Constructing social hierarchy. This project aims to generate new philosophical tools for understanding the persistence of social injustice. It will integrate anti-individualist approaches to mind, language, and action explanation in order to better understand the ways in which social hierarchies are created and maintained, often as the unintended outcome of the actions of multiple agents. The project will enrich the public discussion of hate speech, Indigenous/Non-Indigenous relations, and gende ....Constructing social hierarchy. This project aims to generate new philosophical tools for understanding the persistence of social injustice. It will integrate anti-individualist approaches to mind, language, and action explanation in order to better understand the ways in which social hierarchies are created and maintained, often as the unintended outcome of the actions of multiple agents. The project will enrich the public discussion of hate speech, Indigenous/Non-Indigenous relations, and gender equality.Read moreRead less
The language of consciousness. This project aims to study language used to describe states of consciousness. It will bring the machinery of modern philosophy of language and linguistics to bear on semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of the language of consciousness, as it is used both every day and in the technical contexts of the philosophy and science of consciousness. The project expects to fill a gap in philosophical and scientific study of consciousness, widely regarded both inside an ....The language of consciousness. This project aims to study language used to describe states of consciousness. It will bring the machinery of modern philosophy of language and linguistics to bear on semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of the language of consciousness, as it is used both every day and in the technical contexts of the philosophy and science of consciousness. The project expects to fill a gap in philosophical and scientific study of consciousness, widely regarded both inside and outside the academy as a major test case for contemporary knowledge.Read moreRead less
Meaning in Action—new techniques for language, logic and information. This project aims to bridge philosophy, linguistics, logic and computation by developing proof-theoretical semantics for a comprehensive fragment of Montague Grammar (a formal language suited to analysing natural languages). It aims to show how this can be implemented in software, exploring and evaluating the philosophical assumptions grounding inferentialism and proof-theoretical semantics. It seeks to exploit and examine the ....Meaning in Action—new techniques for language, logic and information. This project aims to bridge philosophy, linguistics, logic and computation by developing proof-theoretical semantics for a comprehensive fragment of Montague Grammar (a formal language suited to analysing natural languages). It aims to show how this can be implemented in software, exploring and evaluating the philosophical assumptions grounding inferentialism and proof-theoretical semantics. It seeks to exploit and examine the connections between logic, linguistics philosophy and computer science and to chart how information is grounded in our interaction with the world and our norms for dialogue. The result is expected to be a more realistic and comprehensive understanding of logic and language, and tools for software that communicates more flexibly and effectively.Read moreRead less
A theory of theory choice. Disagreements sometimes seem to be about the world, and sometimes seem to be about the right way to conceptualise or talk about the world. This project offers a new way to determine which disputes fall into which category, and offers an understanding of the importance of the latter kind of disagreements, and how to resolve them.