Dr William Desmond

Senior Lecturer
On sabbatical for 2023-2024
Biography
William Desmond is originally from Cork but was educated mainly in the US. He has a BA in classics and philosophy (Loyola, MD), a BSc in mathematics (Open University) and a joint MA and PhD in classics and philosophy (Yale). He was a lecturer at Yale for two years before returning to Ireland where he lectured in UCD, TCD and Milltown, before taking up a permanent post in Maynooth in 2007.
Research Interests
Dr Desmond’s research centres on intellectual
history, particularly in the Greek Classical period and certain modern
receptions of antiquity; recurrent areas of interest include virtue ethics, political
thought, historiography and metaphysics.
In addition to individual articles on a range of subjects, he has published four monographs and edited (or co-edited) three volumes.
His doctoral dissertation on classical Greek ideas about wealth was
awarded a Whiting Dissertation Fellowship. Its published version, The Greek Praise of
Poverty: Origins of Ancient Cynicism (Notre Dame, 2006), was awarded the
NUI Centennial Prize in Academic Publishing in Languages, Literature &
Linguistics (2008). Exploring prevalent associations of poverty with the canonical
virtues in various spheres—work (temperance, justice), war (courage), and
philosophy (wisdom)—it argues that the strands of a latent Classical “praise of
poverty” converged and became explicit in the Socratic schools, and most
radically in the first Cynics.
Philosopher-Kings of Antiquity
(Bloomsbury/Continuum, 2011, pbk. 2013) explores the Platonic political
ideal—the union of power and wisdom—and its more important variations,
refractions, and perversions in antiquity and beyond. It includes chapters on sacred
kingship, Plato, Plutarch, Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor Julian, and
concludes with a survey of later figures such as Frederick
the Great, Thomas Jefferson and others who have been variously associated with
Plato’s ideal.
Hegel's Antiquity (Oxford, 2020)
explores the importance of the Greek and Roman worlds to Hegel's systematic
philosophy, with separate chapters on politics, art, religion, philosophy, and
historiography. Building on this, Dr Desmond’s current research remains
interdisciplinary, focusing on receptions of Plato and Platonism
in the "long" nineteenth century, particularly in English- and
German-language literature and philosophy.
Other active areas of research include
Homer and epic, Herodotus, Whitehead and modern process thought. He has edited
(with Michel Weber) the two-volume Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought (de
Gruyter, 2008).
Book
Edited Book
Book Chapter
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2020 | Will Desmond (2020) 'Diogenes of Sinope' In: Early Greek Ethics. Oxford : Oxford University Press. | |
2020 | Will Desmond (2020) 'Hercules among the Germans: From Winckelmann to Hölderlin' In: The Modern Hercules. Leiden : Brill. | |
2018 | Will Desmond (2018) 'Diogenes and the Meaning of Life' In: The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. London : Routledge. | |
2018 | Will Desmond (2018) 'Between gods and mortals: The Piety of Homeric Kings' In: Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond. Leiden : Brill. | |
2016 | Will Desmond (2016) '“Aristotle on peace: Biological, political, ethical, and metaphysical dimensions”' In: Peace and Reconciliation in the Ancient World. Abingdon-on-Thames : Routledge. | |
2016 | Will Desmond (2016) 'Gulliver’s Travels and Philosopher-Kings' In: Jonathan Swift and Philosophy. Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. | |
2016 | Will Desmond (2016) 'Gulliver among the Cynics' In: Jonathan Swift and Philosophy. Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. | |
2015 | Will Desmond (2015) 'Eleos' In: Lexicon historiographicum Graecum et Latinum. Pisa : Edizioni della Normale. | |
2014 | Will Desmond (2014) 'Diogenes' In: Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future. Melbourne : Simplicity Institute. | |
2014 | Will Desmond (2014) '“Antisthenes and Hegel' In: Antisthenica, Cynica, Socratica. Prague : Oikoumene. | |
2012 | Desmond W. (2012) 'Low Philosophy' In: The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies. [DOI] | |
