About
I work at the intersection of history of analytic philosophy, philosophy of mind, action and ethics. Much of my work concerns question about philosophical methodology, the nature of metaphysics, and the relationship between language, action and self-consciousness. I have published on Frege, Wittgenstein, G. E. M. Anscombe, Dorothy Emmet. I wrote the Routledge Guidebook to Anscombe's Intention and am currently completing a Cambridge Element on Anscombe.
I am the associate editor for early analytic philosophy for the British Journal for the History of Philosophy and section editor for 20th Century Philosophy for De Gruyter's Works of Philosophy and Their Reception. I am on the executive committee of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, the British Society for the History of Philosophy and the Society for the Study of the History of Analytic Philosophy. I am the associate editor for early analytic philosophy for the British Journal for the History of Philosophy and section editor for 20th Century Philosophy for De Gruyter's Works of Philosophy and Their Reception. I also sit on the board of Women In Parenthesis, a Research Centre which I co-founded with Clare Mac Cumhaill in 2015.
Much of my recent work has been to uncover a previously neglected stream of metaphysical and moral thinking in 20th century philosophy, illuminated through my research on the 'Wartime Quartet' (Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch). With Clare Mac Cumhaill, I co-authored monograph, *Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life. It won the HWA crown non-fiction award from biography, was shortlisted for the US National Book Critics Circle Award, and has now been translated into seven languages.
I am committed to engaging outside the academy. I give regular public lectures and am often on the radio and podcasts - I have appeared on BBCs In Our Time, Free Thinking and The Moral Maze. I have written for the TLS and the Conversation. Women In Parenthesis is a platform for multiple innovative philosophy engagement initiatives, and the project site also contains resources for teachers and educators. Public engagement and impact projects include Notes from a Biscuit Tin and Philosophy by Postcard. Our BA-funded network, Mapping the Quartet has over 100 global members. In 2019, I won a BA ‘Rising Star’ award for my work on the ethics of philanthropy. This work contributed to a co-edited volume, Portraits of Integrity.
At Liverpool I am co-Director of Post-Graduate Studies (with Dr Robin McKenna) and department Environment lead. Previous administrative roles include director of MA Philosophy and communications lead. I teach at every level of the programme, including on two research led modules on the intersection between Wittgenstein / ordinary language philosophy, ethics and political philosophy -- Uses, Abuses and Misuses of Language (2nd Year) and Life, Language and Action (final year). I lead the undergraduate dissertation module.
I would be delighted to hear from potential PhD students interested in the work of any member of The Quartet (or Quartet+); in Wittgenstein's later philosophy; or in philosophy of mind, action and ethics more broadly. I also welcome international PhD students through our visiting scholars scheme.