Matthew Hammond is a philosophy scholar who first studied Anthropology at Cambridge, during which he discovered that his real calling was Philosophy. He then did a PGCE Cert. Math. at Keele University, and taught Maths, self-employed, working in the afternoons and evenings, so that he could study Philosophy most mornings from 5am until 12 noon. There are well over 500,000 words in the Philosophy section of this website alone (added to regularly) - not including the Rants (over 100,000 words and obviously added to weekly) or associated works. The Rants of the Week have been described as Barthes’s Mythologies for our times...on acid. His main research interests are C17th Rationalism, especially Spinoza and Leibniz; Deleuze, Foucault, and C19th literature, especially Dickens. Also Hume & Empiricism, Nietzsche, Aristotle, and political philosophy.
He has taught philosophy at Exeter University, LSE Summer School, and has delivered many papers at philosophy and literature conferences, including at; Warwick University’s Centre for Research in Philosophy and Literature’s ‘Deleuze and Literature’ Conference, ‘Deleuze & The Fold’ Workshop, and ‘Coleridge, Friendship & the Origins of Modernity’ Conference, Greenwich University’s ‘The Strange Encounter of Kant & Deleuze’ Conference and the ‘Philosophy As…’ Conference at the Senate House in London. He has had chapters accepted for the forthcoming books – ‘Unfolding the Deleuzian Fold; Gilles Deleuze’s Fold: A Critical Reader’ edited by Sjoerd van Tuinen and Niamh McDonnell, published by Palgrave Macmillan. He also has chapters accepted in book proposals for a book on ‘Deleuze and Literature’, and another on ‘Conceptions of the Industrial Revolution’. Whilst philosophy is his main driving force, he is a polymath, and is also a gifted teacher – of maths, philosophy and politics, has an impressive and wide ranging knowledge of history, is a dazzling writer of literary criticism, a talented historical cook, an innovative and disturbing artist in many mediums (graphics, willow, plaster, paper mache, mask making, wire, philosopher’s cards, leather, pastels, etc..), is skilled in IT, and is a highly original and unforgettable storyteller and lecturer. He has performed at many festivals and events including the Sunrise Celebration, English Heritage’s Festival of History, Great Create Festival of the Arts at Greenway, Appledore Visual Arts Festival, etc., and has compered at the Poetry&Words Tent at Glastonbury. His ‘performance philosophy’ shows involve ‘making theatre out of all those books you always meant to read but never got around to’ - from Plato to de La Rochefoucauld! and are thought provoking, informative, witty, insightful, occasionally hilarious and always revelatory. Whilst he has had no formal drama training, years of teaching and going to see over 100 productions of theatre and dance have given him both the ability to deliver a story with passion and perception, or a lecture with theatrical style and satire. He is a startlingly physical performer with great presence and can fill a hall with his voice alone.
He brings both a philosophical and emotional depth as well as the immense energy that he channels away from writing hundreds of thousands of words! to the shows, and also an educational aspect, as he runs storytelling and craft workshops for schools. Most recently his paper on Deleuze and Spinoza, was accepted for the ‘One or Several Deleuzes?’ Conference at Cardiff University. The Rants of the Week are now available in 3 booklets - Philosophical Rants, Political Rants and Ecological Rants, as featured on our Web Shop. To enquire about any of his works, to book or order booklets, please e-mail; su2044@blueyonder.co.uk |