Professor John Lippitt

BSc (Hons), MLitt, PhD
Professor of Philosophy

Email: john.lippitt@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    John Lippitt is Professor of Philosophy in the Institute for Ethics and Society, which he served as Director from 2020-24. He is also Principal Investigator on “Combatting Self-Righteousness: a Vice of the Digital Age”, a 45,000,000 CZK (approx. AUD$3million) ERC-CZ Research Grant at the Centre for Ethics as Study of Human Value, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic (2024-28). Originally from the UK, John worked for many years at the University of Hertfordshire, serving as Director of Research for the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities Research Institute and as Research Leader for Philosophy. He remains a Visiting Professor at Hertfordshire.

    John’s research interests include the thought of Søren Kierkegaard; the moral psychology of virtues and vices; forgiveness; and philosophical and theological aspects of love and friendship. He is also interested in the ethics of policing, having served as a pro bono ethics advisor to various police organisations in the UK, work which was the subject of an impact case study for REF 2021.

    John is currently working on two books: Combatting Self-Righteousness and a short monograph on Kierkegaard's Early Discourses for the Cambridge University Press Elements series. His most recent monograph, Love's Forgiveness, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020. This research was supported by a Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship (2018-20). Details of his previous books and other publications may be found below.

    John has been awarded research grants by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, The British Academy, the Higher Education Academy, the Kierkegaard House Foundation (USA) and the EU FP7-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, as well as the Leverhulme Trust and the ERC-CZ. He is a member of the editorial board of Oxford Research Directions (formerly Oxford Handbooks Online) and Rowman and Littlefield's New Kierkegaard Research book series. He has also served as an officer for various academic societies and as a member of the AHRC Peer Review College, the Leverhulme Trust Advisory Panel and the Royal Institute of Philosophy Council. He has held visiting research fellowships at the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA and the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen.

  • Research expertise and supervision

    • Kierkegaard
    • Ethics and Moral Psychology (especially virtues and vices)
    • Forgiveness
    • Religion and Modern Thought
    • Philosophy of Love and Friendship
    • Philosophy of Education (especially the role of virtues in higher education)
    • Ethical Issues in Policing

  • Books

    Monographs

    • Under contract. Kierkegaard’s Early Discourses (Cambridge University Press).
    • 2020. Love’s Forgiveness: Kierkegaard, Resentment, Humility, and Hope. (Oxford University Press).
    • 2016 The Routledge Guidebook to Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling (Routledge).
    • 2013 Kierkegaard and the Problem of Self-Love (Cambridge University Press).
    • 2000 Humour and Irony in Kierkegaard’s Thought (Palgrave Macmillan).

    Edited Volumes

    • 2015 Narrative, Identity and the Kierkegaardian Self (Edinburgh University Press). Co-edited with Patrick Stokes.
    • 2013 The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard (Oxford University Press). Co-edited with George Pattison.
    • 2000 Nietzsche and the Divine (Clinamen). Co-edited with Jim Urpeth.
    • 1999 Nietzsche's Futures (Palgrave Macmillan).

