Vittorio Bufacchi
@vittorio66.bsky.social
Professor, Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, Ireland.
Latest book: 'Why Cicero Matters' (Bloomsbury 2023).
[email protected]
Latest book: 'Why Cicero Matters' (Bloomsbury 2023).
[email protected]
On Dec. 7th, 43 B.C., Roman philosopher and statesman was assassinated. The Roman Republic died with Cicero. He was killed by his enemies: populist, capricious authoritarians. Fast forward 2068 years...the rest is history repeating itself.
December 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
On Dec. 7th, 43 B.C., Roman philosopher and statesman was assassinated. The Roman Republic died with Cicero. He was killed by his enemies: populist, capricious authoritarians. Fast forward 2068 years...the rest is history repeating itself.
Reposted by Vittorio Bufacchi
Writing about immigration in @irishexaminer.bsky.social Govt taking a risk with tougher talk & policies. May look like it's following public opinion but Irish econ is hugely dependent on intrnl labour. Few parties have out flanked the right on migration & won www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Immigration rhetoric is a tightrope for Government
The Government is walking an economic tightrope and voters will not thank it if Ireland cannot find the people to deliver the services and infrastructure being loudly demanded, writes Professor Theres...
www.irishexaminer.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Writing about immigration in @irishexaminer.bsky.social Govt taking a risk with tougher talk & policies. May look like it's following public opinion but Irish econ is hugely dependent on intrnl labour. Few parties have out flanked the right on migration & won www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
It's World Philosophy Day!
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Vittorio Bufacchi: Philosophy is an antidote to toxic certainty
The world desperately needs philosophy today, to stand up to totalitarianism, and halt the process of democratic backsliding, writes Vittorio Bufacchi on World Philosophy Day
www.irishexaminer.com
November 20, 2025 at 11:44 AM
It's World Philosophy Day!
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Join me on a live podcast next Thursday, November 20th, to celebrate World Philosophy Day.
November 16, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Join me on a live podcast next Thursday, November 20th, to celebrate World Philosophy Day.
Are you in Cork City today? Why not pop along to Horgan's Quay 1 / T23 PPT8 near the Dean Hotel and visit the Mapping Climate Change exhibition. Open today until 4pm.
Open until 6th Dec:
Tue, Wed, Fri 12 – 4pm
Thur 4 – 7pm
Sat 10am – 4pm
Closed Sun / Mon
Open until 6th Dec:
Tue, Wed, Fri 12 – 4pm
Thur 4 – 7pm
Sat 10am – 4pm
Closed Sun / Mon
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Are you in Cork City today? Why not pop along to Horgan's Quay 1 / T23 PPT8 near the Dean Hotel and visit the Mapping Climate Change exhibition. Open today until 4pm.
Open until 6th Dec:
Tue, Wed, Fri 12 – 4pm
Thur 4 – 7pm
Sat 10am – 4pm
Closed Sun / Mon
Open until 6th Dec:
Tue, Wed, Fri 12 – 4pm
Thur 4 – 7pm
Sat 10am – 4pm
Closed Sun / Mon
There is only one take from the presidential election in Ireland: Catherine Connolly won by a HUGE margin. It was a POSITIVE campaign, and the LEFT candidate won fair and square.
The rest is minor details: spoiled votes, Jim Garvin, etc. is just background noise.
The rest is minor details: spoiled votes, Jim Garvin, etc. is just background noise.
October 25, 2025 at 5:03 PM
There is only one take from the presidential election in Ireland: Catherine Connolly won by a HUGE margin. It was a POSITIVE campaign, and the LEFT candidate won fair and square.
The rest is minor details: spoiled votes, Jim Garvin, etc. is just background noise.
The rest is minor details: spoiled votes, Jim Garvin, etc. is just background noise.
It's election day in Ireland. Go out and vote 🗳.
October 24, 2025 at 10:49 AM
It's election day in Ireland. Go out and vote 🗳.
Yup, caught in the act, yet again, far-right bashing, this time on the far-right threat to public health.
October 21, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Yup, caught in the act, yet again, far-right bashing, this time on the far-right threat to public health.
Thomas Hobbes conference in Malmesbury (of course), March 2026. Spread the word. Send a paper proposal. Tell your students.
#Hobbes
#PhilosophyMatters
#Hobbes
#PhilosophyMatters
October 10, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Thomas Hobbes conference in Malmesbury (of course), March 2026. Spread the word. Send a paper proposal. Tell your students.
#Hobbes
#PhilosophyMatters
#Hobbes
#PhilosophyMatters
With Catherine Connolly (future president of Ireland), John Maher, my daughter Natalie, and her friend Lidia.
October 5, 2025 at 11:45 AM
With Catherine Connolly (future president of Ireland), John Maher, my daughter Natalie, and her friend Lidia.
Some people are expensive. Others are cheap. Me? I'm free.
👇
👇
September 23, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Some people are expensive. Others are cheap. Me? I'm free.
👇
👇
If you are in Dublin on Saturday 27 September, come along to this free event! I'll be in conversation with the amazing Justine McCarthy of The Irish Times as part of the Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland 2025.
September 18, 2025 at 6:55 AM
If you are in Dublin on Saturday 27 September, come along to this free event! I'll be in conversation with the amazing Justine McCarthy of The Irish Times as part of the Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland 2025.
Canvassing with John Maher (Labour) for the next President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly.
September 13, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Canvassing with John Maher (Labour) for the next President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly.
If you liked 'Free', you will love 'Indignity'. I read both. In this interview Lea Ypi says: "every voice out there is always a result of some power relation". Her book explores the indignity of dominant power relations, and yet there is always moral freedom. A beautiful book by a remarkable writer.
