The Centre supports philosophical research of the highest quality in theoretical philosophy, including logic, language, epistemology, metaphysics and mind.

Current areas of research

Activity is intense and diverse, with particular concentrations of strength in the following areas.

Metaphysics

Leeds is one of the leading centres world-wide for metaphysics. Over ten permanent members of staff actively pursue research in this area. It has won international recognition - rated joint 8th in the world by the Leiter Report

Sample research theme: Must future events exist in order to make-true truths about the future?

The Philosophy of Action and Free Will

Recent appointments have created a new emphasis on foundational questions about action and free will.  This focus has already been recognised internationally - rated joint 11th in the world by the Leiter report

Leeds' strengths in metaphysics, the philosophy of physics and ethics provide an ideal backdrop for specialist research in this area to advance.

Sample research theme: Is free action compatible with deterministic physical law?

The Philosophy of Logic and Language

The Centre is building research strengths in the philosophy of logic and language, which are areas of research specialisation for several Centre members.

Research funding from the British Academy (ranging from smaller research grants supporting international collaborative research, to larger individual research grants) is giving impetus to work on the foundations of logical consequence, indicative and counterfactual conditionals, and the nature and logic of vague and indeterminate language.

Sample research theme: Can vague ordinary language be adequately modelled using the precise resources of contemporary semantic theory?

Centre seminars and events

The Centre hosts regular seminars, featuring current and graduate students from Leeds, as well as visiting speakers from the UK and abroad.

Recent speakers included:

• Susanna Schellenberg (ANU)
• Aidan Lyons (Sydney)
• Agustin Rayo (MIT)
• Eric Schwitzgebel (UCR)
• David Etlin (Leuven)
• Matti Eklund (Cornell)
• Janice Dowell (UNL)
• Hilary Greaves (Oxford)
• Rory Madden (UCL)
• Katherine Hawley (St Andrews)
• Brian Weatherson (Rutgers/Arche).

Other recent events at Leeds include international workshops and conferences:

• Perspectives on Ontology (international conference, 2008)
• Metaphysical indeterminacy: the state of the art (workshop, 2009)
• Naturalism: metaphysical and ethical (collaborative workshop with CEM, 2009).

Collaborative activities

Centre members work closely with our other departmental research centres (Centre for Ethics and Metaethics, Centre for History and Philosophy of Science, and Centre for Aesthetics) on areas of common interest, such as the philosophy of physics, the metaphysics of ethics and the analysis of normative language, and the ontology of art.

Centre director

The Director of the Centre is Elizabeth Barnes