Professor Emerita Moira Gatens
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Professor Emerita Moira Gatens

BA (Hons) UNSW PhD Sydney, FASSA, FAHA
Professor Emerita
Philosophy
Phone
+61 2 9351 2468
Fax
+61 2 9351 6660
Address
A14 - The Quadrangle
The University of Sydney
Websites
Professor Emerita Moira Gatens

After completing her PhD, Moira Gatens taught at Monash University (1987) and the Australian National University (1987-1992) before returning to Sydney in 1992. She is a fellow of the Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. In 2007-08 she was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin. In 2010 she held the Spinoza Chair at the University of Amsterdam. In 2011 she was President of the Australasian Association of Philosophy. In 2012 she was appointed the Challis Professor of Philosophy.

Moira Gatens has research interests in the following broad areas: social and political philosophy, feminist philosophy, early modern philosophy, and philosophy and literature. Much of her most recent research focuses on Spinoza and George Eliot.

  • Early modern philosophy (especially Spinoza)
  • Feminist Philosophy
  • Political Philosophy
  • Philosophy and Literature

Publications

Books

  • Gatens, M. (2021). Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and Corporeality (Korean Translation). London: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2011). Spinozas Hard Path to Freedom. Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum.
  • Gatens, M., Lloyd, G. (1999). Collective Imaginings: Spinoza, Past and Present. London: Routledge.

Edited Books

  • Celermajer, D., Churcher, M., Gatens, M. (2021). Institutional Transformations: Imagination, Embodiment, and Affect. UK: Routledge (Taylor and Francis). [More Information]
  • Celermajer, D., Churcher, M., Gatens, M. (2020). Institutional Transformations: Imagination, Embodiment and Affect.: Routledge.
  • Gatens, M. (2009). Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza. United States: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Book Chapters

  • Gatens, M. (2024). Nero's Ingratitude: Spinoza and the Naturalisation of Sin. In Charles Wolfe, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Science and the Shaping of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Stephen Gaukroger, (pp. 123-129). Switzerland: Springer.
  • Gatens, M. (2021). Spinoza's Notion of Freedom. In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (Eds.), A Companion to Spinoza, (pp. 394-401). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2020). Imaginaries. In Gail Weiss, Ann V. Murphy, Gayle Salamon (Eds.), 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology, (pp. 181-187). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

Journals

  • Gatens, M., Steinberg, J., Armstrong, A., James, S., Saar, M. (2021). Spinoza: thoughts on hope in our political present. Contemporary Political Theory, 20(1), 200-231. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M., Uhlmann, A. (2020). Editors’ preface to special issue of Intellectual History Review on Spinoza and Art. Intellectual History Review, 30(3), 359-361. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2020). Singularity, similarity, and exemplarity in Spinoza's philosophy. Ethics and Education, 15(2), 200-212. [More Information]

Edited Journals

  • Gatens, M. (2008). Special Issue Introduction: Re-coupling Gender and Genre. Angelaki, 13(2), 1-3.

Reference Works

  • Gatens, M. (2014). Spinoza, Benedict de (1632-77). In M. Gibbons, D. Coole, E. Ellis & K. Ferguson (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Political Thought. Wiley Online Library.

2024

  • Gatens, M. (2024). Nero's Ingratitude: Spinoza and the Naturalisation of Sin. In Charles Wolfe, Anik Waldow (Eds.), Science and the Shaping of Modernity: Essays in Honor of Stephen Gaukroger, (pp. 123-129). Switzerland: Springer.

2021

  • Gatens, M. (2021). Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and Corporeality (Korean Translation). London: Routledge. [More Information]
  • Celermajer, D., Churcher, M., Gatens, M. (2021). Institutional Transformations: Imagination, Embodiment, and Affect. UK: Routledge (Taylor and Francis). [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2021). Spinoza's Notion of Freedom. In Yitzhak Y. Melamed (Eds.), A Companion to Spinoza, (pp. 394-401). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. [More Information]

2020

  • Gatens, M., Uhlmann, A. (2020). Editors’ preface to special issue of Intellectual History Review on Spinoza and Art. Intellectual History Review, 30(3), 359-361. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2020). Imaginaries. In Gail Weiss, Ann V. Murphy, Gayle Salamon (Eds.), 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology, (pp. 181-187). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
  • Celermajer, D., Churcher, M., Gatens, M. (2020). Institutional Transformations: Imagination, Embodiment and Affect.: Routledge.

