Philosophy of mind, especially perception; ethical theory, especially expressivism; metaphysics, especially the nature of events and causation; theory of knowledge and philosophy of science, especially underdetermination, scepticism and the nature of belief; philosophy of language, especially the nature of truth; early modern philosophy, especially Locke and Kant.

Career Details

1978-80. Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Essex

1980-2007. Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Bolton

Affiliation and Outside Duties

Member of Management Committee, British Society for the History of Philosophy (1999-2008), (Treasurer and Membership Secretary, 1999-2006)

Member, British Society for Ethical Theory

External Examiner, University of Birmingham, 2005-8.

I have a variety of interests: in philosophy of language, metaphysics, philosophy of perception and metaethics.

I am currently working on a paper on substance, ' Continuants, Essentialism and Identity'.

Ditto, a paper on ethical theory, 'Semantics for Expressivism: A Language Game Approach'.

Ditto a paper on pragmatism.

In the Michaelmas term, I teach PPR.305 (Logic and Language) and the Critical Thinking component of PHIL100 (Introduction to Philosophy). I teach PPR.212 ('Metaphysics') in the Lent term. Teaching interests also include: theory of knowledge, philosophy of science, philosophy of physics, and early modern philosophy (especially Locke and Kant). 

My research has spanned several areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, I have written and am writing on the identity conditions for events, properties, and for physical objects that persist and change through time. In the theory of knowledge, I have written and am writing on the problem of testimony and the underdetermination of theories by data. In the philosophy of language, I have written and am writing on the nature of truth and its importance. In ethical theory, I have written on technical issues concerning how ethical judgements fit together (the ‘Frege-Geach problem’). In the philosophy of mind, I have written on the nature of colour. I am also interested in early modern philosophy, especially Locke and Kant.