Professor Christopher Hamilton

Christopher Hamilton completed his BA in philosophy at King's College London (where he also completed the Associateship of King's College) and went on to do an MPhil and PhD in philosophy at Birkbeck College London. As part of his PhD he also studied philosophy and literature at the University of Bonn, Germany. He later completed a PGCE and worked for four years as a secondary school teacher. He joined King's in 2003. In 2007, he was Scholar in Residence at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and in 2013 he was Visiting Professor at the University of Trent, Italy.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• The nature of philosophy - its conception of reason(ing), argument etc.
• Philosophy, literature and life writing. The relations between moral, religious and aesthetic value
• The nature of good and evil.
• The philosophy of ageing and of autobiography
• Tragedy

Christopher Hamilton is as interested in literature and life writing as he is in philosophy, and much of his research has been in the areas between these two disciplines. Roughly, his work explores themes in moral philosophy, but always with an eye on aesthetics and philosophy of religion. He believes that philosophy has largely lost touch with the ancient goals of seeking wisdom and exploring the meaning of life, and these topics are central in his research.

He has supervised PhDs on Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt, philosophy and poetry, E.M. Cioran and Simone Weil.

Teaching

Ethics; Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy and Literature; Philosophy and Film.

Expertise and public engagement

Christopher has been involved in the HowTheLightGetsIn festival for the past few years. Many of his talks are available via the Institute of Art and Ideas.

Some of his other media contributions can be found below:

The Philosophy Room

Ministry of Counterculture: Monologue for Two

Art of dying well podcast (episode 31)