This biographical dictionary of Irish philosophers is a by-product of a series of larger biographical dictionaries of British philosophers published in recent years by Thoemmes Press. The first of these larger dictionaries was the Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers (1999), followed in subsequent years by equivalent works on seventeenth and nineteenth-century British philosophers. Each of these dictionaries included Irish-born philosophers who were considered British not only because of the political links that had been forged historically between Britain and Ireland but also because of the dual or hybrid nationality of those who belonged to the Anglo-Irish ascendancy. It was partly because of the problems that surrounded the inclusion of Irish entries in the existing 'British' dictionaries that the need for a special dictionary dedicated to Irish philosophers was recognized. This dictionary will include many of those who have already appeared in the 'British' dictionaries, but also many who have been left out of the existing dictionaries, either because they were too early to be included in the seventeenth-century dictionary, or too late to be included in the nineteenth-century dictionary, or simply because their obscurity was such that they had not come to the attention of the editors of the other published dictionaries.

Contents:
Preface Acknowledgements
1 Interpreting Marvels: The Irish Augustine
Enter, the Irish Augustine The theology of the Flood The theology of marvels The theology of angelic ministry The Irish Augustine and the African Doctor
2 The Philosophy of Creation: John Scottus Eriugena
The five modes of interpretation The four conceptions of nature Nature, theophany, and pantheism The gendered and the pristine body The return to God Eriugena and the cult of the Free Spirit Scholars or thinkers: A postscript on Peter of Ireland and Richard Fitzralph
3 Nature Observed: Robert Boyle, William Molyneux, and the New Learning
Robert Boyle, the Christian virtuoso Touching the spring of the air: A new departure ' A piece of green-wood burning': Boyle against the elements A thinking gentleman: William Molyneux, new learner and patriot Mr Molyneux to Mr Locke: An Anglo-Irish correspondence Against the self-image of the age: Michael Moore, a Paris Aristotelian from Ireland
4 John Toland and the Ascendancy of Reason
Reason, revelation, and meaning Tyranny, superstition, and the politics of pantheism 'As in a glass darkly': Peter Browne and the argument from analogy Other partisans of mystery: Edward Synge and Philip Skelton God, good, and privation: The theodicy of William King Spirit and motion: The Philosophical animism of Robert Clayton
Wonderfully Mending the World: George Berkeley and Jonathan Swift
Seeing things: Berkeley's theory of vision Seeing (and not seeing) things: Berkeley's philosophy of perception The visible language of god The converting imagination: Swift against the moderns Modernism as madness: The moral of the Tale Abolishing Christianity: Swift against the free thinkers An unsentimental journey: Gulliver and the perversion of reason
6 Against the Selfish Philosophers: Francis Hutcheson, Edmund Burke, and James Usher
Hutcheson and the stratagems of self-love The pleasures of morality Vice and cruelty explained The politics of happiness and the pleasures of civil union Reflection and reaction: the life and thought of Edmund Burke The taste of fear: Burke's aesthetics of sublimity From the sublime to the political: Burke and the philosophy of custom 'Shadowy similitudes': James Usher on the limits of language 'A benevolent conspiracy': Ireland and the thought of revolution
7 Peripheral Visions (1): Irish Thought in the Nineteenth Century
Daniel O'Connell and Benthamism Anti-Union, anti-Credo, anti-Malthus: The subversive thought of George Ensor Producing happiness: The radical utilitarianism of William Thompson Happiness and suffrage: The feminist utilitarianism of Anna Doyle Wheeler The power of circumstance: The holistic philosophy of Henry MacCormac
8 Peripheral Visions (2): Irish Thought in the Nineteenth Century
English theory, Irish facts: John Elliot Cairnes and the turn of political economy Religion and the science of genesis: Darwin in Ireland - John Tyndall, scientific evangelist Three non-Darwinian evolutionists:Gerald Molloy, J.J. Murphy, and G.G. Stokes Religion, rivalry, & progress: The social Darwinism of Benjamin Kidd Ethics and the primal nebula: Frances Power Cobbe - Varieties of Irish idealism: From William Rowan Hamilton to Oscar Wilde
9 Between Extremities: Irish Thought in the Twentieth Century
Between self and anti-self: The visionary idealism of W.B. Yeats The dreams of reason: J.O. Wisdom on the unconscious origins of thought Against method: M. O'C. Drury on the imprisoned mind 'Unutterable particularities': Iris Murdoch on the ethics of attention Being in the middle: William Desmond on tragedy, 'idiocy', and intimacy 'A vision of being free': Philip Pettit on mind, society, and the res publica

The first complete introduction to the subject ever published, A History of Irish Thought presents an inclusive survey of Irish thought and the history of Irish ideas against the backdrop of current political and social change in Ireland.
Clearly written and engaging, the survey introduces an array of philosophers, polemicists, ideologists, satirists, scientists, poets and political and social reformers, from the anonymous seventh-century monk, the Irish Augustine, and John Scottus Eriugena, to the twentieth century and W.B. Yeats and Iris Murdoch.
Thomas Duddy rediscovers the liveliest and most contested issues in the Irish past, and brings the history of Irish thought up to date. This volume will be of great value to anyone interested in Irish culture and its intellectual history.

"The Dictionary of Irish Philosophers" spans 15 centuries of Irish thought, from the Irish Augustine in the 7th century, to Iris Murdoch and JO Wisdom in the 20th. Over 180 individuals who have contributed to Irish philosophical thought are chronicled. Thomas Duddy and a team of carefully selected contributors, all experts in their fields, have compiled a fascinating, cross-disciplinary resource, profiling all the major philosophers and thinkers. The dictionary ranges beyond the major figures, however, to include those whose contributions are less well known but, nonetheless, original and thought-provoking, e.g., Arthur Little on aesthetics, Alice Oldham on socialism, George Sigerson on evolution and T.W. Rolleston on the life-force. An international team of editors and contributors has comprehensively catalogued Irish philosophical thought and development. This resource profiles the contribution of Irish emigres, individuals of Irish birth or descent, and those who spent much of their productive time in Ireland. The definition of 'philosophy' has been carefully considered, and an inclusive approach adopted. Those who contributed to the understanding of fundamental human questions - but who may not be considered philosophers as such - are included here. There are figures from historiography, psychology, theology, politics, literature, mathematics and the sciences, including Richard Fitzralph, Geoffrey Keating, Richard Kirwan, Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Anna Doyle Wheeler, Aubrey de Vere, Oscar Wilde, Ethel Mannin, WB Yeats, Eva Gore-Booth, JB Bury, Walter MacDonald, George Boole, JD Bernal and Arland Ussher.