James Dicenso is Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion. His areas of interest include modern philosophy of religion from the 17th through the 20th centuries, as well as psychoanalysis and religion. He works on enlightenment and post-enlightenment critical interpretations of religion, intersections among religion, ethics, and politics, and the hermeneutical rethinking of classical theories of religion. His primary teaching areas are modern philosophical approaches to questions of religion and ethical development in relation to social and political structures. He has a B.A. from Concordia, an M.A. from Carleton, and a Ph.D. from Syracuse.
Primary Teaching Areas
- Philosophy of religion
- Ethical development in relation to social and political structures
- Psychoanalysis and religion
Specific research interests
- Enlightenment and post-enlightenment interpretations of religion
- Intersections among religion, ethics, and politics
- Modern and contemporary hermeneutics
Opportunities for student supervision available within the following areas
- Modern theories and interpretations of religion (especially Enlightenment thought, Kant, Freud, and hermeneutical theory)
- Religion and philosophical ethics
Contact information
170 St. George Street, Room 328
Tel.: 416-946-3360
Email: james.dicenso@utoronto.ca
Selected Publications
2011. Kant, Religion, and Politics
2009. “Religious Subjectivity: Philosophical and Psychoanalytic Inquiries”
2007. “Kant, Freud and the Ethical Critique of Religion”
2006. “Radical Evil and Fanaticism: A Re-reading of Kant’s Religion”
2000. “Splitting Religion: Heteronomy, Autonomy, and Reflection”
1999. The Other Freud: Religion, Culture, and Psychoanalysis
1990. Hermeneutics and the Disclosure of Truth