2019

  • Gatens, M. (2019). Frankenstein, Spinoza, and exemplarity. Textual Practice, 33(5), 739-752. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2019). Imagination, Religion, and Morality: What Did George Eliot Learn from Spinoza and Feuerbach? In Eileen ONeill, Marcy P. Lascano (Eds.), Feminist History of Philosophy: The Recovery and Evaluation of Women's Philosophical Thought, (pp. 221-239). Cham: Springer. [More Information]
  • Celermajer, D., Churcher, M., Gatens, M. (2019). Institutional Transformations. Angelaki, 24(4), 1-2. [More Information]

2018

  • Gatens, M. (2018). The condition of human nature: Spinoza's account of the ground of human action in the Tractatus Politicus. In Yitzhak Y. Melamed, Hasana Sharp (Eds.), Spinoza's Political Treatise: A Critical Guide, (pp. 47-60). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]

2017

  • Gatens, M. (2017). Feminist Methods in the History of Philosophy, or, Escape from Coventry. In Ann Garry, Serene J. Khader, and Alison Stone (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Feminist Philosophy, (pp. 13-22). New York: Routledge. [More Information]

2016

  • Gatens, M. (2016). 'Living Lightly, Living Well': Kitcher on the Philosophical and Everyday Value of Literature. Teorema, 35(2), 91-105.

2015

  • Gatens, M. (2015). Benedict Spinoza and George Eliot: Daniel Deronda as Heretical Text. Mededelingen vanwege het Spinozahuis, (pp. 3-20). Voorschoten, The Netherlands: Uitgeverij Spinozahuis.
  • Gatens, M. (2015). Mark Sacks Lecture 2013 Spinoza on Goodness and Beauty and the Prophet and the Artist. European Journal of Philosophy, 23(1), 1-16. [More Information]

2014

  • Gatens, M. (2014). Affective Transitions and Spinoza's Art of Joyful Deliberation. In Marie-Luise Angerer, Bernd Bosel, Michaela Ott (Eds.), Timing of Affect: Epistemologies, Aesthetics, Politics, (pp. 17-33). Zurich: Diaphanes Verlag.
  • Gatens, M. (2014). Identities and Freedom: Feminist Theory Between Power and Connection by Weir, Allison. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 92(2), 412-412. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2014). Let's talk story: Gender and the narrative self. Critical Horizons, 15(1), 40-51. [More Information]

2013

  • Gatens, M. (2013). Book Review of: Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics: The Theologico-Political Treatise, by James, Susan, OUP, 2012. Mind, 122(488), 1112-1116. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2013). Cloud-Borne Angels, Prophets and the Old Woman's Flower-Pot: Reading George Eliot's Realism alongside Spinoza's 'beings of the imagination'. Australian Literary Studies, 28(3), 1-14. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2013). Feminism, philosophy and riddles without answers. In Carole Pateman, Elizabaeth Gross (Eds.), Feminist Challenges: Social and Political Theory, (pp. 13-29). Abingdon, UK: Routledge. [More Information]

2012

  • Gatens, M. (2012). Compelling fictions: Spinoza and George Eliot on imagination and belief. European Journal of Philosophy, 20(1), 74-90. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2012). Imagination and Freedom: Spinoza's 'Hard Path' and George Eliot's Artful Bridge. Humanities Australia, 3, 62-71.
  • Gatens, M., Irving, M. (2012). Moira Gatens. In G Oppy & N Trakakis (Eds.), The Antipodean Philosopher: Volume 2: Interviews with Australian and New Zealand Philosophers, (pp. 53-68). Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books.

2011

  • Gatens, M. (2011). George Eliot's Artful Bridge. In Moira Gatens (Eds.), Spinozas Hard Path to Freedom, (pp. 29-53). Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum.
  • Douglas, S., Gatens, M. (2011). Revisiting the Continental Shelf: Moira Gatens on Law, Religion, and Human Rights in Eliot, Feuerbach, and Spinoza. Feminist Legal Studies, 19, 75-82. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2011). Spinozas Hard Path to Freedom. Assen, Netherlands: Royal Van Gorcum.

