The Philosophers’ Book Club: Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman

Katherine Ebury, Paul Fagan

—What you think is the point is not the point at all but only the beginning of the sharpness.

The Philosopher’s Book Club is back! We discuss Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman, a novel about the consequences of a murder occasioned by the narrator’s desire to publish a book about his favourite philosopher, de Selby. From bicycles and wooden legs to dualism and the nature of reality, O’Brien’s absurdist tale contains more philosophical themes (and footnotes) than you can shake a stick at. Join us as we bring philosophical and literary minds together to answer the question, ‘Is it about a bicycle?’.

Speakers

• Katherine Ebury, Senior Lecturer in Modern Literature, Sheffield University
• Paul Fagan, Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Modernism, University of Vienna
• David Papineau, Professor of Philosophy, KCL/Cuny 

Chair

• Clare Moriarty, Fellow, Forum for Philosophy & IRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity College Dublin

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