2008 | Desmond W. (2008) 'Facts and events: Towards a Whiteheadian philosophy of history' In: Applied Process Thought. Berlin : Ontos/De Gruyter. [DOI] | |
2006 | Desmond, Dr. William (2006) 'Towards a Whiteheadian Philosophy of History' In: M. Dibben and T. Kelly(Eds.). Proceedings for 2005 CAPT Conference, Chromatiques Whiteheadiennes. : Ontos. | |
2005 | Desmond, Dr. William (2005) 'The Hybris of Socrates' In: Yearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society. : Irish Philosophical Society. [Full-Text] |
Peer Reviewed Journal
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2022 | Desmond W. (2022) 'Herodotus, Hegel, and knowledge'. Intellectual History Review, 32 (3):453-471. [DOI] | |
2020 | Desmond W. (2020) 'Diogenes of sinope'. Early Greek Ethics, :651-679. [DOI] | |
2015 | Will Desmond (2015) 'The Five Paragraph Essay'. Arion - Journal of Humanities and the Classics, 23 (2 (Fall)):111-116. [Full-Text] | |
2011 | WIll Desmond (2011) 'Ancient Cynicism and Modern Philosophy'. Filozofia, 66 :571-576. [Full-Text] | |
2011 | Dr. William Desmond (2011) 'Hegel, Homer, Heroism'. Yearbook of the Irish Philosophical Society, 1 :1-16. [Full-Text] | |
2007 | Desmond, William (2007) 'The Silence of Socrates: Dialectic and the Platonic Good'. MILLTOWN STUDIES, 58 :73-99. [Full-Text] | |
2006 | Desmond, Dr. William (2006) 'Lessons of Fear: A Reading of Thucydides'. Classical Philology, 101 :359-379. [Full-Text] | |
2004 | Desmond, William (2004) 'Punishments and the Conclusion of Herodotus' Histories'. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 44 :19-40. [Full-Text] |
Other Journal
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2020 | Will Desmond (2020) 'Hamartia, evil, and deity in Archaic and Classical Greek Thought' Communio: International Catholic Review, 47 (1) :1-36. [Link] | |
2009 | Desmond, William (2009) 'Wisdom of the Ages' In Character: A Journal of Everyday Virtues, 5 :4-13. [Full-Text] |
Conference Publication
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2018 | Desmond, W (2018) HOMER AND THE GOOD RULER IN ANTIQUITY AND BEYOND Between Gods and Mortals: The Piety of Homeric Kings [DOI] |
Conference Contribution
Book Review
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2016 | Ronny Desmet (2016) Intuition in Mathematics and Physics: A Whiteheadian Approach. BREV | |
2013 | Mary P. Nichols (2013) Socrates on Friendship and Community: Reflections on Plato’s Symposium, Phaedrus and Lysis. BREV | |
2012 | Desmond, W (2012) Aesopic Conversations: Popular Tradition, Cultural Dialogue, and the Invention of Greek Prose. CHICAGO: BREV | |
2004 | Eva Brann (2004) The Music of the Republic: Essays on Socrates' Conversations and Plato's Writings. BREV | |
2013 | M. van Ackeren (ed.) (2013) A Companion to Marcus Aurelius. CAMBRIDGE: BREV [DOI] | |
2012 | L. Kurke (2012) Aesopic Conversations: Popular Tradition, Cultural Dialogue, and the Invention of Greek Prose . BREV | |
2007 | Corrigan, K. & E. Glazov-Corrigan (2007) Plato’s Dialectic at Play: Argument, Structure, and Myth in the Symposium. BREV | |
2006 | D. Brendan Nagle (2006) The Household as the Foundation of Aristotle's Polis . BREV | |
2005 | Kennedy, J.B. (2005) Space, Time and Einstein: An Introduction. BREV | |
2004 | Jon Mikalson (2004) Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars. BREV | |
2002 | V. Hanson, J. Heath, and B. Thornton (2002) Bonfire of the Humanities . BREV |
Video recording / TV
Year | Publication | |
---|---|---|
2019 | Will Desmond (2019) The philosophy of cynicism. Ted-Ed Animations: VID [Link] |
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2023) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.
Teaching Interests
In addition to language modules (mainly Greek, some Latin), I regularly teach the following modules.
GC 151
Introduction
to Greek and Roman Civilization, I (Gods
and Heroes: From Myth to History)
GC 213 Greek
Mythology: Homer, Ovid, and the Trojan War
GC 218 Greek Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
GC
350 Essay Project (Homer's Iliad)
GC 637 Herodotus and his World
GC 642 Philosophy
and Attic Tragedy
GC
644 Philosophy and Kingship in Antiquity
I welcome the opportunity to develop new modules on a range of ancient themes and genres, particularly those that resonate with student preferences and colleagues' interdisciplinary ventures.