Mind and Language
Philosophical Research on Mental and Linguistic Phenomena.
A number of Manchester philosophers work on issues in the philosophy of mind and language. Our research investigates a wide range of mental and linguistic phenomena, including the nature of representation, reference, meaning, truth, action, perception, self-awareness, and the interface between semantics and pragmatics.
At Manchester, research in the philosophy of mind and language is pursued in recognition of its kinship with other areas of philosophical enquiry.
Our work is deeply interconnected with Metaphysics, Aesthetics, Engaged Philosophy, and the History of Analytic Philosophy. We also have strong links with academics in Linguistics and Psychology, regularly engaging in interdisciplinary research.
In addition to wide-ranging workshops, conferences, and research projects, we run regular reading groups and seminars. For further information about the Mind Reading Group, contact Joel Smith. For information on the Semantics Lab, contact Graham Stevens.
We welcome expressions of interest from prospective master's and PhD students, and from postdoctoral researchers who would like to come to Manchester. Take a look at our page for prospective postgraduate researchers.
Projects
Our projects
Our recent project 'Knowledge of Emotion: Expression and Social Cognition' undertook a sustained and comprehensive investigation into the role of emotional expression in social cognition. This AHRC-funded project was led by Joel Smith and Catharine Abell, and ran from 2012 until 2015.
Jonathan Mitchell's British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2018-2021) 'Emotions as Feelings Towards Value' examines how emotions connect us with our environment. The project aims to reveal the important connection between emotions and evaluative properties in our environment.
For general queries about Mind and Language at Manchester, contact Joel Smith or Graham Stevens.
Our people
Faculty staff
- Emily Caddick Bourne: Fiction, Metaphor, Implicature
- Sean Crawford: Intentionality, Reference, Propositional Attitudes
- Chris Daly: Reference, Truth, Definition
- David Liggins: Truth, Propositions, Pretence, Fictionalism
- Cynthia MacDonald: Mental Causation, Psychological Explanation, Self-Knowledge
- Graham MacDonald: Mental Causation, Psychological Explanation, Metaphysics of Mind
- Hane Maung: Philosophy of Psychiatry, Mental Disorder, Explanation of Behaviour
- Fraser McBride: Reference, Predication, Quantification
- Michael Scott: Religious Language, Semantics & Pragmatics, Perception
- Joel Smith: Self-Consciousness, Social Cognition, Spatial and Temporal Perception
- Thomas Smith: Action, Shared Intentionality
- Graham Stevens: Descriptions, Indexicals, Semantics and Pragmatics
- Thomas Uebel: Other Minds, Action Explanation
PhD students
- Beth Ansell: Introspection
- Justina Berskyte: Contextualism, Relativism
- Gong Chen: Metaphor
- Nathan Duckett: Philosophy of Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
- Lucija Duda: Reasoning
- Hadis Farokhi: Metaethics, Ethical Attitudes
- Umair Khan: Phenomenology, Philosophy of Mind, Psychopharmacology, Cognitive Science
- Hsu-Nan Liou: Phenomenology, Philosophy of Psychoanalysis
- Bin Liu: Language, Aesthetics
- James Lloyd: Social Cognition
- Benedetta Magro: 4E Cognition, Emotion
- McDonald, Alan: The Second-Person
- Penelope Orr: Meta-Cognition, Self-Consciousness
- Juta Pulijana: Generics
- Carlo Raineri: Perception, Phenomenology
- Ryan Ratchford: Narrative, Identity
- Zhiyao Xiong: Self-Awareness, Memory, Bodily-Awareness