Staff profile

About

Office hours: 

2023-2024: Drop in, 2-4pm Tuesdays in my office (Room 09 in Old Elvet 48). You can also email me to make a zoom appointment.

I have broad interests in philosophy, though most of my writing circles around space-perception, the nature of human action, and form in art. 

My approach tends to be fairly historical and I enjoy collaboration. Since 2015 I have been working closely with Rachael Wiseman on the Women In Parenthesis project, one of the fruits of which is our co-authored book Metaphysical Animals. We've also run a number of spin-off activities, including Notes from a Biscuit Tin and Philosophy by Postcard. You can join the Mapping the Quartet network (for researchers working on one or all of Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot or Mary Midgley) here.

This year I am working on a number of areas: the metaphysics of mind found in certain ethical theories, rules and convention, and structural explanation. I am also trying to contexualise Anscombe's philosophy of action in a mid-century (and earlier) interest in the paranormal. And I am always thinking about empty space (the topic of my 2012 PhD and hopefully one day some form of book).

With Rachael Wiseman, I continue to work on further Quartet-inspired themes and schemes. I am also part of the research collaboration Sense Perception in the North (SPIN) with fellow philosophers of perception from Leeds, York and Liverpool.

I am originally from Dublin and my name Mac Cumhaill is pronounced Mac 'Cool' (a gaelified version of the anglicized Mc Cool, which is the name of this mythical person)

Administrative Role

Director of Postgraduate Research (DPGR) - with James Miller

• History of Philosophy
• Metaphysics and Ontology of Mind
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Perception

Authored book

• Mac Cumhaill, C., & Wiseman, C. (2022). Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life. Chatto and Windus (UK), Doubleday (US)

Chapter in book

• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2022). Sensation in Intention. In A. Haddock, & R. Wiseman (Eds.), The Anscombean Mind. Routledge
• Mac Cumhaill, C., & Wiseman, R. (2022). The Importance of Murdoch's Early Encounters with Anscombe and Marcel. In M. Hopwood, & S. Panizza (Eds.), The Murdochian Mind. Routledge
• Mac Cumhaill, C., & Wiseman, R. (2021). Sensation and the Grammar of Life: Anscombe’s Procedure and Her Purpose. In H. Logue, & L. Richardson (Eds.), Purpose and Procedure in Philosophy of Perception (276-294). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198853534.003.0014
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2019). 'Raum' and 'room': Comments on Anton Marty on Space Perception. In H. Leblanc, & G. Bacligalupo (Eds.), Anton Marty and Contemporary Philosophy. Palgrave McMillan
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2018). Nonsense and Visual Evanescence. In T. Crowther, & C. Mac Cumhaill (Eds.), Perceptual Ephemera. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198722304.003.0014
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2017). Night Fight. In H. Naar, & F. Teroni (Eds.), The ontology of emotion (187-208). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316275221.011

Edited book

• Mac Cumhaill, C., & Crowther, T. (Eds.). (2018). Perceptual Ephemera. Oxford University Press

Journal Article

• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2022). Bivs, Space and 'in'. Erkenntnis, 87(1), 369-392. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-019-00198-z
• Mac Cumhaill, C., & Wiseman, R. (2022). Interrupting the conversation: Donald MacKinnon, wartime tutor of Anscombe, Midgley, Murdoch and Foot. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 56(6), 838-850. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.12689
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2020). Depicting Human Form. Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements, 87, 151-167. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1358246119000274
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2020). Still Life, A Mirror: Phasic Memory and Re-encounters with Artworks. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 11(2), 423-446. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-020-00472-y
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2020). Getting the measure of Murdoch's Good. European Journal of Philosophy, 28(1), 235-247. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejop.12540
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2020). Co-seeing and seeing through: reimagining Kant’s subtraction argument with Stumpf and Husserl. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 28(6), 1217-1239. https://doi.org/10.1080/09608788.2019.1695579
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2018). Absential Locations and the Figureless Ground. Sartre Studies International, 24(1), 34-47. https://doi.org/10.3167/ssi.2018.240104
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2017). The Tactual Ground, Immersion and "the space between". The Southern Journal of Philosophy, 55(1), 5-31. https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.12212
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2015). Perceiving Immaterial Paths. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 90(3), 687-715. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12037
• Mac Cumhaill, C. (2011). Specular Space. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 111(3pt3), 487-495. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9264.2011.00320.x