Newcastle University

Background

Sinead holds a BA in English Literature and Philosophy, a MA in Modern English Literature, a Higher Diploma in Education, and a PhD in Philosophy. She has previously worked at National University of Ireland, Cork.

Research Interests

Sinéad Murphy’s research interests arise out of the philosophical debate over whether it is possible to identify or presuppose universal and necessary conditions for human thought and action, or whether conventional sufficiency conditions constitute the limit of our capacity for critique. Kant’s Critique of Judgment, which would justify the heuristic presupposition of transcendental grounds for thought and action that comes to define Enlightenment philosophy, operates centrally in her research, as the canonical attempt to reconcile human historicity with truth and its critique, and as a productive reference point for work on subsequent philosophical efforts to improve on this attempt, most notably in: hermeneutics, critical theory and postmodern philosophy. As the richest site of contemporary philosophical work on this debate, the aesthetic, and questions of the nature and judgment of art, are of particular interest.

Other Expertise

Sinéad’s other areas of expertise include: the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer, Michel Foucault, and Jean-François Lyotard; theories of art and interpretation; and the theme of practical reason.

Current Work

Sinéad has just completed a monograph, entitled Effective History: On Critical Practice Under Historical Conditions, due for publication by Northwestern University Press in Fall 2010. She also has an article forthcoming on the theme of constructive philosophy, in accordance with a developing interest in mid to late nineteenth century instances of the separation of art from craft, and in the practice of philosophical genealogy generally.

Esteem Indicators

Sinead has been an invited speaker at a number of national and international academic conferences, most recently: International Association for Philosophy and Literature, annual conference, London 2009; International Centre for Music Studies, Research Forum, Newcastle University 2008; British Society for Phenomenology, annual conference, Oxford 2008; workshop on Philosophical Hermeneutics, University of Dundee 2007.

Undergraduate Teaching

Sinead currently teaches on the following modules: PHI3005 Knowledge, Power, Desire; PHI2005 Consciousness, Art, and Technology.

• Murphy S. From Blank to Blank: Harold Bloom and the Woman Writer. In: Allen, G., Sellars, R, ed. The Salt Companion to Harold Bloom. London: Salt Publishing, 2007, pp.378-392.
• Murphy S. Avant-Garde or Pré-Jugé?. Contemporary Aesthetics 2005, 3.
• Murphy S. Forms of the Avant-Garde. In: Crowley, P., Hegarty, P, ed. Functions of the Formless. Bern: Peter Lang, 2004. In Press.
• Murphy S. Proud but Poor: Beckett, the Sublime and the Synthetic a priori. In: Carney, J., Madden, L., O'Sullivan, M., White, K, ed. Beckett Re-Membered: After the Centenary. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2012, pp.37-60.
• Murphy S. The Art Kettle. Alresford: Zero Books, 2012.
• Murphy S. Effective History: On Critical Practice Under Historical Conditions. USA: Northwestern University Press, 2010.
• Murphy S. Vivienne Westwood: Keeping Critique Alive. In: Scapp, R; Seitz , B, ed. Fashion Statements: On Style, Appearance, and Reality. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010, pp.159-170.