Sean Cordell

Dr Sean Cordell’s OU teaching and long-term research has, broadly speaking, been in social, political and moral philosophy. More specifically he has recently been working on the ethics and politics of social roles (such as professional or familial roles), which includes the legitimacy and justice of institutions that define those roles. He is deputy chair of the module A222 Exploring Philosophy and member of the Philosophy MA course team

Sean Cordell left school with a haul of three O levels and probably no commemorative plaque in the library. He worked as a chef for many years, and at the age of 30 decided that the works, ideas, thinkers and artists that he was finding increasingly interesting were not just there to be read or looked at but also to be studied. So, he signed up for an Arts foundation module at the OU and, thankfully, has never quite recovered! Sean gained a BA in Humanities with Philosophy and then pursued full-time time post-graduate study at the University of Sheffield, gaining an MA and a PhD. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, before returning here to the OU. Sean is currently working with some of his former teachers on the A222 Exploring Philosophy team and contributing to a new Philosophy MA programme among many other things.

"As a journey this was, and still is, more a magical mystery tour than a quest. I was still am discovering things and making it up as I go along. All proper education is continuing education, and the OU excels at it. Whatever your motivation for joining the OU, I urge you to grasp anything and everything it offers!

You may have seen the recent TV adverts which say ‘the most important thing you learn at the OU is what you are capable of’. I agree with that sentiment. But I’d add that one of the most exhilarating things about my own involvement with the OU has been not always quite knowing which capability is being tested, what I’ll be doing next, how fascinating it will prove, or where it might send me."

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