Dr Christopher Fear

Dr Christopher Fear

Lecturer in Politics and International Relations

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Business, Law and Politics
  • School of Politics and International Studies

Qualifications

  • BA (University of Exeter)
  • MA (University of Exeter)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Exeter)

Summary

Christopher Fear was born in Somerset, England, schooled at Corsham (1996–2003), and read Philosophy and Politics with European Study (German) at the University of Exeter. He spent his Erasmus year abroad (2006–07) at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he read Skandinavistik (Scandinavian Studies), and graduated with a First Class BA with Honours in 2008; and again in 2009 with a MA with Distinction in the History of Political Thought. In 2009 he obtained full funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for PhD research under the supervision of Iain Hampsher-Monk and Edward Skidelsky. He spent the autumn of 2010 at the Herzog-August Bibliothek at Wolfenbüttel. His doctoral thesis, Old Problems Re-opened: R. G. Collingwood and the History of Ideas, was accepted without corrections in September 2013.

In September 2017, after a number of years teaching A level Philosophy and Ethics at Okehampton College, Dr Fear took up his present Lecturer post in the School of Politics at the University of Hull. He now lives in Hull with his wife, son, and dogs.

Dr Fear currently teaches on all of the University of Hull’s Politics programmes. His preferred methods are classical: he teaches students how to read and understand some of the great texts in the Western canon, and to discuss such texts intelligently, in person and on paper. During his time at the Universities of Exeter and Hull he has convened and taught modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level, both within his area of expertise and without. He has taught modules or classes on the full range of political ideologies, electoral and voting systems, International Relations theory, and research methods. He has also undergone the process for attaining Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, which is overseen by the organization Advance HE.

Recent outputs

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Book Chapter

The General Elections: 2015, 2017, 2019

Fear, C. (2023). The General Elections: 2015, 2017, 2019. In Conservative Governments in the Age of Brexit (47-64). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (part of Springer Nature). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21464-6_4

L'odissea degli oikofobi: Roger Scruton su Dove siamo

Fear, C. (2021). L’odissea degli oikofobi: Roger Scruton su Dove siamo. In L. Iannone, & G. Malgieri (Eds.), Roger Scruton: Vita, opere e pensiero di un conservatore. Cesena: Historica Edizioni

Journal Article

"Sophists in academic dress: Oakeshott's 'The study of "politics" in a university'"

Fear, C. (2022). “Sophists in academic dress: Oakeshott’s ‘The study of “politics” in a university’”. Cosmos+Taxis, 10(7-8), 62-71

The 'dialectical' theory of conservatism

Fear, C. (2020). The ‘dialectical’ theory of conservatism. Journal of political ideologies, 25(2), 197-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2020.1750760

R. G. Collingwood's overlapping ideas of history

Fear, C. (2021). R. G. Collingwood's overlapping ideas of history. Journal of the Philosophy of History, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1163/18722636-12341437

Research interests

Dr Fear maintains a “mixed portfolio” approach to research. Much of his recent research has focused on conservative political thought, historical and contemporary, and some of his publications in this area have appeared in the Journal of Political Ideologies, History of European Ideas, and The Review of Politics. Other work on conservatism has been presented at international conferences from Edinburgh to Budapest. In general he advocates an historically-informed approach to political theory, building on his research expertise in British and German Idealism, and he has defended this approach in contributions to methodological debates in the history of ideas, some of which have been published in the Journal of the Philosophy of History (×2) and History of the Human Sciences. Finally, he maintains a “side-line” interest in the political writings of Wyndham Lewis.

Dr Fear is a member of the Britain and Ireland Association for Political Thought, and of the Political Studies Association, being an active member of the latter’s Conservatism Studies and British Idealism specialist groups. During his time at Hull, he has directed the Centre for Idealism and the New Liberalism, the Free Society stream of the Institute of Applied Ethics, and the BA Politics, Philosophy and Economics degree programme.

Dr Fear welcomes approaches from diligent and perseverant students from any background who wish to pursue doctoral research in any of the following areas: (1) Conservative and liberal political theory; (2) British or German Idealist social and political philosophy, especially that of R. G. Collingwood, F. H. Bradley, and related authors; (3) nineteenth- and twentieth-century British or German political history; (4) the political writings of Wyndham Lewis.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Fear welcomes approaches from diligent and perseverant students from any background who wish to pursue doctoral research in any of the following areas: (1) Conservative and liberal political theory; (2) British or German Idealist social and political philosophy, especially that of R. G. Collingwood, F. H. Bradley, and related authors; (3) nineteenth- and twentieth-century British or German political history; (4) the political writings of Wyndham Lewis.

If you would like to propose research that touches in some way on these areas, please don’t be afraid to email him.

Membership/Fellowship of professional body

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2018

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