In this article I explore how a philosophical conception of love may be used to draw debate on the death of God beyond the binary opposition between theology and philosophy through a comparative study of the work of J... more abstractIn this article I explore how a philosophical conception of love may be used to draw debate on the death of God beyond the binary opposition between theology and philosophy through a comparative study of the work of Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Luc Nancy. Although Marion’s reading of love—in both its theological and phenomenological guises—proposes an innovative phrasing of a non-metaphysical notion of divinity, I argue that it is ultimately unable to maintain its coherence in nominal discourse due to Marion’s insistence on keeping love and being separate. In contrast, through his unique thinking on ontology, Nancy’s philosophy allows us to reposition love at the heart of being, from whence it may serve as a means of disrupting the very principle governing the atheist and theist world-views. Far from dismantling Marion’s core proposition, I conclude that the two thinkers may in fact be more closely aligned than previous scholarship has acknowledged, coming together in the need to affirm an experience of the impossible that takes place in the present rather than in any eschatological fulfillment to come. At this intersection between two nominally very different thinkers, love forms an ontological limit-point for thought that poses a challenge to both theology and philosophy alike as they continue to grapple with the question of religion in the twenty-first century.

Ontology, Philosophical Theology, Jean-Luc Nancy, Deconstruction, Phenomenology, and 3 more

More Info: Volume 80, Issue 3, pp. 297–319. DOI 10.1007/s11153-015-9552-z

Journal Name: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Publication Date: Dec 2016

This article aims to explore the philosophical approach to faith after deconstruction as manifested in the work of Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Luc Nancy. By taking the saturated phenomenon as its focus, the analysis seek... more abstractThis article aims to explore the philosophical approach to faith after deconstruction as manifested in the work of Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-Luc Nancy. By taking the saturated phenomenon as its focus, the analysis seeks to demonstrate that whilst Marion’s thinking proves to be an innovative re-imagining of the possibilities of phenomenology, its problematic recourse to a supplementary hermeneutic means that saturation can never be adequately applied to faith without simultaneously compromising the excessive intuition upon which it relies. The article then explores whether Nancy’s suggestion that saturation be re-framed as faith can offer a viable alternative approach. Whilst the post-phenomenological modality within which Nancy operates means it may be problematic to retain the term ‘saturation’ in the exact sense Marion gives it, it is argued that Nancy’s version of saturated faith allows us to approach the binary divide between philosophy and theology from a different direction, resulting in a vision of faith that cuts across theism and atheism, destabilising them from within. Although Nancy’s thought in this area certainly does nothing to respond to persistent questions surrounding the place of institutionalized religion within secular modernity, it nevertheless serves as a powerful tool for thinking the possibilities of faith in the twenty-first century.

Philosophy Of Religion, Theology, Jean-Luc Nancy, Deconstruction, Hermeneutics, and 3 more

More Info: DOI 10.1007/s11841-015-0473-1

Publication Date: Jul 3, 2015

Publication Name: Sophia: International Journal of Philosophy and Traditions

French Literature, Philosophy Of Religion, Jean-Luc Nancy, Deconstruction, and Romain Rolland

More Info: French Forum 39.2-3 (2014): 113-127.

Humour is a tool that has long been used at all levels in the classroom setting to engage students and facilitate the learning process. When it comes to foreign language learning, however, humour is often seen as prob... more abstractHumour is a tool that has long been used at all levels in the classroom setting to engage students and facilitate the learning process. When it comes to foreign language learning, however, humour is often seen as problematic due to its inherent link to cultural specificities. The pilot study described in this contribution aimed to exploit the connection between humour and culture in order to encourage the questioning of French cultural stereotypes. A series of popular comedy clips were delivered to a cohort of students via YouTube in a third year ab initio French unit at The University of Western Australia. The theoretical framework for the study was provided by Homi Bhabha’s notion of the ‘third space’, which offers a particularly effective way of phrasing a conception of culture that emphasises the important role of difference in identity formation both in intra- and inter-cultural contexts. The overarching aim of the study was to determine the extent to which participants identified with the comedic situations they saw on screen and thereby explore whether humour served as an effective means of facilitating a negotiation of the third space. Data was gathered through guided teacher-student discussion after the viewing of each clip and an end-of-semester survey. Results indicate that the use of popular French comedy is an effective way of engaging students by exposing them to everyday language and culture in an entertaining medium. However, although the project revealed some key facets of students’ negotiation of the third space, the videos demonstrated a limited capacity to promote an awareness of cultural difference and the complexities of identity formation. Further research into appropriate techniques for facilitating such awareness is therefore required.

