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Jacob McNulty, an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, continues to explore ancient philosophical concepts in contemporary contexts. Having joined Yale in January 2024, McNulty previously lectured at University College London and earned his PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University in 2019.

McNulty’s interest in philosophy was sparked during high school as a method of learning history and politics. It was the "larger thematic questions" of societal trends and human nature that captivated him rather than minute factual details. He remarked, “The first philosophers I happened to discover asked questions like these [thematic questions], so my initial impression of philosophy as a field was that it posed the most abstract, but also the most fundamental questions in history and politics.”

As he delved deeper into the field, McNulty realized that philosophy spans a wide range of disciplines. "For any x [subject], you could name there’s philosophy of x," he noted.

McNulty specializes in post-Kantian and continental philosophy, focusing on 19th-century philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx. His first book, *Hegel’s Logic and Metaphysics*, published by Cambridge University Press in January 2023, examines Hegel's philosophical positions and his relationship to Kant’s theory of transcendental idealism.

Currently, McNulty is working on his second book about Herbert Marcuse and the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. Marcuse was an influential figure within German intellectual circles who challenged mainstream 20th-century culture. "He’s often eclipsed by others in the Frankfurt School who are perceived as more serious philosophically because he was this popular figure," McNulty said.

Selecting research topics involves choosing subjects he is passionate about and can discuss with other experts. "The part of academic research and philosophy that I don’t find difficult at all is reading," McNulty stated. "Writing is more difficult. When writing goes well for me, it is as an outcome of my conversations with other people about what I am reading."

At Yale, McNulty collaborates with renowned theorists such as Michael Della Rocca, Paul Franks, and Stephen Darwall—professors whose works he has engaged with throughout his career. He also draws inspiration from junior colleagues like Robin Dembroff and Lily Hu.

McNulty aims to pursue a third project on "mutual recognition" in 19th-century philosophy while settling into life at Yale and New Haven. “Post-Kantian and continental philosophy are traditions that have interested me ever since I started in philosophy,” he said.

June 26, 2024

By Abiba Biao

To nominate an FAS faculty member to be featured in this series, please email fas.dean@yale.edu

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