Joseph Rivera, Ph.D

About Joseph

Joseph Rivera (Ph.D. University of Edinburgh) is a tenured Professor of philosophy and philosophy of religion at Dublin City University, a large public university located on the northside of Dublin, Ireland. Serving for nearly 10 years as the Director of the Department’s MA programme in World Religions as well as the Research Director of the PhD programme in our department, Joseph has released 3 monographs and 1 edited book, served as guest editor for 4 special issues in academic journals, published as sole author over 40 articles, and continues to publish popular essays in venues like the Dublin Review of Books and RTE Brainstorm.  

His work focuses on three broad scholarly areas: (i) philosophical themes like realism v. antirealism, the nature of love and empathy, the experience of time, and the structure of the self, usually from the point of view of phenomenology and existentialism (Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Gurwitsch, Henry, Marion, Lacoste,); (ii) political theory, the nature of liberal democracy, and constructive strategies for public dialogue, especially as it is conceived in wake of John Rawls, perhaps the foremost thinker of political liberalism; (iii) and finally, philosophy of religion, with particular interest in the enduring writings of St. Augustine, the fourth-century father of western theology—as well as a sympathetic engagement with Nietzsche’s critique of religion. See the publications section for articles and books which fall into these three areas.

Over the past several years, Joseph has been working hard to finish two monograph-length manuscripts. One explores the concept of world and worldmaking from the vantage of antirealism and existential philosophy of religion (Augustine features heavily). The second constitutes a philosophical essay on self-love as distinct from narcissism. 

Originally from a small town in Missouri, Joseph studied in Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, and Edinburgh. Upon graduation in 2013, he took up his first post in Dublin, where he  currently teaches, researches and supervises graduate students. He has supervised over 20 MA theses and has seen to successful completion 3 PhD theses to completion. Currently Joseph is supervising 6 PhD students.

Living as an expat in Dublin pays dividends! A great pleasure of Joseph’s is the regular travel to the European continent, where conferences make their home in nearly every capital city from Paris to Rome to Vienna. 

CONTACT

Joseph welcomes all inquiries, from exploratory emails about co-publishing, to requests for published articles, to invitations to speak or join your podcast.

Email: joseph.rivera@dcu.ie