Nicholas Smith

Most of Nicholas Smith’s research has been in critical theory, hermeneutics, political philosophy and philosophy of work, though he has recently branched out a bit into philosophy of higher education and philosophy of popular culture. He has taught a lot of history of philosophy, and his philosophical research is informed by an understanding of how we are placed historically. He has written monograph books on hermeneutics (Strong Hermeneutics: Contingency and Moral Identity, Routledge, 1997) and Charles Taylor (Charles Taylor: Meaning, Morals and Modernity, Polity, 2002), and he was co-author of The Return of Work in Critical Theory: Self, Society, Politics (Columbia University Press, 2018). He has edited or co-edited several books and journal issues, including Reading McDowell (Routledge, 2002), Social Hope (Critical Horizons, 2008), New Philosophies of Labour (Brill, 2012), Recognition Theory as Social Research (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Philosophy and Work (Revue Internationale de Philosophie, 2016). His current research continues his career-long concern with interpretation and meaning-making in various contexts of life.