About

My work

I am a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. At its broadest, my research seeks to make sense of how people make sense of the world, and how they interact with ideas and positions different from their own. In my first book Phenomenology or Deconstruction? (2009) I explored the complex relationship between two major philosophical tendencies in the thought of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricoeur and Jean-Luc Nancy. Difficult Atheism (2011) then examined how three contemporary thinkers—Alain Badiou, Jean-Luc Nancy and Quentin Meillassoux—make sense of the world without the gods of metaphysics, poetry and religion, and how their three positions critique and refine each other. In French Philosophy Today: New Figures of the Human in Badiou, Meillassoux, Malabou, Serres and Latour I shifted the focus from God to a humanity, arguing that very different contemporary thinkers each rely on a ‘host’ to make sense of the human, whether it be a capacity, substance or narrative. My latest book, Michel Serres: Figures of Thought (forthcoming) continues my investigation into different ways of making sense of the world by presenting the first systematic treatment in English of a key twentieth and twenty-first century philosopher whose genuinely cross-disciplinary work finds complex ‘North-West passages’ between the sciences, humanities and arts.

Current project: The modern emancipation narrative

I am currently exploring the different ways in which the modern West has made sense of the ideas of emancipation and liberation, drawing on both religious and secular models in its development of what has been called the modern ‘emancipation narrative’. The idea of a progressive liberation from the oppressions of previous ages is fundamental to modern Western identity, but unprecedented ecological and social challenges threaten this idea today. The project will produce a new account of the development and prospects of the modern Western concept of liberation, tracing how key cultural liberation stories, both religious and secular, shape collective experiences and hopes of freedom. It aims to develop a new theory of how ideals of liberation change over time, and to evaluate current challenges to the expectation that freedoms can or should progressively increase.

Philosophy and theology

My work increasingly explores the complex relationship between modern and contemporary thought and theology. In a series of three books I explore how Derrida (2017), Foucault (2018) and Deleuze (forthcoming) interact with theological gestures and motifs in ways that are not always accounted for on the surface of their texts, bringing their writing into conversation with theological approaches to the questions and problems their work seeks to address.

How ideas shape our lives

Finally, my writing seeks to show the practical relevance of philosophical, cultural and theological ideas for the way we live our lives and the assumptions and commitments in terms of which we understand our world. My books From Plato to Postmodernism: The Story of Western Culture through Philosophy, Literature and Art (2011) and Thinking through Creation: Genesis 1 and 2 as Tools of Cultural Critique (2017) lead a non-specialist audience on a journey through the ways in which ideas shape our selves and our world.

Brief biography

As an undergraduate I read Modern and Medieval Languages (French and German) at Jesus College, Cambridge from 1998-2002, with a wonderful year in Paris as part of my study. In 2002-03 I completed an MPhil in European Literature and Culture, with essays on Derrida and Calvin (a fascinating pair of thinkers to explore together), and a dissertation on Paul Ricœur’s work on justice. I then received AHRC funding to complete a PhD from 2003-2006, which became the book Phenomenology or Deconstruction?

After that I spent a year without a regular job, supervising and teaching at various colleges in Cambridge and applying for Junior Research Fellowships. I am very grateful to Magdalene College for the opportunity to work as the Lumley Junior Research Fellow from 2007-09, giving me the chance to work on the project that became Difficult Atheism. Gradually working my way further up Castle Hill, I then took up a temporary University Lectureship in French at Cambridge and fellowship at Murray Edwards College (formerly New Hall) from 2009-11, before moving with my wife Alison to Melbourne in 2011 to begin a senior lectureship in French Studies at Monash University. In addition to teaching and research duties I have served terms of office as Deputy Head of School (Research), school Honours Coordinator and Head of French.

I became a Christian when I was fifteen years old and since then I have been fascinated by the ways in which philosophy and contemporary culture can be brought into conversation with Christian theology.

You can find me on Twitter @DrChrisWatkin.