Kieran Donaghue studied philosophy, first in Australia, then in the US and Germany. In the mid-1980s he taught at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Subsequently, he spent nearly twenty years working for the Australian government’s overseas aid agency (then AusAID, now part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade), with a particular focus on the relationship between government and non-government aid programs and on microfinance, the provision of sustainable financial services to poor people. Through this work I was privileged to meet many fine people dedicated to improving the lives of others. Donaghue has a strong interest in philosophical and psychological issues, in particular in the nature of belief and its relation to reason, emotion, commitment and action. He is exercised by questions such as: What is a belief? Why do people believe the things they do? In what circumstances is faith a virtue? Is sincerity always a virtue? In this context, questions of political ideology and of religion are of particular interest to him.
