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Dr. Gavin Rae

Gavin Rae is Associate Professor (Profesor Titular) of Philosophy in the Department of Logic and Theoretical Philosophy. I hold a Ph.D. in Philosophy (University of Warwick, 2010); M.A. in Continental Philosophy (University of Warwick, 2006); M.Sc. by Research in Political Theory (University of Edinburgh, 2004); and B.A. (Hons) in Business Administration (Robert Gordon University, 2003). Before joining UCM, I was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Experienced Research Professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (2015–2019), while prior to that I taught at the American University in Cairo (Egypt) as an Andrew Mellon Fellow (2010–2013) and Assistant Professor (2012–2015). I currently maintain affiliate member status with the Contemporary Political Theory Research Group at Royal Holloway: University of London (England), as well as with the Scottish Centre for Continental Philosophy at the University of Dundee (Scotland), and have held Visiting Scholar positions at the University of Oxford (2022), Royal Hollaway: University of London (2015), and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2012, 2013). I am currently the Principal Investigator for a major four-year project funded by the Spanish Government titled “The Politics of Reason” and am also the co-editor of Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory

My research interests lie in nineteenth and twentieth-century European philosophy, where I work at the intersection of sociopolitical philosophy, ontology, and ethics. Besides having published over seventy scholarly articles and book chapters, I have authored seven monographs, the most recent of which are Poststructuralist Agency (Edinburgh University Press, 2020); Evil in the Western Philosophical Tradition (Edinburgh University Press, 2019); and Critiquing Sovereign Violence (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). My latest book Questioning Sexuality: From Psychoanalysis to Gender Theory and Beyond is forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press. I have also co-edited three volumes, the most recent of which are Historical Traces and Future Pathways of Poststructuralism (Routledge, 2021); The Meanings of Violence: From Critical Theory to Biopolitics (Routledge, 2019); and Subjectivity and the Political (Routledge, 2018). The following volumes are forthcoming: Transformation in Contemporary French Philosophy (Edinburgh University Press); Philosophy across Borders (Routledge); and Subjective Agency and Poststructuralism (Routledge). 

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I am currently working on various projects including:

(1) Revising a manuscript on political rationality from a postfoundational perspective for a major international university press.

(2) Co-editing (with Cillian Ó Fathaigh), the volume Subjective Agency and Poststructuralism (under contract with Routledge), which examines the question of subjective agency in poststructuralism thought. The collection is composed of nine original essays from scholars located at Deakin University (Australia), King's College London (England), University of Cologne (Germany), University College Dublin (Ireland), Jagiellonian University (Poland), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (x2, Spain), Kennesaw State University and Temple University (USA). I will also contribute a chapter titled "Agency and the Imaginary: Lacan, Irigaray, Castoriadis." 

(3) Co-editing (with Emma Ingala), the volume Philosophy across Borders: Perspectives from Contemporary Theory (under contract with Routledge), which examines the question of borders in contemporary theory. The collection is composed of ten original essays from scholars located at Universidad Católica del Maule (Chile), American University in Cairo (Egypt), King’s College London, New College of the Humanities, University of Sussex (England), Humboldt University (Germany), Radboud University Nijmegen (Holland),Jagiellonian University (Poland), University of Lisbon (Portugal), University of Belgrade (Serbia), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), California State University: Fullerton (USA).

(4) Co-editing (with Emma Ingala and Cillian Ó Fathaigh), the volume Transformation in Contemporary French Philosophy (under contract with Edinburgh University Press), which explores the question of transformation in contemporary French theory (Bergson to Malabou). The collection is composed of twelve original essays from scholars located at the Macquarie University (Australia), University of Vienna (Austria), University of Regina (Canada), King’s College London, London Metropolitan University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Reading, University of Sussex, University of West of England (England), University of Haifa (Israel), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), University of Scotland (Dundee), Kennesaw State University (USA). I will contribute a chapter titled "From Magma to Plasticity: Transformation in Castoriadis and Malabou."

(5) A chapter on the relationship between Heidegger and Deleuze for The Deleuzian Mind, edited by Jeffrey A. Bell and Henry Somers-Hall (New York: Routledge, under contract).

(6) A chapter on Castoriadis's notion of the new for Philosophical Perspectives on Artistic Agency, edited by Alistair Macaulay, Timothy Deane-Freeman, and Antonia Pont (New York: Palgrave Macmillian, under contract).

(6) Various articles, mainly engaging with the phenomenological tradition, that examine the question of action and its relation to the notion of free will.

(7) A manuscript engaging with the question of action in post-Kantian philosophy, paying particuar attention to the role that the question of will and willing plays therein. 

(8) Developing the activities of the four-year project "The Politics of Reason" (PID2020-117386GA-I00; PI: Gavin Rae) funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain. The project website can be found here.