Head of Department of PhilosophyMA (Glas), MLitt (St And), AM (Mich), PhD (Mich) |
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Alex did his undergraduate work in mathematics and philosophy at the University of Glasgow and his graduate work in philosophy at the University of St. Andrews and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He rejoined Birmingham in 2006, having taught here previously in 1996-1999.
Alex works mainly in the areas of philosophy of language and mind, metaethics and metaphysics and has published widely on these topics. He is currently working on the role of normativity arguments in the theory of meaning and metaethics, and on developing a new interpretation of Kripkes Wittgenstein's skeptical argument about meaning. Other current projects include a second edition of his An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics and a paper on the development of theories of meaning in the history of analytic philosophy.
In recent years, he has given research presentations in Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland as well as many presentations in the UK. He has been external examiner for research theses at Sydney, Auckland, Cape Town, ANU, UCL, Sheffield, St. Andrews and Glasgow, external examiner for the taught MPhil in Philosophy at the University of London, and external examiner for undergraduate degrees at the University of Leeds and the University of Nottingham.
A revised and expanded 2nd edition of his book Philosophy of Language was published by Routledge in September 2007 which is available for purchase.
He is currently editing Logic, Language and Mathematics, a Festschrift volume for Crispin Wright featuring papers by Richard Heck, Neil Tennant, Ian Rumfitt, Stephen Schiffer, Bob Hale, Jim Edwards, William Demopolous, Stewart Shapiro, Sanford Shieh, George Boolos, Gideon Rosen and Steven Yablo, together with replies by Crispin Wright. This will be published by Oxford University Press in 2010.
Alex's book An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics (Polity Press 2003) was selected as "Outstanding Academic Title" in 2005 by CHOICE magazine (USA). A revised and expanded 2nd edition is under contract with Polity Press.
Alex recently appeared on Philosophy Talk, a San Francisco radio show hosted by Stanford philosophers Ken Taylor and John Perry. Listen to the episode .
Metaethics
Realism and Antirealism
Kirk Surgener (PhD, Normativity)
Paul Broadbent (PhD, Realism)
Reza Mosmer (PhD, Wittgenstein)
Nicholas Melville (PhD, Rule-Following)
Andrew Field (MPhil, Moral Realism)
Callum Hood (MPhil, Response-Dependence)
BOOKS
2007 Philosophy of Language Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition (London: Routledge, xviii + 393pp). Portuguese translation in preparation.
2003 An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics (Cambridge: Polity Press xi + 314pp.)
1998 Philosophy of Language (London: University College London Press/Routledge, Fundamentals of Philosophy Series, xviii + 348 pp.)
EDITED COLLECTIONS
2002 Rule-Following and Meaning (co-edited with Crispin Wright, Acumen Publishing, x + 302pp.)
Alex's books have been adopted as texts for graduate seminars, reading groups, and upper-level undergraduate courses at Chicago, Stockholm, Belfast, Dalhousie, Nevada, Louisiana State, Cape Town, Calcutta, Oxford, Cambridge, London, Turku, Helsinki, Leeds, Swansea, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Anglia, ANU, Durham, Dusseldorf, Oslo, Edinburgh, Bayreuth, The Open University, California State University, Stanford, Sheffield, Trinity College Dublin, Melbourne, Baylor, Glasgow, Nottingham, Maryland, Toronto, Cornell, Aberdeen, Fribourg, Dundee, Bolton Institute, York, Kansas, Kent, Warwick, Liverpool, Duke, Szczecin, Reading, California-Davis, Minnesota, Western Ontario, Kent State, Columbia, Athens, Chung Cheng (Taiwan), Kyoto, Madras, Pune (India), Victoria (Canada), Bristol, Texas Tech, Lingnan (Hong Kong), Ithaca College (USA), Gothenburg and Winnipeg.
ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS etc
2010 The Development of Theories of Meaning: From Frege to McDowell and Beyond, forthcoming in M. Beaney (ed) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Analytic Philosophy.
2010 Rule-Following Skepticism, forthcoming in S. Bernecker and D. Pritchard (eds) The Routledge Companion to Epistemology
2009 Moral Realism and Program Explanation: A Reply to Nelson, Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
2009 Kripkes Wittgenstein, Factualism, and Meaning, forthcoming in D. Whiting (ed) The Later Wittgenstein on Language (Palgrave)
2009 Non-Cognitivism, forthcoming in J. Skorupski (ed) The Routledge Companion to Ethics.
2009 Hume: Necessary Connection and Distinct Existence, in Robin Le Poidevin, Peter Simons, Andrew McGonigal and Ross Cameron (eds) Routledge Companion to Metaphysics.
2009 Semantic Realism and the Argument from Motivational Internalism, forthcoming in R. Schantz (ed) What is Meaning? (De Gruyter).
2009 The Argument From Queerness and the Normativity of Meaning, forthcoming in M. Grajner and A. Rami (eds) Truth, Existence and Realism (Paderborn: Mentis).
2008Primary Qualities, Secondary Qualities and the Truth about Intention, Synthese
2008 Thoughts, Oughts, and the Conceptual Primacy of Belief, Analysis.
2008 Review of A.C. Grayling Truth, Meaning and Realism, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews (http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=13325)
2007 Rules-As-Rails, Tacit Knowledge and Semantic Creativity, International Journal of Philosophical Studies.
2007 Another Objection to Wrights Treatment of Intention, Analysis.
2006 "Realism and Antirealism", in A Handbook of Philosophy of Language (eds. B. Smith and E. Lepore) (Oxford University Press)
2006 "Russell, Multiple Relations, and the Correspondence Theory of Truth", The Monist 89 (1), pp.85-101.
