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Research

An engaged research community, we explore a diverse range of topics, including the epistemology and methodology of current science, mathematics and medicine, normativity, political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, language, logic and philosophy of mind and action.

The Department hosts public lectures on behalf of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. We also run special research seminars, reading groups, workshops and conferences. We publish a regular bulletin, The Reasoner, to highlight the latest research on reasoning, inference and method. 

World-leading experts

Our lecturers are highly respected in their fields. All are active researchers who contribute to contemporary debates through their publications.

REF success

Our research is highly rated. Following the most recent Research Excellence Framework, the Times Higher Education ranked us 5th in the UK for research quality.

Our research: Making a difference

The Department is defined by two research clusters – Theoretical Reasoning and Practical Reasoning. Within these clusters, our staff research on a broad range of areas including:

  • agency and responsibility
  • causality
  • ethics
  • epistemology
  • health methodology
  • Kant and post-Kantian Philosophy
  • philosophy of law
  • philosophy of science and mathematics
  • political philosophy
  • probability
  • public philosophy. 

The Department co-founded the Southern Normativity Group and founded The Reasoner, a monthly bulletin on reasoning and method.

Our staff have won prestigious awards from The Aristotelian Society, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, British Society of Aesthetics, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, British Logic Colloquium, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Mind Association. 

Visit our People page to discover more about our academic staff, their interests and activities, and how to contact them.