Stephen Mulhall (; born 1962) is a British

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and Fellow of

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. His main research areas are

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

and

post-Kantian philosophy German idealism is a philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s, and was closely linked both with Romanticism and the revolutionary ...

Education and career

Stephen Mulhall received a BA in philosophy, Politics, and Economics at

Balliol College Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and ar ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in 1983. He then pursued an MA in philosophy from

The University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, t ...

in 1984, during which time he spent several weeks studying under

Sir Isaiah Berlin Sir Isaiah Berlin (6 June 1909 – 5 November 1997) was a Russian-British social and political theorist, philosopher, and historian of ideas. Although he became increasingly averse to writing for publication, his improvised lectures and talks ...

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. Between 1984 and 1988, he attended

and

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, Oxford for his

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Philosophy. From 1986 to 1991 he was a Prize Fellow at

and in 1991 he became a Reader of Philosophy at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

. From 1998 to the present he has been a fellow at

. He has published extensively on

Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art, and language. In April ...

, and the American philosopher

Stanley Cavell Stanley Louis Cavell (; September 1, 1926 – June 19, 2018) was an American philosopher. He was the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University. He worked in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, ...

Books

Source: *1990 ''On Being in the World: Wittgenstein and Heidegger on Seeing Aspects'' (Routledge) *1992 ''Liberals and Communitarians ''(Blackwell) - with Adam Swift *1994 ''Stanley Cavell: Philosophy’s Recounting of the Ordinary ''(OUP) *1994 ''Faith and Reason'' (Duckworth) *1996 ''Heidegger and Being and Time'' (Routledge) *1996 ''Liberals and Communitarians: A Revised Edition ''(Blackwell) - with Adam Swift *1996 ''The Cavell Reader'' (Blackwell) - editor *2001 ''Inheritance and Originality: Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Kierkegaard'' (OUP) *2002 ''On Film'', London/New York: Routledge, 2002. *2005 ''Philosophical Myths of the Fall'' (Princeton) *2005 ''Heidegger and Being and Time'' (second edition) *2006 ''Martin Heidegger'' International Library of Essays in the History of Social and Political Thought (Ashgate) - editor *2006 ''Wittgenstein's Private Language'' (OUP) *2007 ''The Conversation of Humanity ''(University of Virginia Press) *2008 ''On Film'' (second edition; Routledge) *2008 ''The Wounded Animal: J. M. Coetzee and the Difficulty of Reality'' (Princeton) *2013 ''The Self and Its Shadows: A Book of Essays on Individuality as Negation in Philosophy and the Arts'' (Oxford University Press) *2014 ''On Being in the World: Wittgenstein and Heidegger on Seeing Aspects'' (second edition; Routledge) *2015 ''The Great Riddle: Wittgenstein and Nonsense, Theology and Philosophy'' (Oxford University Press) *2021 ''The Ascetic Ideal: Genealogies of Life-Denial in Religion, Morality, Art, Science, and Philosophy'' (Oxford University Press) *2023 ''In Other Words: Transpositions of Philosophy in J.M. Coetzee's 'Jesus' Trilogy'' (Oxford University Press)

References

1962 births Living people British philosophers Film theory Film theorists Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of New College, Oxford {{UK-philosopher-stub