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Dr Ana-Maria Pascal

Senior Tutor and Academic Director

 

BA, MA, PhD (Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi), MBA (Huron University USA in London), PGC HE (University of Wales Newport)

Dr Pascal is the Senior Tutor Academic Director at SCIO and Associate Tutor at Wycliffe Hall. She joined SCIO from Regent’s University in London, where she was Reader in Philosophy and Public Ethics, and Director of Liberal Arts programmes. She has over twenty-year experience of teaching and research at universities in Europe, the USA, and the UK. She specializes in post-Kantian philosophy, metaphysics, hermeneutics, ethics, and the Patristic tradition. Her practical experience includes policy-work on corporate accountability, health and safety law enforcement and migrant workers’ rights as UK Director at the Centre for Corporate Accountability (2006–9). She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research interests lie at the crossroads between metaphysics and religion on the one hand, and public ethics, on the other. She is the author of Narratives and the role of philosophy in cross-disciplinary studies (2018), co-editor of European developments in corporate criminal liability (2008), editor of Multiculturalism and the convergence of faith and practical wisdom in modern society (2017), as well as author of numerous articles on hermeneutics, metaphysics, business ethics, and human rights. Her current research focuses on apophatic thinking in multiple traditions, for a long-term project in comparative metaphysics, and she is writing a book on exile.

Dr Pascal has been external examiner for various universities, since 2013; and a QAA reviewer, since 2011. During Michaelmas term 2021, she was Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan. She is Editor for Philosophy of Management, a quarterly journal published by Springer, and a member of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association.

Areas of Teaching Competence

  • Metaphysics: from Plato to Heidegger and Levinas
  • Post-Kantian European philosophy: in particular hermeneutics, phenomenology, and existentialism
  • Comparative religion and metaphysics: with a specialisation in early Fathers and the Patristic tradition
  • Neo-pragmatism and its relationship to classical metaphysics and epistemology, including practical applications to culture and society (PhD thesis)
  • Ethics and Human Rights: including normative theories, regulatory aspects of corporate accountability, corporate and white-collar crime, the UN draft treaty on transnational organisations and human rights

Research Interests

  • Comparative metaphysics
  • Hermeneutics
  • Apophatic traditions
  • Phenomenology of religion

Publications

Authored books

  • Narratives and the Role of Philosophy in Cross-Disciplinary Studies: Emerging Research and Opportunities, 2018. Hershey, PA: IGI Global
  • Pragmatismul si ‘sfarsitul’ metafizicii (Pragmatism and ‘the End’ of Metaphysics), Al. I. Cuza University Press, 2009 (awarded the “Aurel Leon” prize for debut, 2010)

Edited books

  • Multiculturalism and the Convergence of Faith and Practical Wisdom in Modern Society, 2017. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
  • European Developments in Corporate Criminal Liability (with James Gobert), 2011; London and New York: Routledge; paperback edition, 2014 

Book chapters

  • The Hunting Game in Hermeneutics: Meaning, Memory and Desire in Interpretation, in Učník, Ľ. and Williams, A. (eds.) (2017) Phenomenology and the Problem of Meaning in Human Life and History. Pp. 161-178. libri nigri 60. Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz
  • Who Cares Whose Cars? A Philosophical Analysis of Business and Human Rights, in Rendtorff, J. D. (ed.) (2017) Perspectives on Philosophy of Management and Business Ethics, Ethical Economy. Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy 51, Springer International Publishing, pp. 247-262
  • The Dialectics of Recognition in Leibniz’s Theodicy and A Possible Route to Modern Political Thought, in Pisano R., Fichant M., Bussotti, P. and Oliveira A.R.E. (eds.) (2017) The Dialogue between Sciences, Philosophy and Engineering. New Historical and Epistemological Insights, London: The College Publications, pp. 343-363
  • Business Ethics is Socio-Political or Not at All: The Case of Rosia Montana, in Wolf, R., & Issa, T. (eds.) (2015). International Business Ethics and Growth Opportunities. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-7419-6, pp. 251-281
  • Montaigne’s Pragmatic Scepticism, or the Ethics of Doubt, in Esprits Modernes. Etudes sur les modèles de pensée alternatifs aux XVIe – XVIIe siècles (2003). Bucharest University and Vasile Goldiş University Press, Bucharest and Arad, pp. 213-234
  • Metaphysical Limits of Interpretation in Gadamer and Davidson, in Afloroaei, St. (ed.) (2001) Limits of Interpretation, Iasi: Axis, pp. 325-334

Book translations

  • Richard Shusterman (2004) Estetica pragmatista: Arta in stare vie. Translated from English (Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art, Lanham, MA and Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield). Iasi: Institutul European

