Degrees Held
- BA Hons in Philosophy, University of Liverpool
- MA in History & Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds
- PhD in Philosophy, University of KwaZulu-Natal
Online Profile
- PhilPeople https://philpeople.org/profiles/gregory-morgan-swer
- Researchgate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gregory-Swer
- Google Scholar Citations https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sasF5k0AAAAJ&hl=en
Research Interests
- Areas of Specialisation: Post-Kantian Continental Philosophy (especially Phenomenology & Existentialism), Philosophy of Technology, Philosophy of History
- Areas of Competence: Feminist Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Environmental Philosophy, British Idealism, American Transcendentalism
Teaching Interests
- History of Philosophy
- Political Philosophy
- Phenomenology & Existentialism
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Chapter Books
Journal Articles
- Swer, G. (2023) “‘Blessed are the Breadmakers…’: Sociophobia, Digital Society and the enduring relevance of Technological Determinism”, South African Journal of Philosophy, Volume 42 Issue 4 pgs.315-327 https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2023.2288756
- Swer, G. (2023) ‘Arguments with Fictional Philosophers: Spengler’s ‘Kant’ and the conceptual foundations of Spengler’s early philosophy of history’. History of the Human Sciences, Volume 36. Issue 3/4. pgs. 242-259. https://doi.org/10.1177/09526951231156040
- Du Toit, J. & Swer, G. (2023) ‘The Virtual Fourfold: Reading Heidegger’s Fourfold through O’Shiel’s Phenomenology of the Virtual. Inscriptions. Volume 6. Number 2. pgs. 68-77. https://doi.org/10.59391/inscriptions.v6i2.191
- Du Toit, J. & Swer, G. (2022) ‘From Virtual to Embodied Extremism: An Existential Phenomenological Account of Extremist Echo Chambers through Ortega y Gasset and Merleau-Ponty’. Acta Academica. Volume 53. Number 3. pgs. 208-228. https://doi.org/10.18820/24150479/aa54i3/10
- Du Toit, J. & Swer, G. (2021) ‘Virtual Limitations of Flesh: Merleau-Ponty and the Phenomenology of Technological Determinism’. Phenomenology and Mind, Volume 20. pgs. 20-31. https://doi.org/10.17454/10.17454/pam-2002
- Swer, G. (2021) ‘How Technology Drives the History of the Green Revolution’. Capitalism Nature Socialism, Volume 32. Issue 4. pgs. 73-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2020.1862889
- Du Toit, J. & Swer, G. (2020) ‘A Manifesto for Messy Philosophy of Technology: The Past and Future of an Academic Field’. Theory of Science, Volume 42. Issue 2. pgs. 231-252. https://org/10.46938/tv.2020.491
- Swer, G. (2020) ‘Nature, Gender and Technology: The Ontological Foundations of Shiva’s Ecofeminist Philosophy’. Comparative and Continental Philosophy, Volume 12. Issue 2. pgs. 118-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/17570638.2020.1780685
- G. (2020) ‘Dread, Longing and Care: Spengler’s Account of the Existential Structure of Human Experience’. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, Volume 51. Issue 1. pgs.71-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071773.2019.1633613
- G. (2020) ‘The Revolt Against Reason: Oswald Spengler and Violence as Cultural Preservative’. Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence, Volume 4. Issue 1. pgs. 123-148. https://doi.org/10.22618/TP.PJCV.20204.1.201008
- G. (2019) ‘Technology and the End of Western Civilisation: Spengler and Heidegger’s Histories of Life/Being’. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 19. No. 1. pgs. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/20797222.2019.1641915
- Swer, G. (2019) ‘The Decline of Western Science: Defending Spengler’s Account of the End of Science – Within Reason’. Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie, Volume 50. pgs. 545-560. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-019-09461-x
- Swer, G. (2019) ‘Homo Touristicus: or The Jargon of Authenticity 2.0’. South African Journal of Philosophy, Volume 38. No. 2. pgs. 210-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2019.1616920
- Swer, G. (2018) ‘Timely Meditations?: Oswald Spengler’s Philosophy of History Reconsidered’. Prolegomena, Volume 17. No.2. pgs. 137-154. https://doi.org/10.26362/20180302
- Swer, G. (2017) ‘Oswald Spengler and Martin Heidegger on Modern Science, Metaphysics and Mathematics’. Idealistic Studies, Volume 47. Issues 1 & 2. pgs. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.5840/idstudies201811278
- Swer, G. (2014) ‘Determining Technology: Myopia and Dystopia’, South African Journal of Philosophy, Volume 33. No. 2. pgs. 201-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/02580136.2014.923696
Chapter Books
- Du Toit, J. & Swer, G. (2024) “Embodied Individuals Navigating Virtual Spaces: Addressing Intersubjectivity and Alienation in Emergency Remote Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Africa” (with Jean du Toit), in Phenomenology in Action for Researching Networked Learning: Research in Networked Learning (eds.) Michael Johnson, Felicity Healey-Benson, Catherine Adams, Nina Bonderup Dohn, Cham: Springer, pgs.109-124 (2024), doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-62780-4_6
- Swer, G. (2024) “Inventing the Greeks: On the Function of Classical Antiquity in Spengler’s The Decline of the West”, in From Herodotus to Spengler: Comparing Civilisations through Time and Space, (ed.) David Engels, Berlin/Lüdinghausen: Manuscriptum Verlag, pgs.21-43
- Swer, G. (2023) ‘Towards a Phenomenology of Dark Tourist Experiences’. Tourism and Culture in Philosophical Perspective, (eds.) Marie-Elise Zovko & John Dillon, London: Springer (2023), doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-36659-8_12
- Swer, G. (2021) ‘Science Fiction: Science, Vaihinger and Spengler’s Fictionalist Philosophy of Science’. Oswald Spengler in an Age of Globalisation, (eds.) David Engels, Gerd Morgenthaler & Max Otte, Berlin/Lüdinghausen: Manuscriptum Verlag, pgs. 197-225
- Swer, G. (2019) ‘The Seeds of Violence: Ecofeminism, Technology, and Ecofeminist Philosophy of Technology’. Feminist Philosophy of Technology, (eds.) Janina Loh & Mark Coeckelbergh, Book Series: Techno:Phil – Aktuelle Herausforderungen der Technikphilosophie, J.B. Metzler publisher, pgs. 247-263 (2019), doi: 0.1007/978-3-476-04967-4
Teaching Expertise
- Social Contract Theory
- Phenomenology & Existentialism
- Critical Theory
- Philosophy of Technology
- Reactionary Modernism