Research interests
Dr Sharpe has an eclectic array of research interests. Increasingly, he works on classical philosophy and modern receptions thereof, and the early modern period, up to and including the French enlightenment. I am interested in the history of Western receptions of its classical past, and the rich ethical legacy left by Stoic and academic schools in particular. Amidst so many 'returns to theology', he is interested in the ways that we might 'return to classical philosophy', and in contesting reactionary versions of this idea and levelling historicising depictions of 'modernity' which don't reflect historical complexity and intellectual debates.
Dr Sharpe has expertise in Lacanian and Freudian psychoanalysis, and the the use of psychoanaytic theory to read comedies, tragedies, and more contemporary cultural forms like 'Reality television'. He has published one single-authroed and one coauthored book on Slavoj Zizek's work, and with Joanne Faulkner, Understanding Psychoanalysis.
In the past, he has published on aesthetics, the theory of ideology, eschatology and political theology, and critical theory. He has written on a host of different thinkers: for instance John Macdowell, Slavoj Zizek, Jacques Lacan, Montaigne, Voltaire, Maimonides, Pierre Hadot, and Epictetus.
Affiliations
Australasian Society of Continental Philosophy
Teaching interests
Knowledge areas
Modern receptions of classical Greek philosophy (I have published extensively on Leo Strauss and his students' and psychoanalytic readings of classical texts, as well as work by Pierre Hadot and those influenced by him).
Hellenistic philosophy
Roman philosophy
Psychoanalysis
20th century European philosophy
Albert Camus
Awards
2010 Deakin Arts Faculty Research Award (B/C Level)
2011 Deakin Arts Faculty Research Award (B/C Level)
2008, 2010: teaching commendations.
2012 member and CI in ARC Discovery team "Religion and Political Thought"
2014 membver and CI in ARC Discovery grant "Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life"
Publications
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), Vol. 8, pp. 375-403, Journal of classical receptions, Oxford, Eng., C1
Lacanian psychoanalysis and critical theory
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), pp. 560-588, Edinburgh companion to critical theory, Edinburgh, Scotland, B1
On Roland Boer’s Marxism and theology
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), Vol. 4, pp. 171-178, Critical research on religion, London, Eng., C1
There is not just a war: recalling the therapeutic metaphor in western metaphilosophy
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), Vol. 55, pp. 31-54, Sophia, Berlin, Germany, C1
Comedy and the agency of the letter in a midsummer night's dream
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), pp. 133-155, Lacan, psychoanalysis, and comedy, Cambridge, Eng., B1
Socratic ironies: reading Hadot, reading Kierkegaard
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), Vol. 55, pp. 409-435, Sophia, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), Vol. 2016, pp. 25-52, Pli: the Warwick journal of philosophy, Warwick, Eng., C1
Albert Camus' hellenic heart, between Saint Augustine and Hegel
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), pp. 242-268, Brill's companion to the reception of the classics in international modernism and the avant garde, Boston, Ma., B1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2016), pp. 25-38, Philosophy as a literary art: making things up, Abingdon, Eng., B1
On a neglected argument in French philosophy: Sceptical humanism in Montaigne, Voltaire and Camus
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2015), Vol. 16, pp. 1-26, Critical horizons, Leiden, The Netherlands, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2015), Vol. 15, pp. 106-117, Parrhesia: a journal of critical philosophy, Parkville, Vic., C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2015), Vol. 4, pp. 37-68, Journal of early modern studies, Firenze, Italy, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2015), Vol. 133, pp. 59-79, Thesis eleven, London, Eng., C1
Introduction: secularization and its discontents
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, Mr Dylan Nickelson
(2014), pp. 3-19, Secularisations and Their Debates, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, B1
A just judgement? Considerations on Ronald Srigley’s Camus’ Critique of Modernity
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 120, pp. 43-58, Thesis Eleven, London, UK, C1
The Black Side of the Sun: Camus, Theology, and the Problem of Evil
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 15, pp. 151-174, Political Theology, Leeds, UK, C1
Georgics of the mind and the architecture of fortune: Francis Bacon's therapeutic ethics
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 43, pp. 89-121, Philosophical Papers, London, Eng., C1
How it’s not the Chryssippus you read : on Cooper, Hadot, Epictetus, and stoicism as a way of life
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 58, pp. 367-392, Philosophy today, Chicago, IL, C1
Between Genet’s Bordello and holy communion : Lacan on comedy in seminar V
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 6-7, pp. 61-72, Journal of the Jan van Eyck Circle for Lacanian ideology critique, Maastricht, The Netherlands, C1-1
Publicising the Essentially Private: On Leo Strauss' Platonic Aristophanes