Articles

  • Business and Human Rights, from Theory to Practice and Law to Morality: Taking a Philosophical Look at the Proposed UN Treaty. Philosophy of Management. Springer. 2020
  • Elements of Pragmatist Interpretation in Modern Aesthetics, Hermeneia. Review of Hermeneutics, no 7/2007, Axis, Iasi, pp. 45 – 59
  • Blinkered: A Pragmatist Critique of Liberalism, Tischner Debates, published online by Warsaw University and the Institute for Social Sciences Vienna, November 2006
  • Corporate Governance, Shareholder Value and Societal Expectations (with Richard Tudway), Corporate Governance. The International Journal of Business in Society, Vol. 6, No 3, 2006, Emerald Publishing Group, Oxford, pp. 305 – 316
  • Beyond the Ivory Tower: From Business Aims to Policy-Making (with Richard Tudway), Public Administration and Development (Bimonthly ISSN: 0271-2075) Vol. 26, No 2, 2006, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, England, pp. 99–108
  • Cioran’s West: On Heroes, Foreignness, and Destiny, Hermeneia. Review of Hermeneutics, no 6/2006, Axis, Iasi, pp. 129-137
  • Par amnésie – or Forgetting as Therapy, ID, No 2 (17), February 2006, Bucharest, p. 48
  • International Aid. From the Moral Case, to Everyday Life Experiences, a reply to Sir Tim Lankester’s “International Aid: Experience, Prospects and the Moral Case”, Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology (Semiannual ISSN: 1584-1057) Iasi, No 4, 2005, pp. 154-71
  • What does it mean to do metaphysics, nowadays? An Interview with Professor Daniel Garber from Princeton University, The Scientific Annals of Al. I. Cuza University, Faculty of Philosophy, Iasi, 2004
  • The Master/Slave Dialectics in Leibniz’s Théodicée, The Scientific Annals of Al. I. Cuza University, Faculty of Philosophy, Iasi, 2003
  • Recognition of the Other in a Theodicy, The Scientific Annals of Al. I. Cuza University, Faculty of Philosophy, Iasi, 2002
  • Wittgenstein, Rorty, and the Wild Orchid, Hermeneia. A Journal for Hermeneutic Studies and Research, No. 2-3 / 2001-2, Axis, Iasi, pp. 80-94
  • From Language to Discourse: Foucault at Crossroads, Journal of P. Andrei University, Iasi, 2001
  • The Theory of Ideas in Descartes: Metaphysical Aspects, The Scientific Annals of Al. I. Cuza University, Faculty of Philosophy, Iasi: Al. I. Cuza University Press, 2000-2001, pp. 58-67
  • National Identity and European Integration (with Liviu Drugus), Journal of Petre Andrei University, Iasi, 2000
  • The Cross as Sacred Centre of the Created World, Krisis: Journal of Philosophy, no 5 / 1997, Bucharest, pp. 33-38

Departmental working papers

  • The Notion of Public Sphere in Post-Totalitarian Times: A Normative Account, Working Papers of the Trans-regional Centre for Democratic Studies, Vol. 5:8, Graduate Faculty, New School University, New York, 2004

Co-authored official reports

  • Migrants’ Workplace Deaths in Britain, published by the CCA and Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, London, March 2009
  • Incidents Reported to the Health and Safety Executive: Lack of Investigation 2001 – 2007, published by the CCA and UNITE the Union, London, November 2008
  • Guidance on Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007: A Comprehensive Briefing for the Layperson and the Expert, published by the CCA, London, May 2008
  • CCA’s written response to the Sentencing Advisory Panel’s consultation on sentencing health and safety and manslaughter offences, February 2008
  • CCA’s written response to the Work and Pensions Department’s Select Committee, concerning the work of the HSE and HSC, November 2007
  • Bringing Justice to the Boardroom: The Case Against Voluntary Guidance and in Favour of a Change in Law to Impose Safety Duties on Directors, published by the CCA and UCATT, London, October 2007

Presentations

  • “The Apophatic approach of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite” at the Comparative Metaphysics conference, Cumberland Lodge, London, 21 September 2021
  • “Corporate responsibility and human rights in China: An investigation of reporting practices” (with Zhiwei Hu), at the Annual Conference of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association, University of Essex, 12 September 2019
  • “Government guidance and corporate disclosures on CSR in China”, at the Business Ethics and Human Rights research workshop, Regent’s University London, 10 September 2019
  • “Business and human rights, from theory to practice: Taking a philosophical look at the proposed UN Treaty”, at the Global Business and Human Rights research workshop, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 29 November 2018
  • “What next for Kiobel? Reflections on law and morality in the current framework on business and human rights”, at the Fourth Annual Conference of the Global Business and Human Rights Scholars Association at the Stern Center, New York University, 15 September 2018
  • “Who Cares Whose Cars? A Philosophical Analysis of the Business and Human Rights Conundrum”, at the Research Conference of the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) on Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 1 October 2015
  • “The Hunting Game in Hermeneutics: on Memory and Desire in Interpretation”, at the 5th OPO Conference of phenomenological societies, On Meaning, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia, 10 December 2014
  • Chair of the “Regimes of Liability” session at the University of Essex Network meeting “Holding Companies Accountable”, Freie University, Berlin, 2 October 2010 (part of a three-year AHRC-funded research project)
  • “Corporate Criminal Liability in Romania”, at the European Developments in Corporate Criminal Liability conference, University of Essex, 18 September 2009 (project funded by the British Academy)
  • “On the Notion of Purpose in our Professional Lives”, at the Ethics and Integrity of Governance conference, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium, 3 June 2005

In Preparation for Publication

  • Apophatic thinking in early Patristic and Indian traditions: Dionysius the Areopagite, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Maximus the Confessor, the Upanishad and the Hindu epics (with Diwakar Acharya, All Souls College, Oxford)
  • On Discipleship, from Socrates to Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer
  • On exile (a monograph)
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