2009

  • Gatens, M. (2009). Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza. United States: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Gatens, M. (2009). Introduction: Through Spinoza's "Looking Glass". In Moira Gatens (Eds.), Feminist Interpretations of Benedict Spinoza, (pp. 1-28). United States: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Gatens, M. (2009). Spinoza's Disturbing Thesis: Power, Norms and Fiction in the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus. History of Political Thought, 30(3), 455-468.

2008

  • Gatens, M. (2008). Conflicting Imaginaries in Australian Multiculturalism: Women's Rights, Group Rights and Aboriginal Customary Law. In Geoffrey Brahm Levey (Eds.), Political Theory and Australian Multiculturalism, (pp. 151-170). New York: Berghahn Books.
  • Gatens, M. (2008). Marian Evans, George Henry Lewes and "George Eliot". Angelaki, 13(2), 33-44. [More Information]
  • Gatens, M. (2008). Paradoxes of Liberal Politics: Contracts, Rights and Consent. In Daniel I ONeill, Mary Lyndon Shanley and Iris Marion Young (Eds.), Illusion of Consent: Engaging with Carole Pateman, (pp. 31-48). Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press.

2007

  • Gatens, M. (2007). George Eliot's "Incarnation of the Divine in Romola and Benedict Spinoza's "Blessedness": A Double Reading. George Eliot - George Henry Lewes Studies, 52-53(September 2007), 76-92.
  • Gatens, M. (2007). Space invaders: race, gender and bodies out of place. Feminist Review, 87(1), 162-163.
  • Gatens, M. (2007). The 'Disciplined Imagination': Literature as 'Experimental' Philosophy. Australian Feminist Studies, 22(52), 25-34. [More Information]

2006

  • Gatens, M. (2006). Politicizing the Body: Property, Contract, and Rights. In John S. Dryzek; Bonnie Honig; Anne Phillips (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, (pp. 677-693). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]

2004

  • Gatens, M. (2004). Can Human Rights Accommodate Women'S Rights? Towards An Embodied Account Of Social Norms, Social Meaning , And Cultural Change. Contemporary Political Theory, 3(3), 275-299.
  • Gatens, M. (2004). Privacy And The Body: The Publicity Of Affect. In Beate Rössler (Eds.), Privacies: Philosophical Evaluations, (pp. 113-132). Stanford: Stanford University Press.

2003

  • Gatens, M. (2003). Beauvoir and biology: a second look. In Card, Claudia (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir, (pp. 266-285). UK: Cambridge University Press.
  • Gatens, M. (2003). Epilogue to Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and Corporeality. In Amelia Jones (Eds.), The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, (pp. 466-470). London: Routledge imprint of Taylor & Francis.
  • Gatens, M. (2003). Freedom and determinism in Middlemarch, or Dorothea, the lunatic. Sydney Studies in English, 29, 35-45.

2002

  • Braithwaite, V., Gatens, M., Mitchell, D. (2002). If Mutual Obligation is the Answer, What is the Question? Australian Journal of Social Issues, 37(3), 225-245.
  • Gatens, M. (2002). Post-Colonialism and History: Are We Responsible for the Past? In James E Swearingen and Joanne Cutting-Gray (Eds.), Extreme Beauty Aesthetics, Politics, Death, (pp. 142-151). London & New York: Continuum.
  • Gatens, M. (2002). The Politics of "Presence" and "Difference": Working Through Spinoza and Eliot. In Susan James and Stephanie Palmer (Eds.), Visible Women Essays on Feminist Legal Theory and Political Philosophy, (pp. 159-174). Portland, Oregon: Hart Publishing.

2001

  • Gatens, M. (2001). Violence and Benevolence: Can one 'Design' for a Humane Society? In Janet McCalman (Eds.), Humane Societies, (pp. 59-73). Australia: Sage Publications.

1999

  • Gatens, M., Lloyd, G. (1999). Collective Imaginings: Spinoza, Past and Present. London: Routledge.

1996

  • Gatens, M. (1996). Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and Corporeality. London: Routledge.

Selected Grants

2017

  • Spinoza and Literature for Life: a Practical Theory of Art, Gatens M, Uhlmann A, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)

2011

  • Global Sensibilities – The New History of Ideas, Blanshard A, Caine B, Celermajer D, Ferng J, Fitzmaurice A, Gatens M, Harmon C, Johnson M, Milam J, Sluga G, White S, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences/FASS Collaborative Research Scheme