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 18, pp. 3-32, Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy, Ottawa, Ont., C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2014), Vol. 2014, pp. 117-144, Journal of Camus studies, , C1
Camus' Askesis: reading Camus in light of the Carnets (and his L’Impromptu des philosophes)
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), Vol. 8, pp. 1149-1164, Philosophical practice, London, England, C1
On eschatology and the 'return to religion'
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), pp. 203-228, Arena journal, Melbourne, Vic., C1
Controlling the philosophical imaginary: reading Pierre Hadot with Luiz Costa Lima
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), Vol. 54, pp. 225-240, Culture, theory & critique, London, Eng., C1
Name it and claim it: prosperity gospel and the global pentecostal reformation
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), pp. 164-182, Handbook of research on development and religion, Cheltenham, England, B1
In the beginning was ... the story? On secularisation, narrative, and nominalisms
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), pp. 109-130, Secularisations and their debates, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, B1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), pp. 28-41, Handbook of virtue ethics, Durham, England, B1
The poetic presentation of philosophy:Leo Strauss on Plato’s “symposium”
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), Vol. 34, pp. 563-603, Poetics today, Durham, North Carolina, C1
'More things in heaven and earth ...': The theological aufhebung of Roland Boer
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2013), pp. 28-58, Arena journal, Fitzroy, Vic., C1-1
Revaluing megalopsuchia : reflections on the Alcibiades II
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), pp. 134-146, Alcibiades and the Socratic lover-educator, London, U. K., B1
Sharing the moment : on the Olympic Games as spectacle
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), pp. 273-286, The Olympics and philosophy, Lexington, Mass., B1
Changing Aristotle's mind and world : critical notes on McDowell's Aristotle
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), Vol. 2, pp. 804-821, Philosophy study, Libertyville, Ill., C1
Philosophy and the view from above in Alejandro's Amenabar's agora
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), Vol. 6, pp. 31-45, Crossroads : an interdisciplinary journal for the study of history, philosophy, religion and classics, St Lucia, Qld., C1
'To be or not ...' Lacan and the meaning of being in Shakepeare's Hamlet
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), pp. 89-116, The literary Lacan : from literature to `lituraterre¿ and beyond, Calcutta, India, B1
Restoring Camus as Philosophe: On Ronald Srigley’s Camus’ Critique of Modernity
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2012), Vol. 13, pp. 400-424, Critical horizons, Durham, England, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), pp. 1-14, Internet encyclopedia of philosophy, unknown, C1
The invincible summer : on Albert Camus’ philosophical neoclassicism
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), Vol. 50, pp. 577-592, Sophia, Dordrecht, Netherlands, C1
"Only the present is our happiness" : on affects in ancient thought, in memorium Pierre Hadot
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), pp. 144-156, Parrhesia : a journal of critical philosophy, Parkville, Vic., C1
A/Prof Geoff Boucher, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), Vol. 72, pp. 64-79, New formations : a journal of culture / theory / politics, London, England, C1
In the name of the father : understanding monotheism and fundamentalism
A/Prof Russell Grigg, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), pp. 81-87, The Antipodean philosopher, Lanham, Md., B1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), Vol. 50, pp. 413-427, Sophia, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, Mr Daniel Jeffrey Edward Townsend
(2011), pp. 131-148, Interpreting Nietzsche : reception and influence, New York, N.Y., B1
On getting real : Stoicism and psychoanalysis
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), pp. 201-204, Anthology of philosophical studies; Volume 6, Athens, Greece, E1-1
Reading Camus with, or after, Levinas : rebellion and the primacy of ethics
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), Vol. 55, pp. 82-95, Philosophy today, Chicago, Ill., C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2011), Vol. 50, pp. 141-158, Sophia, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, C1-1
Zizek's communism and in defence of lost causes
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, A/Prof Geoff Boucher
(2010), Vol. 4, pp. 1-7, International journal of Zizek studies, Leeds, England, C1
On Plato as origin and periagoge in Strauss and Arendt
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), pp. 119-141, Legacy of Leo Strauss, Exeter, England, B1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), pp. 243-258, From Agamben to ¿i¿ek : contemporary critical theorists, Edinburgh, Scotland, B1
Who stole the cheese? or : How postmodernism can grow your business
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), Vol. 89, pp. 525-541, Man in India, New Delhi, India, C1
Then we will fight them in the shadows! : seven parataxic views, on Zizek's style