It was such a pleasure to discuss with the brilliant @shafakelif literature and politics, minorities in the Ottoman Empire, how the past conditions us, the role of writers in society, and much more... The joint interview is out in today's @theguardian.com link👇
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...
August 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
If you liked 'Free', you will love 'Indignity'. I read both. In this interview Lea Ypi says: "every voice out there is always a result of some power relation". Her book explores the indignity of dominant power relations, and yet there is always moral freedom. A beautiful book by a remarkable writer.
Hospitals in Gaza reported that eight people – including three children – died from starvation and malnutrition in the last 24 hours.
My piece for RTE Brainstorm on how Netanyahu's politics of starvation is starving human rights:
My piece for RTE Brainstorm on how Netanyahu's politics of starvation is starving human rights:
How hunger and starvation are used as political weapons in Gaza. Hunger has been used as a weapon of war for millennia, but is now recognised both morally and legally as a crime against humanity, writes @vittorio66.bsky.social @ucc.ie @researchireland.ie www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
How hunger and starvation are used as political weapons in Gaza
Hunger has been used as a weapon of war for millennia, but is now recognised both morally and legally as a crime against humanity
www.rte.ie
August 15, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Hospitals in Gaza reported that eight people – including three children – died from starvation and malnutrition in the last 24 hours.
My piece for RTE Brainstorm on how Netanyahu's politics of starvation is starving human rights:
My piece for RTE Brainstorm on how Netanyahu's politics of starvation is starving human rights:
Having read all four Sally Rooney's novels, this is how I rate them:
1. Intermezzo
2. Normal People
3. Conversations with Friends
4. Beautiful World, Where Are You
Tell me if you agree or disagree.
1. Intermezzo
2. Normal People
3. Conversations with Friends
4. Beautiful World, Where Are You
Tell me if you agree or disagree.
August 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Having read all four Sally Rooney's novels, this is how I rate them:
1. Intermezzo
2. Normal People
3. Conversations with Friends
4. Beautiful World, Where Are You
Tell me if you agree or disagree.
1. Intermezzo
2. Normal People
3. Conversations with Friends
4. Beautiful World, Where Are You
Tell me if you agree or disagree.
Walking for many miles between the dry stone walls of Inis Meain, on the Aran Islands, trying to make sense of Gramsci's distinction between dialectical materialism and historical materialism.
July 18, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Walking for many miles between the dry stone walls of Inis Meain, on the Aran Islands, trying to make sense of Gramsci's distinction between dialectical materialism and historical materialism.
I'm at Cork Opera House since 4am, watching the mesmerising Eileen Walsh in 'The Second Woman'. Possibly the most incredible thing I've ever seen on stage. Part of Cork Midsummer Festival.
June 15, 2025 at 8:10 AM
I'm at Cork Opera House since 4am, watching the mesmerising Eileen Walsh in 'The Second Woman'. Possibly the most incredible thing I've ever seen on stage. Part of Cork Midsummer Festival.
Review: Why Cicero Matters, Newcastle ClassicsFest 2025
"As we see the rise of right-wing populism around the world and in our own communities, with all its destructive tendencies, it appears to me that Cicero definitely does matter"
northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/hist...
"As we see the rise of right-wing populism around the world and in our own communities, with all its destructive tendencies, it appears to me that Cicero definitely does matter"
northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/hist...
Review: Why Cicero Matters, Newcastle ClassicsFest 2025
Are we about to make the same mistake as the Romans?
northeastbylines.co.uk
June 4, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Review: Why Cicero Matters, Newcastle ClassicsFest 2025
"As we see the rise of right-wing populism around the world and in our own communities, with all its destructive tendencies, it appears to me that Cicero definitely does matter"
northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/hist...
"As we see the rise of right-wing populism around the world and in our own communities, with all its destructive tendencies, it appears to me that Cicero definitely does matter"
northeastbylines.co.uk/culture/hist...
The three-days 'Why Cicero Matters' ClassicsFest finished last night, but the banner is still up, and I'm still on a high. Seven events, including talks, debates, an oratory competition, and a theatrical reenactment of a Cicero trial. Life doesn't get better than that.
@classicsforall.bsky.social
@classicsforall.bsky.social
May 18, 2025 at 8:19 AM
The three-days 'Why Cicero Matters' ClassicsFest finished last night, but the banner is still up, and I'm still on a high. Seven events, including talks, debates, an oratory competition, and a theatrical reenactment of a Cicero trial. Life doesn't get better than that.
@classicsforall.bsky.social
@classicsforall.bsky.social
Starts tomorrow, 15-17 May. See you in Newcastle.
@litandphil.bsky.social
@litandphil.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Starts tomorrow, 15-17 May. See you in Newcastle.
@litandphil.bsky.social
@litandphil.bsky.social
Starts this Thursday, in Newcastle, at The Lit & Phil: 'Why Cicero Matters'.
@litandphil.bsky.social
@litandphil.bsky.social
May 13, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Starts this Thursday, in Newcastle, at The Lit & Phil: 'Why Cicero Matters'.
@litandphil.bsky.social
@litandphil.bsky.social
Philosophy meets rap music. My piece in today's Irish Times on Kneecap, Wittgenstein, Charles Taylor, and Hannah Arendt.
May 3, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Philosophy meets rap music. My piece in today's Irish Times on Kneecap, Wittgenstein, Charles Taylor, and Hannah Arendt.
This is not a popular view, but this is why I believe in more military spending across Europe. In the @irishexaminer.bsky.social today.
April 28, 2025 at 8:48 AM
This is not a popular view, but this is why I believe in more military spending across Europe. In the @irishexaminer.bsky.social today.