Dr Alex Silk

Department of Philosophy
Associate Professor in Philosophy

Contact details

Address
ERI Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
B15 2TT
UK

I specialise in philosophy of language, ethics, and metaethics. My main research projects include work on context-sensitive language and normative and evaluative discourse. I also have projects on Nietzsche, predication, philosophy of law, and mood.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Philosophy (University of Michigan, 2013)
  • MA in Philosophy (University of Michigan, 2010)
  • BA in Philosophy (Wheaton College, 2008)

Biography

I'm an Associate Professor in Philosophy. I joined the philosophy department in 2013 after completing my PhD at the University of Michigan. I specialise in philosophy of language, ethics, and metaethics. 

My research is driven by a deep commitment to mutually informed philosophical and linguistic inquiry. My 2016 book, Discourse Contextualism (OUP) – developed under grants from the British Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Leverhulme Trust – examines how speakers use context-sensitive language in coordinating their attitudes about how the discourse should evolve. The work on normative discourse ("Normative Language in Context," Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Vol. 12) was awarded the Marc Sanders Prize in Metaethics. 

My Context Pronouns project integrates the previous treatment of context-sensitive expressions in a wider investigation of how linguistic form and interpretation depend on context. I am examining the prospects for a linguistic theory that posits representations of context in the structure and meaning of natural language. My 2021 book, Semantics with Assignment Variables (CUP), develops the formal framework and applies it to diverse phenomena with modal expressions, quantifiers, anaphora, relativization, and questions. 

I also have projects on Nietzsche, predication, and philosophy of law. 

My CV can be found here.

Teaching

Classes taught:

  • Nietzsche
  • Philosophy of Language
  • Moral and Political Philosophy
  • Problems of Philosophy
  • Metaethics
  • Global Justice (postgraduate)
  • Research Skills and Methods (postgraduate)
  • Human Rights (postgraduate)
  • Global Ethics (postgraduate)

Postgraduate supervision

I'm happy to supervise graduate students in philosophy of language, ethics, and metaethics.


Find out more - our PhD Philosophy  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

  • Philosophy of Language, Metaethics, Ethics, Nietzsche

Grant projects:

  • Leverhulme Research Fellowship: “Context-Sensitivity in Normative Language and Discourse,” 2019–2020
  • AHRC Early Career Research Grant: “Context-Sensitivity in Natural Language,” 2016–2018