Talking philosophy and politics with the head of University College Dublin.
Patrick Masterson studied philosophy in Dublin and Belgium. In 1963, he joined the Philosophy Department at University College where he became Professor in 1972. In 1986, he was elected President of University College Dublin.
He says of his appointment as President of UCD, that it is not unusual for a philosopher to hold such a post.
Philosophers, by and large, tend to be rational people and a university is meant to be a rational community.
Plato was the first president of a university in Greece and in the history of universities, the faculty of philosophy has always been central to university life.
Patrick Masterson refutes claims that universities are more political than other institutions. He argues that anywhere discourse takes place, politics takes place.
A university is a place where discourse is taking place endlessly.
This episode of 'Hanly's People' was broadcast on 29 May 1989. The presenter is David Hanly.
