Monographs by Seamus Mulryan
Theorizes courage as a communicate virtue for intercultural dialogue and cross-cultural understan... more Theorizes courage as a communicate virtue for intercultural dialogue and cross-cultural understanding by engaging with work in philosophical hermeneutics, ethics, existentialism, and psychoanalysis.
Copyright registered with United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
Citation: Mulryan, Seamus. “Confronting death: Cultivating courage for cross-cultural understanding.’” PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26378
Articles by Seamus Mulryan
Can Educational Responsibility Be Eudaimonic?
Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2025
A critical engagement with Barbara Stengel’s _Responsibility: Philosophy of Education in Practice _
Ethical Diversity, the Common Good, and the Courage of Dialogue
Educational Theory, 2024
In this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body poli... more In this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body politic require the ethical virtue of courage, which is distinct from the virtue of intellectual humility, and this is of central importance in the education of members of a pluralist society. Mulryan begins with Robert Kunzman's theory of Ethical Dialogue and departs from it through Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience and Charles Taylor's claims about the inextricable relationship between self-intelligibility and moral spaces. Finally, Mulryan illustrates the promises and perils of courageous dialogue as an educative activity by way of Plato's Meno, Protagoras, and Gorgias.
Philosophy of Education 2016, ed. Natasha Levinson, 2018
In this article, the author finds two problems with Giroux's concept of emancipatory authority: F... more In this article, the author finds two problems with Giroux's concept of emancipatory authority: First, it reconstitutes the problem of ideology and power rather than escaping it. Second, Giroux's emancipatory authority is derived from a misunderstanding of the ontology of authority itself. From this position, the author aims to establish what he calls "deep liberation pedagogy" through a reoriented understanding of authority, which draws from the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer and aims to resolve both problems in Giroux's work. Finally, the author offers the Socratic aporia found in Plato's _Meno_ as an illustration of deep liberation.
Citation: Mulryan, Seamus. “Toward Deep Liberation: A Gadamerian Correction to Critical Pedagogy.” In _Philosophy of Education 2016_, edited by Natasha Levinson, pp. 167-175. Urbana, IL: Philosophy of Education Society, 2018.
Philosophy of Education, 2018
Journal of Aesthetic Education, May 2015
This article considers the ramifications of the persistently negative representations of educatio... more This article considers the ramifications of the persistently negative representations of educational administrators in popular film and television. It begins with the argument that Hollywood’s pejorative portrayals of principals not only reflect something about what it already means to be an educational administrator, but they also serve a pedagogical role in creating educational administrators. While some scholarship in film studies and cultural studies aptly describe representations of educational administrators, much of this work relies on implicit philosophical assumptions that this article attempts to make explicit. To do so, the article begins by generalizing common filmic representations of principals as reflections of culture and as forces in shaping ideas and narratives about them. Drawing from Henry Giroux, Michel Foucault, and Murray Edelman, the article argues that such portrayals are centrally defining and existentially limiting for principals, and, as such, should be taken seriously by scholars and practitioners of educational administration. The purpose of this article is to broaden understanding of the dynamic between film and viewer to make a strong case both for why we should pay attention to Hollywood portrayals of educational administrators and to direct attention to ways of thinking about the power of these portrayals. Citation: Mulryan, Seamus and Stephanie Mackler. “The Existential Significance of Cinema in Educational Administration.” _Journal of Aesthetic Education_ 49, 2 (2015): 1-19.
Philosophy of Education 2009, ed. Deborah Kerdeman., 2010
Gadamer’s account of interpretation draws from Aristotle’s concept of phronesis to explain the re... more Gadamer’s account of interpretation draws from Aristotle’s concept of phronesis to explain the relationship between the universal of the text and the particular of the interpreter. However, Gadamer does not address the moral dimensions of his theory of hermeneutic experience. Experience in general makes us aware of our the particular finiteness of our understanding, and in the particular case of the hermeneutic experience, we can be made aware of the finiteness of human existence in general through the challenging of enough of our radically held beliefs. Our fear of death comes into play, and the ability to withstand such fear would be courage. Drawing from Aristotle, Paul Tillich, and Chögyam Trungpa, I work to reinterpret courage for the particular situation of Gadamerian dialogue. Citation: Mulryan, Seamus. “The Courage of Dialogue.” In _Philosophy of Education 2009_, edited by Deborah Kerdeman, pp. 141-148. Urbana, IL: Philosophy of Education Society, 2010.
