| Post: | Reader in Philosophy |
| Location: | Arts A A019 |
| Email: | muralir@sussex.ac.uk |
| Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 7079 |
| UK: | (01273) 877079 |
| International: | +44 1273 877079 |
Biography
I studied Maths and Philosophy at Nottingham University. After this, I was a Teaching Assistant at the University of Oklahoma (where chicks and ducks and geese better scurry ... etc.) where I studied for my MA in Philosophy. On returning to Blighty, unable to get a grant to pursue a Ph.D., I studied for a PGCE (in Secondary Maths) at London University. I spent the following six years teaching in London while I studied part-time at Birkbeck College for the doctorate (on the theory of reference). I am still working on the dissertation (er ... actually no, I'm not!); but, luckily, publications (plus charm plus cunning) have secured me a lecturing career. Before coming to Sussex in 1994, I lectured at Trinity College Dublin for two terms and at the University of Manchester for four years.
Research
Philosophical Logic, Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Language.
My research over the last few years falls into three camps: (1) The theory of reference, in particular the theory of descriptions and rigid designation; (2) Conditionals and the counterfactual analysis of causation; and (3) Epistemology, in particular the analysis of knowledge, and, more recently, Timothy Williamson's anti-luminosity arguments.
DPhil supervision: Simon Langford recently got his DPhil; his dissertation was on "Occasional Identity and Contingent Identity". Andrew Rebera is working on the theory of descriptions, and Jacob Berkson is working on truth and realism.
I am also participating in a project funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Education on Singular causality, counterfactuals and mental causation. The other principal members of the project are Manuel de Pinedo Garcia (a former DPhil supervisee) and Maria Jose Garcia Encinas, both Research Fellows at the University of Granada, Spain.
Teaching
|
Office Hours Autumn 2009 in Arts A 019 |
AUTUMN |
SPRING/SUMMER |
Publications
Here is a representative sample of my research:
THEORY OF DESCRIPTIONS
- A Strawsonian Objection to Russell's Theory of Descriptions, Analysis 53 (1993) pp. 209-12.
- The Ambiguity Thesis vs. Kripke's Defence of Russell, Mind & Language 11 (1996) pp. 371-87.
- Descriptions and Presupositions: Strawson vs. Russell, South African Journal of Philosophy 27 (2008, special issue on the philosophy of P.F. Strawson) pp. 64-79.
- Descriptions with an Attitude Problem, Philosophical Quarterly 53 (2009) pp. 721-23.
CAUSATION
- Counterfactuals and Preemptive Causation (co-authors: Jonardon Ganeri and Paul Noordhof), Analysis 55 (1996) pp. 219-25.
- A Counterfactual Analysis of Causation, Mind 106 (1997) pp. 263-77.
- A Counterfactual Analysis of Indeterministic Causation, in J. Collins, N. Hall and L. A. Paul (eds.), Causation and Counterfactuals (MIT Press, 2004) pp. 387-402.
IDENTITY AND COUNTERPART THEORY
- An Alternative Translation Scheme for Counterpart Theory, Analysis 49 (1989) pp. 131-41.
- Sortal Modal Logic and Counterpart Theory, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 76 (1998) pp. 553-65.
- Rigidity, Occasional Identity, and Leibniz's Law (co-author: Simon Langford) Philosophical Quarterly 50 (2000) pp. 518-26.
- Kripkean Counterpart Theory, Polish Journal of Philosophy, Vol. II, No. 2 (2008), pp. 89-106.
EPISTEMOLOGY
- How Believing Can Fail to be Knowing, Theoria 56 (May, 2006), pp. 185-94.
- Williamson's Argument Against the KK-Principle, in J. Skilters et al. (eds.), Paradox: Logical Cognitive and Communicative Aspects (Riga: University of Latvia Press, 2006) pp. 157-64.
- Anti-Luminosity: Four Unsuccessful Strategies, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 87 (2009) pp. 659 - 673.
Click here for a fuller list of publications.
WORK IN PROGRESS
- I am on study leave for the Spring and Summer terms during which time I plan to write a manuscript on Contingent Identity and Counterpart Theory. Click here if you are interested in looking at draft chapters.