  • Book chapters

    • ‘Generosity of spirit and moral criticism: how the “one who loves” overcomes self-righteousness’, in Jeffrey Hanson and Wojciech Kaftanski (eds), Kierkegaard’s Works of Love: A Critical Guide, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2024
    • “Hope in the task of forgiveness” in Kierkegaard and Possibility, ed. E. Plunkett (Bloomsbury), 2023.
    • “Kierkegaard on forgiveness” in The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Psychology of Forgiveness, eds, G. Pettigrove and R. Enright (Routledge), 2023.
    • “Beyond worry: on learning humility from the lilies and the birds” in The Kierkegaardian Mind, eds., A. Buben, E. Helms, & P. Stokes (Routledge). 2019
    • “Jest as humility: Kierkegaard and the limits of earnestness” in All Too Human: Humor, Comedy and Laughter in Nineteenth Century Philosophy, ed., L. Moland (Springer). 2018
    • “Kierkegaard’s Virtues? Humility and Gratitude as the Grounds of Contentment, Patience and Hope in Kierkegaard’s Moral Psychology” in Kierkegaard's God and the Good Life, eds., S. Minister, J. A. Simmons, & M. Strawser. (Indiana University Press). 2017
    • “Self-knowledge in Kierkegaard” in Self-Knowledge: A History, ed., U. Renz (Oxford University Press). 2017
    • “Kierkegaard on Love” in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Love, eds., C. Grau & A. Smuts (Oxford University Press). 2017
    • “What can therapists learn from Kierkegaard?” in Therapy and the Counter-Tradition: The Edge of Philosophy, eds, M. Bazzano & J. Webb (Routledge). 2016
    • “Giving the 'dear self' its due: Kierkegaard, Frankfurt and self-love” in Love, Reason and Will: Kierkegaard after Frankfurt, eds., J. J. Davenport & A. Rudd (Bloomsbury). 2015
    • “Forgiveness and the Rat Man: Kierkegaard, 'narrative unity' and 'wholeheartedness' revisited” in Narrative, Identity and the Kierkegaardian Self, eds., J. Lippitt & P. Stokes (Edinburgh University Press). 2015
    • “Learning to hope: the role of hope in Fear and Trembling” in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling: A Critical Guide, ed., D. W. Conway (Cambridge University Press). 2015
    • “Forgiveness” in Kierkegaard’s Concepts: Tome III: Envy to Incognito, eds., S. Emmanuel, W. McDonald, & J. Stewart (Taylor & Francis). 2014
    • “Kierkegaard and moral philosophy: some recent themes” in The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard, eds., J. Lippitt & G. Pattison (Oxford University Press). 2013
    • “A Philosophical Response: The Kierkegaardian self and person-centred therapy” in Kierkegaard's Pastoral Dialogues, eds., G. Pattison & H. M. Jensen (Wipf and Stock). 2012
    • “Can a Christian be a friend? God, friendship and love of neighbour” in Thinking about Friendship: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, ed., D. Caluori (Palgrave Macmillan). 2012
    • “Irony and humour in the Postscript” in Kierkegaard's 'Concluding Unscientific Postscript': A Critical Guide, ed., R. A. Furtak (Cambridge University Press). 2010
    • “Humour” in A Companion to Aesthetics, eds., S. Davies, K. M. Higgins, & R. Hopkins (2nd ed., Wiley Blackwell). 2009
    • “Lewis, Kierkegaard and friendship” (2007) in Surprised by Faith: Conversion and the Academy, eds., D. McCarthy, B. Vander Vennen, & J. McBride (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). 2007
    • “Second selves and genuine others: Kierkegaard and Aristotle on friendship and self-love” in The Many Facets of Love: Philosophical Explorations, ed., T. J. Oord (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). 2007
    • “Humour and religion: humour, irony and the comic in western theology and philosophy” in Encyclopedia of Religion, ed., L. Jones (2nd ed., Palgrave Macmillan). 2005
    • “Telling tales: Johannes Climacus and 'narrative unity'” in Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, ed., N. J. C. Cappelorn (Walter de Gruyter). 2005
    • “A Funny Thing Happened To Me On The Way To Salvation: Climacus as Humorist in Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript” in Soren Kierkegaard: Critical Assessments, eds., D. W. Conway (Routledge). 2002
    • “Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and the narratives of faith” in Nietzsche and the Divine, eds., J. Lippitt & J. Urpeth (Clinamen). 2000
    • “On authority and revocation: Climacus as humourist” in Anthropology and Authority: Essays on Søren Kierkegaard, eds., P. Houe, G. D. Marino, S. H. Rossel (Rodopi). 2000
    • “Laughter: a tool in moral perfectionism?” in Nietzsche's Futures, ed., J. Lippitt (Palgrave Macmillan). 1998

  • Journal articles and proceedings

    Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

    • “Kierkegaard, ‘the Public’, and the Vices of Virtue-Signaling: The Dangers of Social Comparison”, Religions 14, no. 11: 1370, 2023 https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111370
    • “Self-forgiveness and the moral perspective of humility: Ian McEwan’s Atonement” Philosophy and Literature vol. 43, no. 1: 121–138. (Reprinted in Garry L. Hagberg (ed.), Narrative and Self-Understanding (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019).)
    • “Forgiveness: a work of love?” Parrhesia, vol. 28: 19–39. 2017
    • “Kierkegaard and the problem of special relationships: Ferreira, Krishek and the 'God filter'” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion vol. 72, no. 3: 177–197. 2012
    • “True self-love and true self-sacrifice” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion vol. 66, no. 3: 125–138. 2009
    • “Wot U @ Uni 4?: expectations and actuality of studying philosophy at university” Discourse vol. 9, no. 1: 93–110. Co-authored with B. Larvor. 2009
    • “What Neither Abraham nor Johannes de Silentio Could Say” Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume vol. 82, no. 1: 79–99. 2008
    • “Cracking the mirror: on Kierkegaard’s concerns about friendship” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion vol. 61, no. 3: 131–150. 2007
    • “Getting the story straight: Kierkegaard, MacIntyre and some problems with narrative” Inquiry, vol. 50, no. 1: 34–69. 2007
    • “Is a sense of humour a virtue?” The Monist vol. 88, no. 1: 72–92. 2005
    • “Illusion and satire in Kierkegaard's Postscript” Continental Philosophy Review, vol. 32, no. 4: 451–466. 1999
    • “Making sense of nonsense: Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, vol. 98, no. 3: 263–286. Co-authored with D. Hutto. 1998
    • “A funny thing happened to me on the way to salvation: Climacus as humorist in Kierkegaard's concluding unscientific postscript” Religious Studies vol. 33, no. 2: 181–202. 1997
    • “Existential laughter” Cogito vol. 10, no. 1: 63–72. 1996
    • “Humour and release” Cogito vol. 9, no. 2: 169–176. 1995
    • “Humour and superiority” Cogito vol. 9, no. 1: 54–61. 1995
    • “Humour and incongruity” Cogito vol. 8, no. 2: 147–153. 1994
    • “Nietzsche, Zarathustra and the status of laughter” British Journal of Aesthetics, vol. 32, no. 1: 39–49. 1992

    Encyclopedia

    • “Søren Kierkegaard” (with C. Stephen Evans), in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2023.
    • “Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling”, in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Teaching and Learning Resources, 2021.

