European philosophy, ethics in the continental tradition, and aesthetics.
E-mail: teoleary@hkucc.hku.hk
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