Dr Jon Phelan

container

Biography

Jon works in the philosophy of literature and is currently finishing a philosophical defence of the close reading of literary fiction. He is author of Philosophy: Themes and Thinkers (CUP 2005) and has taught, published papers and presented on a wide range of philosophical subjects, the most recent being: religious language, the is-ought gap, Wittgenstein and the problem of other minds, metaphor and the literary cognitivist debate. Jon is head of philosophy at Hills Road Sixth Form College, supervises for the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge (mainly in aesthetics) and is a panel tutor for ICE.

Jon believes that philosophy is something we do rather than something that is merely learnt and finds the Socratic method has not been improved on to this end.

Qualifications:

MA in Jewish-Christian relations:, University of Cambridge

Research

Literary Insight: Understanding Other Minds through Literature.

Nietzsche and Wittgenstein

Selected Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Phelan, J ‘Who’s Afraid of Friedrich Nietzsche? Effective and Ineffective Criticisms’ Think Number 26, Volume 9, Autumn 2010 , 2010
Phelan, J.W ‘The Face in the Figure: An examination of the central metaphors in Franz Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption’ in Dialogue and Alliance, vol. 19, no. 2 Fall/Winter 2005/06 , 2005
Phelan, J. W ‘Unity in Trinity: Some reflections on the Doctrine of the Trinity in Jewish-Christian Relations’ in Dialogue and Alliance, vol.17, no. 1 Spring/Summer 2003 , 2003
• Phelan, J ‘From “Is” to “Ought Not”: how New Atheists commit the naturalistic fallacy’. (IN PRESS)

BOOKS

Phelan, J.W (2005) Philosophy: Themes and Thinkers, Cambridge, CUP , 2005
Phelan, J ‘From “Is” to “Ought Not”: how Dennett and Dawkins commit the naturalistic fallacy’. (UNKNOWN)

Memberships

The British Society of Aesthetics

The Aristotelian Society

OUDCE philosophy society

Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB)

Forthcoming courses

Philosophy of mind: the nature of conscious experience | Summer Programme course

Philosophy of literature: cognitive and moral value | Summer Programme course

Philosophy of mind: the nature of conscious experience | Summer Programme course