Eoin O’Connell Asks Who We Are and Why We Exist

Brianna CoppolaAsst. Asst. Features Editor

Eoin O’Connell, associate professor of philosophy at Manhattan College, is bringing both his Irish roots and his curiosity about the human spirit to her classes at MC.

O’Connell is originally from Ireland and teaches several philosophy classes such as Kant, Modern Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Art and many more.

O’Connell had previously gone to undergraduate school in Dublin, Ireland at University College. Afterwards, he went for his Master’s and doctorate degrees at Fordham University. O’Connell, right from the moment he took one philosophy class, knew that this is what he wanted to do. O’Connell started working at MC in 2008 and has thoroughly enjoyed teaching students about philosophy.

“I mean, I was very glad to get a job in New York City,” O’Connell said. “Especially when you’re graduating from grad school particularly in an area like philosophy where there aren’t like a huge amount of jobs. You don’t really get a choice. You take what you can get but from my perspective, I was very happy to stay here. I was already in New York. I just like the big city kind of thing.”

O’Connell reflected on both his education in Ireland and in the United States at Fordham University. He shared with The Quadrangle some differences between the cultures and the campus life. He also explained that because he did undergraduate in Ireland and graduate school in America, that that was one of the biggest differences.

“In the school I was in in Ireland was the Irish equivalent of a state school in the United States,” O’Connell said. “It was a large, publicly funded institution where you know, thousands of people go and you have massive lectures and that kind of thing. And as for Fordham, even though it’s a pretty big school, it’s still a private, small school. It’s a Catholic school, so it has kind of a religious aspect. It also had smaller classes.”

O’Connell explained how he had to adapt to different cultures in the United States. He had to maneuver around the cultural differences, especially having an accent which was something that came into mind as he moved into teaching.

“So when you’re teaching, the most important thing is to be understood, right?,” O’Connell said. “So to kind of know how to communicate and speak so I had to think about that, how my accent or even my turns of phrase might be understood. So that was a whole range of things that I had to figure out when moving to this country.”

When it comes to philosophy, O’Connell works to incorporate as much as he can into his lessons. There are different traditions in philosophy such as traditions in Ancient Greece or traditions in Chinese philosophy.

“So if you’re teaching the history of philosophy, you will end up omnific,” O’Connell said. “If you’re teaching the history of European philosophy or tradition, you’re going to be covering a lot of European philosophy. And there’s just a lot of very influential thinkers that came out of Europe, particularly in philosophy, we call the Aryan modern period, which is sort of the 1700s. There’s just a range of very influential figures there.”

O’Connell also shared that the main reason why you teach philosophy is because it makes you think about those who have lived before us.

“You think you might be having an original thought but chances are somebody else has,” O’Connell said. “You just don’t know where it came from.”

O’Connell likes to pick philosophers that allow him to talk about big ideas. It allows him to ask questions like “how can we be sure that we know anything?”

O’Connell has been asking himself questions like that since he was a kid. He didn’t know much about philosophy when he was younger, since there weren’t many courses offered in high school. However, being exposed to philosophy in college proved an initial connection to the subject.

“I knew this was it,” O’Connell said. “This is what I’ve been waiting for. And I went from being a pretty mediocre student to being a good student because now I’m doing something that I really enjoy.”

He also shared that he began tutoring other students in school in Dublin. His professors knew he was good in this field and this is how he also knew he wanted to be a teacher.

“Ireland was in the midst of a lot of political turmoil when I was young,” O’Connell said. “So that influenced thinking about, again, where do we get our beliefs from and how can we be sure whether our beliefs are actually true or not. Are we being manipulated by propaganda and the government? Things like that.”

Sarah Scott, the chair of the philosophy department, shared some of her thoughts on O’Connell as a colleague and friend.

Scott mentioned that O’Connell had previously been chair of the department and that during the pandemic, O’Connell had really held the group together. He even helped them get out of other issues such as a budget crisis.

“He’s been a real leader in the department, taking us through the pandemic and different ups and downs of the last few years,” Scott said. “But I also think somebody that has a real dedication to making philosophy accessible to everyone and focusing on the benefit that philosophy can bring to students.”

Scott mentioned that she learned a lot from working with O’Connell. The department as a whole continues to learn from one another. She finds that understanding someone else’s point of view is crucial before you make any assumptions.

“Another thing is that he is incredibly loyal,” Scott said. “He’s kind of shown me as a chair and a colleague what loyalty means.”

Scott feels that O’Connell has a genuine curiosity about what his students are thinking. She mentioned that he is always fully present in the class, engaging with each student. Scott observed his classes before and felt his lectures were never just lectures because the students always participated.

David Bollert, associate professor of philosophy, also had many kind words to share with The Quadrangle as someone who has worked closely with O’Connell for 10 years.

O’Connell was described as a wonderful colleague and a friend to everybody. Bollert noted many of his contributions such as providing logical and critical thinking when it came to discussions. Because the philosophy community is small, his contributions don’t go unnoticed.

“I think in many ways, some of Dr. O’Connell’s most important contributions have to do with what he does for our department as a small community, right,” Bollert said. “He’s a very caring individual. He has a wonderful sense of humor. He is someone who, if he thinks that you’ve made a mistake, he is perfectly happy to help you course correct, right. But he does so in a spirit of generosity.”