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Oxford Philosophy Next Summer, the Philosophy Faculty Will Move from 10 Merton Street, Its Welcome Home for the Last 30 Years Oxford Summer 2011 Philosophy news Contact us at: A Farewell to 10 Merton Street Oxford Philosophy Next summer, the Philosophy Faculty will move from 10 Merton Street, its welcome home for the last 30 years. Faculty of Philosophy University of Oxford In 2012 the Faculty will relocate to the refurbished Radcliffe Infirmary building 10 Merton Street on the Woodstock Road. As well as the Philosophy Faculty, the Grade II* t is a pleasure to introduce the The Faculty also provides an exceptional Oxford listed building will house a combined Philosophy and Theology Library and third edition of Oxford Philosophy. offering for its undergraduates and OX1 4JJ the administrative offices of the Humanities Division. The move – which will, amongst other things, enhance the quality and quantity of space available for I have just joined the University as graduates, and for the wider public. UK graduate students – means that Philosophy will become the first academic IHead of the Humanities Division, and I Members of the Faculty regularly unit to be located within the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, the site on which look forward to working with the Faculty appear in the media and they have email:[email protected] the integrated Humanities Centre (including new space for the Faculty) will be of Philosophy to support them as they been particularly adept at utilising new tel:+44 (0)1865 276928 built in due course. fax:+44 (0)1865 276932 continue to develop their outstanding technologies, podcasts and blogs Photo: Keiko Ikeuchi global reputation. to stimulate public debate on vital philosophical issues. Philosophy is, of course, a diverse and For news, events and further information, please visit: rich discipline comprising many different As everyone knows, higher education New Philosophy Degree subject areas. Oxford can boast of a in the UK is at present undergoing www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk In conjunction with the Department of Computer Science the Faculty is launching a range of philosophical expertise across unprecedented transformation. While new joint degree in 2012. the whole spectrum that is arguably these changes must prompt us to reflect unmatched anywhere in the world. deeply on our current practices and our Computer Science and Philosophy can be studied as a three or four year course, future needs, they also oblige all of us in leading to a BA degree or a Masters degree. The programme is modelled on the Research continues to go from strength the Humanities to diversify our sources Computer Science half of the Mathematics and Computer Science degree and the Philosophy half of the Mathematics and Philosophy degree. The first year covers to strength. In recent months members of income and to respond to the growing core material in both subjects, including a bridging course studying Alan Turing’s of the Faculty have been awarded major demands of students and funders, as pioneering work on computability and artificial intelligence. Later in the degree research grants from the European well as to the intensification of global students will choose from a wide range of papers, with an emphasis on courses Research Council, the John Templeton competitiveness. near the interface between the two subjects. The optional fourth year also provides The editors would like to thank the Foundation, and the Arts and Humanities the opportunity to undertake an in-depth research project. following for their advice and help in Research Council. Two of these projects The Philosophy Faculty at Oxford is well preparing Oxford Philosophy 2011: are outlined in more detail in this issue placed to meet these challenges. But of Oxford Philosophy. Significant we rely on the continuing support of Martin Davies collaborative research projects are alumni, and of all those who believe in the James Knight complemented by the achievements significance of philosophy for intellectual Clive Rosenthal of the many exceptional individuals life, the ethical, moral and aesthetic Somerville College Professor Cécile Fabre FBA in the Faculty. To pick just one recent problems of our time, and the future of and notable example: Derek Parfit’s humanity. Editors Paul Lodge We are delighted to report that Cécile Fabre, Professor of Political Philosophy and Tom Moore Fellow of Lincoln College, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. monumental two-volume On What Matters, published this year by OUP, has Design keikoikeuchi.co.uk Professor Shearer West The British Academy was established by Royal Charter in 1902 and champions been hailed as “the most significant work Photography Keiko Ikeuchi and supports the humanities and social sciences. It aims to inspire, recognise Head of the Humanities Division Paul Lodge in ethics since Sidgwick’s masterpiece University of Oxford and support excellence and high achievement across the UK and internationally. was published in 1873” in the Times Printing Fingerprint Ltd Before being appointed to her present post at Oxford, Professor Fabre held a Professorship in Political Theory at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently Literary Supplement, and as “the most working on a two-volume monograph for Oxford University Press on the ethics of eagerly awaited book in philosophy since war, which she also written about for this edition of Oxford Philosophy. Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations” in Times Higher Education. Photo: Keiko Ikeuchi Call for Contributions to Oxford Philosophy 2012 If you would like to support the Oxford We have been extremely pleased to receive feedback from readers of the Philosophy Faculty, please contact us at first two issues of Oxford Philosophy. the address above. In the 2012 edition of the magazine we hope to include a section devoted to Letters to the Editors. These might take the form of responses to the Or give directly and securely online, by articles in Oxford Philosophy 2011, but we would be very happy to consider visiting the following website: any other comments or recollections about philosophy at Oxford that you would like to share. www.campaign.ox.ac.uk/philosophy Please send your contributions to: [email protected] 2 Oxford Philosophy Summer 2011 Oxford Philosophy Summer 2011 3 cOmment PeOPLe In the coming academic year, Oxford Philosophy will welcome four new Tutorial Fellows. They introduce The DoNs themselves below. anil Gomes Jeff Russell ImpacT Trinity College Magdalen College of “ImpacT” on phIlosophy It’s very exciting to be returning to Oxford to take up a I’m very pleased to return to Oxford after spending a term Tutorial Fellowship at Trinity. Having studied for both my in the Stanford-in-Oxford Programme as an undergraduate. undergraduate and graduate degrees at Oxford, I know the My PhD work has been at Rutgers and New York University great benefits – and great pleasures – of the Oxford system. under Ted Sider, mainly focused on issues at the intersection I can only try to emulate the wonderfully stimulating and of metaphysics, philosophical logic, and the philosophy of exciting tutorials which my tutors provided for me. physics. In particular, I’ve been working on certain questions Ralph Wedgwood considers one of the most recent After leaving Oxford I worked in the civil service and the about possible worlds, counterpart theory, and some Houses of Parliament, before taking up a position at Birkbeck arguments descended from Leibniz against absolute challenges to academic research in philosophy. College in the University of London, where I have spent the space and time, based on claims about the different last three very happy years. My research interests are in the locations material things could have had. I also do philosophy of mind and Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, and, work in philosophy of language and philosophy of in particular, on issues which arise at religion. their intersection. I’m looking forward to starting up new conversations about these and other topics with friends and he Higher Education Funding Council taken degree courses involving philosophy. about. Locke’s work on political philosophy colleagues in Oxford. of England (HEFCE), which allocates Studying philosophy helped these citizens helped to inspire the American Revolution government funding to English to have a sharper and deeper understanding of 1776 – almost 90 years after it was first Tuniversities, has recently announced its of many crucial issues, from the value of published in 1690. HEFCE is not interested decisions about the funding of academic democracy and human rights to the ethics of in waiting that long: it aims to encourage research. Despite widespread opposition from climate change. research that will have a beneficial impact within academia, HEFCE is forging ahead with more or less right away. what has come to be known as the “impact However, HEFCE explicitly states that the agenda” and allocating research funding in a “impact” that they are especially concerned How could philosophical research have the way that encourages universities to focus on to encourage does not include the impact kind of “demonstrable impact” that HEFCE is research that has “demonstrable benefits to of academic research on the “content of looking for? One way would be if the research the wider economy and society”. teaching”. The impact that they are looking is taken up by television or radio shows for includes “creating new businesses”, (so long as these programmes earn some Philosophers certainly believe that their “commercialising new products”, or improving measurable audience response). This
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