Dr. Stephen Thornton

 

Head,

Department of Philosophy,
Mary Immaculate College,
Limerick, Ireland. (Tel: +353-61-314588. Fax: +353-61-313632)

 

• Personal Co-ordinates
• Research Interests
• Membership of Academic/Administrative Boards
• Publications
• Professional Associations

 

  

Personal Co-ordinates

 

Postal Address:

Dr. Stephen Thornton,
Department of Philosophy,
Mary Immaculate College,
South Circular Road,
LIMERICK.

 

 

Position:

Head of Department

 

Phone and Fax Numbers:

College switchboard: + 353 (0)61 314588
Direct office line: + 353 (0)61 204341
College fax line: + 353 (0)61 313632

 

E-mail Address:

stephen.thornton@mic.ul.ie

  

 

Research Interests

 

Subject of Doctoral Dissertation: The interrelationship between theories of language and meaning (semiotics) and ontology in the philosophies of John Locke and Bertrand Russell. I have a strong continuing research interest in contemporary Analytic philosophy, with particular reference to the work and influence of Wittgenstein.

 

 

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Membership of Academic/Administrative Boards

 

• Member of Bord Acadúil, Mary Immaculate College, 1990-present.
• Member of (and academic staff representative) Bord Rialaithe, Mary Immaculate College, 1994-2000.
• Member of (and academic staff representative) An Fo-Choiste Stiúrithe, Mary Immaculate College, 1994-1997.
• Member and Co-Chairman, Postgraduate Studies Directorate, Mary Immaculate College, 2002-2007.
• Member of Equality Committee, Mary Immaculate College, 1995-1997.
• Member and Acting Chairman, Recruitment Policy Sub-Committee, Mary Immaculate College, 1995-96.
• Member of Curriculum Development Unit Directorate, Mary Immaculate College, 1993-95.
• Member of Joint Consultative Committee, University College Cork and Mary Immaculate College, 1987-1994.
• Member of Wired FM Radio Board, Mary Immaculate College, 1994-1997.
• Member of Equality Committee, Mary Immaculate College, 1995-1997.
• Member of Research Directorate, Mary Immaculate College, 2002-2007.
• Member of Mary Immaculate College Taskforce on the Review of Teacher Education at Primary Level, 1999.

 

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Selected Publications

 

• 'Teaching Classical Philosophy in Ireland', Proceedings of the Second International Seminar on the Teaching of Ancient Greek Language and Civilization, Department of Education, Cyprus Publication 1993.
• 'Sempiternity, Immortality and the Homunculus Fallacy', Philosophical Investigations (ed. D.Z. Phillips), Vol. 16 (No. 4), 1993.
• 'Conceptions of Human Rights: The Challenges of Multiculturalism and of Cultural Relativism', Symposium Proceedings: Education for Citizenship in a New Europe, Berlin Academy, September 1995.
• 'The Classics and the Irish Experience', Europaphos - Journal of the European Association of Teachers of Ancient Greek, (iv), 1995-96.
• 'Cultural Rights, Multiculturalism, and Cultural Relativism', Teaching for Citizenship in Europe (eds. Osler, Rathenow & Starkey). Trentham Books, 1996.
• 'Facing Up to Feuerbach', International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 39 (2) 103-120, 1996.
• 'Wittgenstein sans the Private Language Argument', Cogito, 10: 1, 1996. Reprinted in electronic form in Minerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy, (ed. S. Thornton) Vols. 1 to 5, November 1997 - 2001.
• Minerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy, (ed. S. Thornton) ISSN 1393 - 614 X.
• 'Solipsism and the Problem of Other Minds', Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed. J. Fieser), April 1997.
• 'Freud, Sigmund', Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed. J. Fieser), June 1997.
• 'Popper, Karl', Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ISSN 1095-5054 (ed E.N. Zalta), November 1997.
• 'Berkeley's Theory of Reality', Journal of the Limerick Philosophical Society, 1987. Reprinted in electronic form in Minerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy, (ed. S. Thornton) Vol. 1, November 1997.
• 'Communication and the Mind', Explorations - Centenary Essays, Mary Immaculate College Limerick (ed. L. Irwin). Dublin: Colour Books, 1998.
• ‘Popper’s Social and Ethical Philosophy’, Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics (ed. Cohen, M.), 231-234. London: Hodder Arnold. 2006.  
• ‘Other Minds’, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (ed. Grayling, A.C., Pyle, A. and Goulder, N.), 2390-2392. Thoemmes Continuum, 2006.
• ‘Associationism’, Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy (ed. Grayling, A.C., Pyle, A. and Goulder, N.), 45-147. Thoemmes Continuum, 2006.
• ‘Popper, Basic Statements and the Quine-Duhem Thesis’, Yearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society, 2008.
• ‘Wittgenstein on the Fallacy of the Cogito’, Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations (ed. Ţurlea, M) Vol. 7, 2008.

 

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Professional Associations

• Member, Irish Philosophical Society
• Founder Member, Limerick Philosophical Society
• Member of the International Society for Philosophers

  

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The information found on personal pages should not be considered official material from Mary Immaculate College and the College does not accept any responsibility for its accuracy or otherwise