Ciphers of Transcendence: Essays in Philosophy of Religion in Honour of Patrick Masterson [Hardcover]

The doyen of university presidents emeriti, Patrick (Paddy) Masterson remains one of UCD’s most admired scholars and leaders, twenty-five years after he was its President. A Festschrift is the crowning accolade for an academic, and the present volume is testament to the high esteem in which Paddy Masterson is regarded by his peers. It is also a token of gratitude from his Alma Mater. Paddy Masterson graduated from UCD in 1958 with a BA in Philosophy, First Class Honours, first place, and with a scholarship from the NUI to undertake doctoral studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, where he was awarded a PhD avec grande distinction in 1962. He returned to UCD to join the Department of Metaphysics and pursued an illustrious career, first as a scholar, author and teacher of philosophy, and subsequently as an academic leader. He was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology in 1980, became Registrar in 1983 and served as President from 1986 to 1994. Paddy Masterson left UCD to take up the position of Principal of the European University Institute of Florence in 1994 but has always kept in touch with his university and remains Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Religion. Outside of Ireland, he has been honoured in Portugal, Italy, the United States, and his beloved France. He shares his intellect and wit by continuing to publish in philosophy and his more recent passion, fiction.

Fran O’Rourkeis Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University College Dublin, where he taught for thirty-six years. A graduate of University College Galway, he studied in Vienna, Cologne, Louvain and Leuven. He has held Fulbright and Onassis fellowships, and in 2003 was Visiting Research Professor at Marquette University. He has published widely on Plato, Aristotle, Neoplatonism, Aquinas, and Heidegger. His most recent book,Aristotelian Interpretations(Irish Academic Press, 2016), has been translated into Greek.