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), Vol. 4, pp. 1-35, International journal of Zizek studies, Leeds, England, C1
Zizek and politics : a critical introduction
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, A/Prof Geoff Boucher
(2010), Edinburgh, Scotland, A1
When the logics of the world collapse – Žižek with and against Arendt on 'totalitarianism'
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), Vol. 3, pp. 53-75, Subjectivity : International journal of critical psychology, London, England, C1
Uncovering Euthyphro's treasure reading Plato's Euthyphro with Lacan
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2010), Vol. 37, pp. 23-48, Helios, Lubbock, Texas, C1-1
“Critchley is Žižek” : in defence of critical political philosophy
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), Vol. 10, pp. 180-196, Critical horizons, Sheffield, U. K., C1
Of diabolical evil, and related matters : on Slavoj Žižek's reading of Kant's practical philosophy
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), Vol. 3, pp. 1-23, International journal of Zizek studies, Leeds, England, C1
Is neoliberalism a Liberalism, or a strange kind of bird? On Hayek and our discontents
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), Vol. 10, pp. 76-98, Critical horizons, Stocksfield, England, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), Vol. 14, pp. 535-547, European legacy, toward new paradigms, Oxford, England, C1
Only Agamben can save us? Against the messianic turn recently adopted in critical theory
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), Vol. 5, pp. 40.1-40.20, Bible and critical theory, Melbourne, Vic., C1
A response to Jonathon Collerson
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2009), pp. 215-223, Arena journal, Fitzroy, Vic., C1-1
Resurrecting (meta-) political theology, or the abstract passion of Alain Badiou
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2008), Vol. No.29/30, pp. 273-304, Arena journal, Australia, C1
Kant, or the crack in the universal : Slavoj Zizek's politicising the transcendental turn
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2008), Vol. 2, pp. 1-20, International journal of Zizek studies, Leeds, United Kingdom, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, Joanne Faulkner
(2008), Stocksfield, England, A1
The times will suit them : postmodern conservatism in Australia
A/Prof Geoff Boucher, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2008), Crows Nest, N. S. W., A1
In the name of the Father : God in Lacan, Judaic or Christian?
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2008), Vol. 26, pp. 267-285, Psychoanalytische perspectieven, Ghent, Belgium, C1-1
Postmodern conservatism and reactionary recognition
Dr Andrew Vandenberg, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe, A/Prof Geoff Boucher
(2007), pp. 116-134, Recognition in politics: theory, policy and practice, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, B1
Che Vuoi? Politico-philosophical remarks on Leo Strauss' Spinoza
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), Vol. 3, pp. 1-14, Bible and critical theory, Melbourne, Vic, C1
Maistre avec de Sade: Zizek contra de maistre
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), Vol. 1, pp. 1-24, International journal of Zizek studies, Leeds, England, C1
Even better than the real thing: sadism and real(ity) t.v.
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), Vol. 4, pp. 1-9, Scan : journal of media arts culture, Sydney, N.S.W, C1
A question of two truths? Remarks on Parrhesia and the 'political-philosophical' difference
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), pp. 89-108, Parrhesia: a journal of critical philosophy, Parkville, Vic, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), pp. 1-7, Trauma, history, philosophy, Newcastle, England, B1
Supposing history were a woman, what then? Some timely meditations on tyranny
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), pp. 186-209, Trauma, History, Philosophy, Newcastle, England, B1
Neuropsychoanalysis and the future of psychoanalysis
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2007), pp. 313-323, Trauma, history, philosophy, Newcastle, England, B1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 27, pp. 123-158, Arena journal, North Carlton, Vic, C1
The philosopher's courtly love? Leo Strauss, Eros, and the law
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 17, pp. 357-388, Law critique, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, C1
A coincidentia oppositorium? On Carl Schmitt and new Australian conservatism
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 5, pp. 1-14, Borderlands, Adelaide, S. Aust., C1
The aesthetics of ideology, or 'the critique of ideological judgment' in Eagleton and Zizek
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 34, pp. 95-120, Political theory : an international journal of political philosophy, Thousand Oaks, Calif., C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 24, pp. 95-123, Australian feminist law journal, Parkville, Vic, C1
Of words : on sartre and the unconscious - in good faith
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), pp. 1-20, Journal of european psychoanalysis, Rome, Italy, C1-1
'In the name of the Father...' descartes, psychosis, God and 'reality'
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2006), Vol. 4, pp. 214-232, Journal for Lacanian studies, London, England, C1-1
Is there a minority report?, or: what is subjectivity?
