historian of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...
, philosophy, culture and politics. Sheehan is professor emeritus at
Dublin City University
Dublin City University (abbreviated as DCU) () is a Third-level education in the Republic of Ireland, university based on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Created as the ''National Institute for Highe ...
, where she taught media studies and history of ideas in the School of Communications. She was a
visiting professor
In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...
at the
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa.
Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
and
Peking University
Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
on several occasions. She has been active on the left since the 1960s. She has given many conference papers and public lectures in universities and other bodies in USA, USSR, GDR, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece, China and South Africa.
Biography
Born in the United States in 1944, Sheehan describes her childhood as
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
and conservative, She began her university studies and taught primary school as a
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...
. She left the convent in 1965 and became an agnostic and liberal, then an atheist and radical. Sheehan graduated with a BS in 1967 from St. Joseph's University in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
in Philadelphia. She earned a PhD in 1980 from Trinity College (Dublin) in philosophy.
She became active on the new left in the US in the 1960s. In Ireland, she joined Sinn Féin (Official) in 1972 and then the
Communist Party of Ireland
The Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) is a Marxist–Leninist party, founded in 1970 and active in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland following a merger of the Irish Workers' Party and the Communist Party of Northern Ireland. It ra ...
in 1975. She chaired the Trinity College Dublin Communist Society.Johnston, Roy W.H. ''Century of Endeavour: A Biographical and Autobiographical View of the 20th Century in Ireland''. Academica Press, LLC, 2003
, . Pp. 332–333. She joined the Labour Party in 1981, where she was a founder of Labour Left. Since 2011, she has belonged to no party, but has remained active on the left. She organised Occupy University during Occupy Dame Street in 2011. She travelled often to Greece and became involved with
Syriza
The Coalition of the Radical Left – Progressive Alliance (), best known by the syllabic abbreviation SYRIZA ( ; ; a pun on the Greek adverb , meaning "from the roots" or "radically"), is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politi ...
, writing about this in ''The Syriza Wave'' published in 2017. An autobiographical work entitled ''Navigating the Zeitgeist'' was published in 2019 with a sequel ''Until We Fall'' published in 2023.
As a philosopher and historian of science, Sheehan writes from a
Marxist
Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
perspective. She argues that
Marx
Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
philosophy of science
Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...
and written critically of
Lysenkoism
Lysenkoism ( ; ) was a political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon ...
and
Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
's impact on scientific development, while stressing the necessity of understanding such trends in full socio-historical context. She is a strong critic of both positivism and postmodernism.
Sheehan has lectured at the Humanist Association of Ireland.
In her personal life, Sheehan was the partner of the trade unionist Sam Nolan.
Quotes
* On her life:
"Sometimes I feel as if I have lived eons in a matter of decades. The wave of historical change, such as swept over centuries in the past, seem to have swept through my world several times over already. And who knows what I have yet to see? I am perhaps only halfway through the time I may expect my life to be."
988
Year 988 ( CMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* Fall – Emperor Basil II, supported by a contingent of 6,000 Varangians (the future Varangian Guard), organiz ...
/blockquote>
* On Marxism:
"Whatever Marxism is, it is systemic analysis and historical perspective. It is a totalising (not totalised) philosophy of history. It is the only mode of thought able to give a coherent, comprehensive, and credible account of the complexity of contemporary experience. It is the only coherent analysis of the capitalist mode of production and how it structurally generates, not only the maximum expropriation of surplus value, but maximum dissolution of social bonds, involving decreasing access to totality and increasing atomisation of thought processes. It is the only credible analysis of an alternative mode of production, proposing socialism, not only as a radical restructuring of the relations of production, but as a fundamental transformation of patterns of thought and forms of social organisation."
* On Marxism and science:
"Marxism has made the strongest claims of any intellectual tradition before or since about the socio-historical character of science, yet always affirmed its cognitive achievements. Science was seen as inextricably enmeshed with economic systems, technological developments, political movements, philosophical theories, cultural trends, ethical norms, ideological positions, indeed all that was human. It was also a path of access to the natural world."
* On Lysenkoism:
"What went wrong was that the proper procedures for coming to terms with such complex issues were short-circuited by grasping for easy slogans and simplistic solutions and imposing them by administrative fiat.
* On the fall of communism:
"These are the days of our defeat, we ought not to pretend otherwise, but defeat is not death.
* On the death of communism:
"The socialist experiment has been portrayed as having played itself out and finally thrown up leaders who have seen the superiority of the capitalist way and decided to go for it. The world is 'going our way', the leaders of 'the free world' have declared. The iron curtain has come tumbling down. The Kremlin has been conquered without a single marine opening fire, without a single ICBM being launched. It unravels before me like a nightmare. No more the red flags flying. No more the heads held high and the fists clenched and the voices raised to the strains of The International. No more the larger-than-life murals of workers and soldiers and peasants marching into the future shaping the world with the labour of their hands and hearts and minds. Now it is to be Mickey Mouse and Coca Cola and Michael Jackson and Sacchi & Sacchi."
Works
Books
Books by Sheehan include:
* ''Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left,'' Monthly Review Press, 2023
* ''Navigating the Zeitgeist: A Story of the Cold War, the New Left, Irish Republicanism, and International Communism'', Monthly Review Press, 2019
*''The Syriza Wave: Surging and Crashing with the Greek Left,'' Monthly Review Press, 2017
* ''Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History'', Humanities Press, 1985, 1993, Verso Books, 2017
* ''European Socialism: A Blind Alley or a Long and Winding Road?'', MSF, 1992
* ''Has the Red Flag Fallen?'', Attic Press, 1989
* ''Irish Television Drama: A Society and Its Stories'', Radio Telefís Éireann, 1987, Four Courts Press, 2004
*''The Continuing Story of Irish Television Drama: Tracking the Tiger'', Four Courts Press, 2004
Monthly Review
The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States.
History Establishment
Following ...
Introductions:
* Bukharin, Nikolai. ''Philosophical Arabesques''. New York:
Monthly Review Press
The ''Monthly Review'' is an independent Socialism, socialist magazine published monthly in New York City. Established in 1949, the publication is the longest continuously published socialist magazine in the United States.
History Establishment ...
xtract from ''Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History'' at the
Marxists Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...