2006 "Meaning-Scepticism", in M. Devitt and R. Hanley eds. A Guide to the Philosophy of Language (Blackwell), pp.91-113.
2005 "Rules and Rule-following", in A. Barber and R. Stainton eds. The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Elsevier)
2004 "Differences with Wright" Philosophical Quarterly
2004 "Rule-Following and Externalism", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
2003 "Philosophy of Language", in Fundamentals of Philosophy (ed. J. Shand) (London: Routledge)
2003 "Objective Content", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume.
2003 "The Significance of Semantic Realism, Synthese
2003 "What is the Acquisition Argument?, in A. Barber (ed.) Epistemology of Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
2002 "Wrights Argument Against Error-Theories", Analysis
2002 "Realism", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (CSLI Publications)
2002 "What is the Manifestation Argument?", Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 83, pp.352-383.
2001 "Michael Dummett", in A Companion to Analytic Philosophy (eds. A. Martinich and D. Sosa) (Blackwell), pp. 378-392.
2001 "On Wrights Argument Against Deflationism", Philosophical Quarterly Vol.51 No.205, pp.527-531
2001 "The Missing-Explanation Argument Revisited", Analysis Vol.61, No.1, pp.76-86.
2000 "Disjunctions, Programming, and the Australian View of Colour" (with Duncan McFarland), Analysis Vol.60, No.2, pp.209-212
2000 "Horwich, Meaning, and Kripke's Wittgenstein", Philosophical Quarterly Vol.50, No.199, pp.161-174
1999 "Arithmetical Platonism: Reliability and Judgement-Dependence" (with John Divers), Philosophical Studies, Vol.95, No.3, pp.277-310
1998 "Response-dependence Without Reduction?" (with Duncan McFarland), Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol.76, No.3, pp.407-425
1998 "Closet Dualism and Mental Causation" (with Brian Leiter), Canadian Journal of Philosophy Vol. 28, No.2, pp.161-181
1998 "Jackson on Colour as a Primary Quality" (with Duncan McFarland), Analysis 58.2, pp.76-85
1998 "Emotivism and the Verification Principle", Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Vol.XCVIII, pp.103-124.
1998 "Objectivity", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (ed. E.J. Craig)
1998 "Response-dependence, Rule-following, and McDowell's Debate with the Anti-realists", European Review of Philosophy Vol.3 (CLSI: Stanford), pp.175-197
1997 "Lenin's Anticipation of Bernard William's 'Integrity' Argument against Utilitarianism", Journal of Value Inquiry Vol.31, No.4, pp.503-510
1997 "Boghossian on Reductive Dispositionalism: The Case Strengthened", Mind and Language Vol. 12, No.1, pp.1-10.
1997 "Tacit Knowledge", Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Language (eds. B. Hale and C. Wright), pp.146-174.
1997 "More Responses to the Missing-Explanation Argument", Philosophia Vol.25, Nos.1-4, pp.331-350
1996 An Objection to Smiths Argument For Internalism, Analysis Vol. 56, No.3, pp.169-174
1995 Review article on Locke on Human Understanding by E.J. Lowe, The Locke Newsletter No.26, pp.141-155
1995 "Minimalism and The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (with John Divers), Philosophical Papers Vol.XXIV, No.2, pp.127-140
1995 "Objectivity Disfigured: Mark Johnston's Missing-Explanation Argument", Philosophy and Phenomenological Research Vol.LV, No.4, pp.857-868
1995 "Platitudes and Attitudes: A Minimalist Conception of Belief" (with John Divers), Analysis Vol.55, No.1, pp.37-44
1994 "Truth, Permanence, and the Regulation of Belief: Loeb's Cartesian Argument", Ratio New Series Vol.VII, No.2, pp.111-121
1994 "Rethinking Realism" (with John Divers), Critical Notice of John Haldane and Crispin Wright (eds.) Reality, Representation, and Projection, Mind Vol.103, No.412, pp.519-533
1994 "Mind Doesn't Matter Yet" (with Brian Leiter), Australasian Journal of Philosophy Vol.72, No.2, pp.220-228
1994 "Best Opinions, Intention-Detecting, and Analytic Functionalism" (with John Divers), Philosophical Quarterly Vol.44, No.175, pp.239-245
1994 "Why Expressivists about Value should not love Minimalism about Truth" (with John Divers), Analysis Vol.54, No.1, pp.12-19
1993 "Some Anomalies in Kim's Account of Davidson", Southern Journal of Philosophy Vol.XXXI, No.3, pp.335-344
1991 "Abstract Singular Reference: A Dilemma for Dummett", Southern Journal of Philosophy Vol.XXIX, No.2, pp.257-269
1989 "An Objection to Wright's Treatment of Intention", Analysis Vol.49, No.4, pp.169-173
SELECTED WORK IN PROGRESS
An Introduction to Contemporary Metaethics, expanded and revised 2nd edition in preparation for Polity Press.
Essays for Crispin Wright: Logic, Language and Mathematics, in preparation for Oxford University Press.
Critical Notice of I. Ravenscroft (ed) Minds, Ethics, and Conditionals: Themes From the Philosophy of Frank Jackson, for Analysis Reviews.
