Philosophical Logic, Language, and Metaphysics
Department of Philosophy research theme
Philosophical Logic, Language, and Metaphysics researches the underlying nature of reality and how it connects with the way in which we talk about the world. It brings together philosophers working both within traditional areas of analytic philosophy as well as more recent, innovative, areas with an interdisciplinary remit.
We have expertise in philosophical logic, ranging from its application in purely theoretical contexts, such as higher order metaphysics, to its deployment in, and relevance to, industry.
Our expertise in metaphysics covers topics in ontology, as well as the metaphysics of physics, time, biology, and religion. And, playing on synergies between clusters, it also deals with the metaphysics of mind and perception.
In the philosophy of language we investigate the foundations of semantics, contextualist semantics and pragmatics, the role of mereology within linguistics, semantic externalism, and the nature of vagueness.
Researchers
- Darragh Byrne focuses on the philosophy of mind and language, including empiricist conceptions of linguistic understanding and concept possession.
- Nikk Effingham works on the nature of properties, composition, persistence, and time travel. He is currently working on a new theory in temporal ontology.
- Alex Silk conducts research in how philosophy of language and linguistics can illuminate broader philosophical debates. His latest book, Discourse Contextualism, discusses a framework for contextualist semantics and pragmatics.
- Scott Sturgeon looks at what is fundamental to subject and object, including within consciousness, thought, and reason.
- Henry Taylor works on areas in philosophy of mind as well as metaphysics. Specific interests include modality, ontologies of powers, and the philosophy of biology.
Recent publications
- Effingham, Nikk. 2020. Time Travel: Probability and Impossibility, Oxford: OUP.
- Effingham, Nikk. 2015. The Location of Properties, Noûs 49, 846-66.
- Florio, Salvatore (co-authored with Luca Incurvati). 2019. Metalogic and the Overgeneration Argument, Mind 128, 761-93.
- Florio, Salvatore. 2014. Untyped Pluralism, Mind 123, 317-37.
- Silk, Alex. 2016. Discourse Contextualism. Oxford: OUP.
- Sturgeon, Scott. 2020. The Rational Mind. Oxford, OUP.
- Taylor, Henry. 2018. Powerful Qualities and Pure Powers, Philosophical Studies 175, 1423-40.
- Wilson, Alastair. 2020. The Nature of Contingency, Oxford: OUP.
- Wilson, Alastair. 2018. Metaphysical Causation, Noûs 52, 723-51.