Philosophy

You can find more details about our publications in our staff profiles or on philpapers.org. Recently published work are listed in the news section or Philosophy@KeeleNews.

The Keele-Oxford-St Andrews Kantian (KOSAK) Research Centre

The Kantian character of the centre is not to be understood in a narrow sense as entirely concerned with research on the work of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, but as referring to research which acknowledges (even when only critically) the significant role of Kant in the history of philosophy. The centre encourages, promotes and supports interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary work, including critical, exegetical, reconstructive and applied philosophical investigations, both historical and systematic in character. KOSAK began its activities informally in 2014 and was formally confirmed by the University as a research centre in 2015 as part of the School of Social, Political and Global Studies.

Idealism and the Philosophy of Mind

Dr Giuseppina (Josie) D’Oro’s project on Idealism and the Philosophy of Mind (run with Paul Giladi and Alexis Papazoglou) included a London conference on Idealism and Metaphilosophy of Mind and a summer school at Keele in 2017 on Idealism and the Autonomy of the Human Sciences. This was supported by the Templeton Foundation as part of the New Directions in the Study of the Mind Project associated with Cambridge University (2015-17). The aim was to explore non-reductivist approaches to the explanation of the mind from idealist, rather than naturalist, perspectives in order to understand how human beings can be committed to the idea of scientific progress without renouncing the attempt to make sense of their lives through humanistic explanations which are different in kind and not only in degree from those found in the natural sciences.

Jazz-Philosophy Fusion: Gods and Titans

Having worked in both areas for many years, Professor James Tartaglia decided to combine his ongoing interest in jazz performance and theory with his philosophical research: Continuum of Selves, the Jazz-Philosophy Fusion Project was born. The latest album Gods and Titans, recorded to accompany James' forthcoming book on the philosophy of technology, will be available to download from this site soon.

Continuum of Selves

Supported by a grant from the APTA Foundation in Berlin (2015-6), James wrote and produced an album on the theme of the philosophy of selfhood. In it, he explores issues such as the divide between humans and other animals, the different personas we present to different audiences (e.g. colleagues vs. family), the metaphysical nature of the ego, ‘teletransportation’ (the sci-fi scenario of travel through physical replication), our email personas, and the Buddhist idea that self is an illusion.

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Philosophy events held at Keele include:

• The Royal Institute of Philosophy Invited Lectures
• **The Jean-Jacques Rousseau Annual Lecture and Conference
• Jazz-Philosophy Fusion Concerts
• The Philosophy of Language and Mind Reading Group
• The Philosophy of Linguistics Seminar Series
• Postgraduate Research Seminars
• Research Writing Retreats (in collaboration with the Keele Doctoral Academy)
• The Philosophy Society (which is student run)

**Why the Jean-Jacques Rousseau lecture? 

We hereby celebrate the true but very little known fact that Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived for a time in Staffordshire. From 22 March 1766 to 1 May 1767 Rousseau lived in the little Staffordshire village of Wootton. Rousseau had been invited to England by David Hume with whom he soon afterwards quarrelled. He then spent the next year in seclusion in Staffordshire writing the first drafts of his Confessions. When he was not writing it is said that he roamed the Staffordshire countryside in his Armenian costume studying wild flowers. Many years after his departure the locals remembered ‘Owd Ross Hall’, not just for his eccentricities but also for his gifts to local charities. They believed he was a king in exile!

Stephen Leach, Honorary Research Fellow, Keele Humanities and Social Sciences

Other well-known Keele philosophers from past years include Antony Flew, Richard Swinburne, Jonathan Dancy, Peter Kail, David McNaughton, G. A. J. Rogers, Ian Rumfitt, André Gallois, Alan Montefiore, Philip Stratton-Lake, Sorin Baiasu, and many others.

Look out for new announcements by email, online or even on posters around campus. More news and updates can be found on the KOSAK Blog .

Nearly all our events are free, and many of our events are open to interested members of the public.

Keele Philosophy is happy to accept applications to conduct postgraduate research in a wide range of areas of philosophy. Recent and current postgraduate research has included the following topics (out of many others):

• Metaphysical Idealism
• Essentialism and Modality
• Panpsychism
• Nietzsche
• Islamic Medieval Philosophy
• Consciousness
• Structural Realism
• Artificial Intelligence
• Imagination
• Meaning of Life
• Emotion
• Stereotypes
• Heidegger and the Environment
• Richard Rorty
• Meaning as use

You can find more about our research interests and specialisations, as well as lists of our out published research, in our staff profiles and you are welcome to email specific staff members to ask about supervision.

Sophie Allen’s article on Powers, Persistence and the Problem of Temporary Intrinsics  is now out in Philosophical Studies. Considering the long-standing problem of change – revived by Lewis – from the perspective of an ontology of essentially powerful properties, Sophie Allen argues that there is no problem: if powers are intrinsic, they are not temporary; and if they are temporary, they are not fully intrinsic. If we treat the natures of persisting objects as being determined by the powers they have, rather than the manifestation of those powers, then the problem of change can be alleviated.

Written and developed with support of research events funded by the DFG network, Change and Changemakers, of which Sophie is a member.

Jonathan Head’s new book, an Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy: An Inclusive Approach (with John Grey, Bloomsbury) was published in 2024:

For anyone in search of the philosophers who influenced one of the richest moments in Western intellectual history, this inclusive reader is the place to start. Early Modern Philosophy showcases an unrivalled range of thinkers. Through them, you are introduced to a selection of their texts that return important philosophical ideas and debates to our understanding of modern philosophy. Addressing a one-sided view of intellectual history that has persisted for centuries, this reader goes beyond the usual focus on rationalism and empiricism with readings organised into three parts:

• Dualistic theories of human nature as the union of a mind and a body
• Debates concerning social relations and education
• The nature of reality and the way in which the mind reveals or constructs
  our understanding of the world.

Stephen Leach and Giuseppina D’Oro have both contributed chapters to the most recent commentary on R. G. Collingwood:

Ch. 8. Presuppositional analysis and the goal of metaphysical inquiry by Giuseppina D’Oro

Ch. 13. ‘Reconsidering questions of principle’: Collingwood and the revival of Celtic art by Stephen Leach

Interpreting R. G. Collingwood: Critical Essays

“An indisputably prominent figure in twentieth-century philosophy, R. G. Collingwood often remains elusive even to those who admire his achievements. This volume of new essays aims to reintroduce Collingwood to twenty-first-century philosophical readers and to show why, and how, his achievements matter. Each essay offers an original contribution to the understanding of some aspect of Collingwood’s thought, including new interpretations of several of his central ideas, re-examinations of his place in twentieth-century philosophy, and an extended consideration of a previously undiscussed manuscript. The essays span the wide range of Collingwood’s interests, including metaphysics, epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, aesthetics, and political philosophy, as well as Roman British history and the history of art. Emphasis is placed on Collingwood’s connections to traditions with which his name is not typically linked, including pragmatism, analytic philosophy, and phenomenology. This rich volume will stimulate further examination of Collingwood and his legacy”.

James Tartaglia’s latest book is released:

Inner Space Philosophy: Why the next stage of human development should be philosophical, explained radically (suitable for wolves) Iff Books, 2024.

‘An extraordinarily original, profound, witty meditation on philosophy...' Raymond Tallis

Arguing for the utmost importance of philosophy to the human future, such that we must eventually become 'a philosophical people', James Tartaglia discusses topics such as the meaning of life, idealism, materialism, determinism, video games and existential threats.