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), Vol. 2, pp. 4-14, Other voices, Philadelphia, PA, C1
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), Vol. 15, pp. 128-146, Antithesis, Parkville, Vic, C1
A few good men: psychoanalysis, Abu ghraib and (the) American right
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), Vol. 10, pp. 168-185, Psychoanalysis, culture & society, Basingstoke, England, C1
Critique as technology of the self
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), pp. 97-116, Foucault studies, Kelvin Grove, Qld, C1
Aesthet(h)ics: on Levinas' shadow
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), Vol. 9, pp. 29-47, Colloquy text theory critique, Melbourne, Vic, C1
What's left in Zizek? The antinomies of Zizek's sociopolitical reason
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), pp. 147-168, Traversing the fantasy: critical responses to Slavoj Zizek, Aldershot, England, B1
Introduction: traversing the fantasy
A/Prof Geoff Boucher, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2005), pp. xi-xviii, Traversing the fantasy: critical responses to Slavoj Zizek, Aldershot, England, B1
Irony and finitude: Zizek, Kundera and modernity
A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
(2004), Vol. 14, pp. 9-24, Antithesis, Parkville, Vic, C1
Grants
Australian Competitive Grants
Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life - Monash University
Dr Michael Ure, Prof Keith Ansell-Pearson, A/Prof Matthew Sharpe
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2016: $9,600
- 2015: $4,814
- 2014: $4,814
Supervisions
Adrienne Margarian
Thesis entitled: A Cross Cultural Study of Somatic Countertransference
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Daniel Jeffrey Edward Townsend
Thesis entitled: Leo Strauss and Islam
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Christopher Pollard
Thesis entitled: Merleau-Ponty, Naturalism and Phenomenological Ontology
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Russell Manning
Thesis entitled: Is this Revolution being Televised? Televisual Screens and Adolescent Subjectivity
Master of Arts, School of International and Political Studies
Mitchell David Cunningham
Thesis entitled: Performing the ¿Fiction-Writer¿s Reader¿: David Foster Wallace and Critical Rhetoric
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication & Creative Arts
Salvatore Guido
Thesis entitled: After Freud: The Fateful History of Psychoanalysis in Exile
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Andrew Sims
Thesis entitled: Anosognosia and the very idea of psychodynamic neuroscience
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Tim Themi
Thesis entitled: Lacan's Ethics and Nietzsche's Critique of Platonism
Doctor of Philosophy, School of International and Political Studies
Helen Isobel Besemeres
Thesis entitled: Radical Epistemological Skepticism about Justified Belief
Master of Arts, School of International and Political Studies
Henry Meghaizel
Thesis entitled: Aristotle on Wisdom: Knowledge of Wisdom and How to Acquire It
Doctor of Philosophy, School of International and Political Studies
Una Murphy
Thesis entitled: Bhakti, Sankirtana and Gaudiya Vaisnavism: India to Australia Foucaultian Analysis
Doctor of Philosophy, School of International and Political Studies
Patricia Gherovici
Thesis entitled: From Hysteria to Transgenderism: A Psychoanalytic Reconsideration of Sexual Difference
Doctor of Philosophy, School of International and Political Studies
Peter Robert Hotchin
Thesis entitled: Harmony in and between Aesthetic Experiences and Moral Experience
Master of Arts, School of International and Political Studies
Henk John van Leeuwen
Thesis entitled: Becoming at Home in the Natural World
Doctor of Philosophy, School of International and Political Studies
Lindsay Reginald Dawson
Thesis entitled: Philosophy, Business and Ethics: Balancing the Rational with the Thymotic
Doctor of Philosophy, School of History, Heritage and Society
Jon Kenneth Newton
Thesis entitled: Postmodernism, Christianity and the Book of Revelation
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication & Creative Arts