    Reports

    • “The only way is ethics” Police Professional vol. 646: 14–16. Co-authored with N. Briant. 2019
    • “What Do Universities Want? Output of HEA subject-centre funded project on Critical Friendships among Beginning Philosophers” University of Hertfordshire. Co-authored with B. Larvor. 2011

  • In the media

    • ‘Kierkegaard and forgiveness’, Interview with Professor Camelia Raghinaru about my book Love’s Forgiveness, Theory to No End podcast, 30 Sept 2022
    • ‘Forgiveness up close’, interview with Meredith Lake, ABC Soul Search, 31 Oct 2021
    • ‘What would it mean to see forgiveness as a “work of love”?’, ABC Religion and Ethics, 5 May 2021
    • ‘The Pharisee on Social Media: Virtue Signalling and the Vice of Self-righteousness’, Comment magazine vol. 39-2 (Spring 2021)
    • “Dread, Time and the Pandemic: Kierkegaard on Worry.” Standpoint magazine (July 2020).
    • (With Assistant Chief Constable Nathan Briant), ‘The Only Way is Ethics’, cover story in Police Professional issue 646, March 2019
    • Has appeared on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, discussing Kierkegaard, and has written for various publications internationally, such as Comment (US/Canada), Philosophy Now, Standpoint, and Times Higher Education.

  • Professional affiliations

    • Australasian Association for Philosophy
    • British Philosophical Association
    • British and European Societies for Philosophy of Religion
    • Society of Christian Philosophers

  • Community engagement

    As Director of IES, John had oversight of all the Institute’s public engagement, seminar and conference activities, including the annual Notre Dame School of Virtue and Character series (running since 2020). He also contributed to and oversaw the production of the IES  ‘Virtues for the Times’ podcast series on COVID-19. John’s own public engagement activities have included a featured presentation at Baylor University’s Symposium on Faith and Culture (2023), a masterclass on “Forgiveness” at the National Character Leaders in Education conference (2022), and giving the inaugural Sophia Annual Public Lecture at the University of Wollongong (2021).

    Prior to arriving in Australia, John did several research engagement activities with senior police officers. He served for several years as an external advisor to Hertfordshire Constabulary’s Ethics, Equality and Integrity Board and Ethics Committee; and the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Constabulary Professional Standards Department Scrutiny Panel, advising on the national police Code of Ethics and on ethics education for policing. He was invited to give a keynote address to the UK Police Ethics Guidance Group and to write for Police Professional on this work. He is also interested in the relevance of philosophy for psychotherapy, having run several invited workshops for therapists on Kierkegaard and on forgiveness. At Hertfordshire, John also co-organised Why Philosophy Matters, a series of public engagement events jointly run with the St Albans Cathedral Study Centre.

  • Awards

    Research Awards (Total: $3,606,872)

    • $3,038,724 “Combatting Self-Righteousness: A Vice of the Digital Age”, ERC-CZ Advanced Grant LL2308 (with Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice), 2024-28.
    • $20,000 "Developing Virtuous Character in Educational Institutions"" (with A. Pierdziwol and T. Smartt), Industry Collaboration Research Grant, The Scots College, 2020-21
    • $12,516 "Screening Virtue – the Importance of Character(s) in Film and Television"" (with S. Magerstädt), The University of Notre Dame Australia Research Grant Scheme, 2020-21
    • $174,945 “Love's Forgiveness,” Leverhulme Trust, 2018–2020.
    • $298,138 “Selves in Time,” (with P. Stokes) European Commission, 2010–2012.
    • $1,942 “Self-Love: An Investigation,” University of North Dakota, 2011.
    • $5,354 “Immortal Goods: Critical Friendships Amongst Beginning Undergraduates,” (with B. Larvor), Higher Education Academy, 2009–2010.
    • $9,352 “Wot u @ Uni 4?: Expectations and Actuality of Studying Philosophy at University,” (with B. Larvor), Higher Education Academy, 2008–2009.
    • $20,863 “The Quest for Unity: Narrative, Self and Ethics,” Hong Kierkegaard Library, 2004–2005.
    • $7,038 “The Quest for Unity: Narrative, Self and Ethics,” British Academy, 2004–2005.
    • $18,000 "Kierkegaard’s Humorist", Arts and Humanities Research Board Research Leave Scheme Award, 1999-2000