Rate My Professor Nicholas Smith

Nicholas Smith is an Honorary Professor in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, at Macquarie University, where he previously served as Professor of Philosophy from 2011 to 2021. He joined the Department of Philosophy as a Lecturer in 1997, advancing through Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor roles. Smith held key leadership positions, including Head of the Department of Philosophy from 2008 to 2012 and Director of the Centre for Research in Social Inclusion from 2003 to 2007. Earlier in his career, he was Research Fellow and Lecturer at Middlesex University (1994-1997), Lecturer at the University of West of Scotland (1990-1993), and held teaching positions at the University of Glasgow (1986-1990). His educational background includes a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Glasgow in 1993, an MA in Political Philosophy from the University of York in 1985, and a first-class BA Joint Honours in Philosophy and Politics from Newcastle University in 1984.

Smith's scholarly work centers on hermeneutics, the philosophy of recognition, critical theory of work, and the thought of Charles Taylor. He has authored influential books, including Strong Hermeneutics: Contingency and Moral Identity (Routledge, 1997), Charles Taylor: Meaning, Morals and Modernity (Polity, 2002), and co-authored The Return of Work in Critical Theory: Self, Society, Politics (Columbia University Press, 2018). Among his edited volumes are New Philosophies of Labour: Work and the Social Bond (Brill, 2012, with Jean-Philippe Deranty), Recognition Theory as Social Research: Investigating the Dynamics of Social Conflict (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, with Shane O'Neill), and Critique Today (Brill, 2006). He has produced 73 research outputs, encompassing articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries. Smith has received significant funding, such as Australian Research Council Discovery Projects for 'Applying the Ethics of Recognition: Work and the Social Bond' (2006-2009) and 'Work and Self-development' (2010-2012), along with visiting fellowships including Mercator Gastprofessur at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt (2010-2011) and YKY Visiting Professor at the University of Tampere (2014-2015). He contributes to centres like the Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values and Ethics (CAVE) and the Centre for Workforce Futures, and has served on editorial boards such as Critical Horizons (2007-2021) and various university committees.