Cross-Cultural Studies, Third Space, Homi Bhabha (Cultural Theory), Cross-Cultural Communication, Humour Studies, and 1 more

More Info: (co-authored with B. André) in Practices and Policies: Current Research in Languages and Cultures Education: LCNAU (2014). Catherine E. Travis, John Hajek, Colin Nettelbeck, Elizabeth Beckmann and Anya Lloyd Woods (eds).

This article seeks to explore the implications of Jean-Luc Nancy’s reading of the subject for educational philosophy by connecting his re-interpretation of Descartes to his later thinking on what he names the ontologi... more abstractThis article seeks to explore the implications of Jean-Luc Nancy’s reading of the subject for educational philosophy by connecting his re-interpretation of Descartes to his later thinking on what he names the ontological singular plural. Nancy’s re-imagining of the Cogito coalesces around the figure of the mouth (la bouche) through which the subject enunciates itself within the world. Reading this extension of the ego through the mouth as an enunciation of ontological singular plurality exposes a speaking subject that communicates via a sharing of its own being with other singular subjects. The article concludes that Nancy’s singular plural holds potential for affirming a substance-less subjectivity that can nevertheless serve as a locus of meaning in the classroom.

Education, Jean-Luc Nancy, Continental Philosophy, Educational Philosophy, and Subjectivity

Publication Date: Apr 3, 2014

Publication Name: Educational Philosophy and Theory

This paper describes discipline-specific transition support utilised to follow-up the Post-Entry Language Assessment (PELA) recently introduced at Edith Cowan University as one strategy to address declining rates of E... more abstractThis paper describes discipline-specific transition support utilised to follow-up the Post-Entry Language Assessment (PELA) recently introduced at Edith Cowan University as one strategy to address declining rates of English language proficiency. Transition support was embedded within a first year core unit and emphasis was placed on assisting students to develop spoken and written communicative competencies by scaffolding assessment tasks and providing other academic supports that used contextualised examples. While general satisfaction with the academic support offered during the course was high, the program achieved limited success in encouraging at-risk students to seek support. Further investigation into methods of encouraging student participation is required, along with research into strategies for extending effective academic socialisation support into the online learning environment.  

Education, First Year Experience, Language Assessment, and Academic literacy

More Info: Co-authored with Shelley Beatty and Maureen Buckingham

Journal Name: The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education

Publication Date: Mar 2014

Publication Name: The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education

More Info: published in the Australian Journal of French Studies 48.2 (2011): 188-200.

More Info: Cahiers de Brèves (No. 20, December 2007).

More Info: in Romain Rolland, une œuvre de paix (Actes du colloque de Vézelay 4 et 5 octobre 2008) Ed. Bernard Duchatelet. Paris : Publications de la Sorbonne, 2010.

Christianity, Faith, Baruch Spinoza, and Romain Rolland

Location: Presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Australian Society for French Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, 3-6 December 2014

Event Date: Dec 2014

Philosophy Of Religion, Philosophical Theology, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Jean-Luc Marion

Location: 21st Annual Conference of the Australian Society for French Studies, UQ, Brisbane

Event Date: Dec 9, 2013

Location: ANU

Event Date: Jul 5, 2013

Location: Colloque universitaire of the Journées Internationales Romain Rolland 2008, “Romain Rolland: une œuvre de paix”, in Vézelay, France, 4th-5th October 2008

Location: 17th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for French Studies, “Tekhne, Technique, Technologie”, Brisbane, July 2009

Location: 19th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for French Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, 27th-28th November 2011