Policy Futures in Education, 2008
The use of development is ubiquitous in everyday language, and theories regarding it can be found... more The use of development is ubiquitous in everyday language, and theories regarding it can be found in the social sciences and humanities. Although much work has been done to examine the meaning of development and its history, little attention has been paid to Hegel's role as the philosophical anchor for the modern life of development. By revisiting Hegel's Philosophy of History and analyzing some of the most influential thinkers in modern theories of human development - spanning economic, social, cognitive and moral - the author argues that these theories are far from escaping the Hegelian logic of Development. Furthermore, he warns of the potential violence necessarily assumed in such theories, and that revolutionizing the philosophical framework upon which developmental theories rest would be a worthwhile endeavor.
Book Chapters by Seamus Mulryan
Dialogical Hermeneutics of Facticity: An Educative Activity for the Global Era
Paideia: Education in the Global Era, Volume II, eds. K. Boudouris & K. Kalimtzis, 2008
Reconceptualizing Educational Administration as a Hermeneutics of Trust
Trust and Betrayal in Educational Administration and Leadership, eds. Eugenie Samier and Michèle Schmidt, 2010
Death of a Self: True Dialogue and Authentic Existence
Proceedings of the 2007 Conference of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain
INTRODUCTION Imagine yourself on an airplane spiraling toward the ground. If we let our imaginati... more INTRODUCTION Imagine yourself on an airplane spiraling toward the ground. If we let our imagination take us there, this fantasy invokes a paralyzing fear known as terror. This same mood might be experienced if we were stranded in a desert without water, when our perishing might not ...
Review Essays and Book Reviews by Seamus Mulryan
Educational Theory, 2016
IN THE SUBSEQUENT EXCHANGE, Maxine McClintock and Samuel Rocha respond to Seamus Mulryan’s review... more IN THE SUBSEQUENT EXCHANGE, Maxine McClintock and Samuel Rocha respond to Seamus Mulryan’s review (in this issue) of their books: Maxine McClintock, Letters of Recommendation (New York: Collaboratory for Liberal Learning, 2013), and Samuel D. Rocha, A Primer for Philosophy and Education (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014), respectively. Following their responses, Mulryan offers a rejoinder.
Education Review, 15, Jul 10, 2012
Book Review: Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk, Inventing the Modern Self and John Dewey: Modernities and the Traveling of Pragmatism in Education
Talks by Seamus Mulryan
The conflicting aims of public education
The humanities as a public good: educating courageous citizens
With the rise of high-stakes testing and the private sphere's insistence that education's primary... more With the rise of high-stakes testing and the private sphere's insistence that education's primary aim is workforce development, curricula in public schools has narrowed, sidelining social studies, civics, and art, among other subjects. In this talk, professor of education Seamus Mulryan will argue, from the perspectives of philosophical hermeneutics and existential psychoanalysis, why the arts and humanities are worth saving if we hope to preserve a pluralistic and democratic society.
Courage and Cross-cultural Understanding
Whither Education? Education, Schooling, and Teacher Training
Papers by Seamus Mulryan
Ethical Diversity, The Common Good, and The Courage of Dialogue
Educational theory, Mar 1, 2024
In this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body poli... more In this article, Seamus Mulryan contends that dialogue about questions that matter to a body politic require the ethical virtue of courage, which is distinct from the virtue of intellectual humility, and this is of central importance in the education of members of a pluralist society. Mulryan begins with Robert Kunzman's theory of Ethical Dialogue and departs from it through Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of hermeneutic experience and Charles Taylor's claims about the inextricable relationship between self-intelligibility and moral spaces. Finally, Mulryan illustrates the promises and perils of courageous dialogue as an educative activity by way of Plato's Meno, Protagoras, and Gorgias.
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Monographs by Seamus Mulryan
Copyright registered with United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
Citation: Mulryan, Seamus. “Confronting death: Cultivating courage for cross-cultural understanding.’” PhD diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26378
Articles by Seamus Mulryan
Citation: Mulryan, Seamus. “Toward Deep Liberation: A Gadamerian Correction to Critical Pedagogy.” In _Philosophy of Education 2016_, edited by Natasha Levinson, pp. 167-175. Urbana, IL: Philosophy of Education Society, 2018.
Book Chapters by Seamus Mulryan
Review Essays and Book Reviews by Seamus Mulryan
Talks by Seamus Mulryan
Papers by Seamus Mulryan