Professor Scott Sturgeon

Department of Philosophy
Professor of Philosophy

Contact details

Address
ERI Building
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I tend to think about what is fundamental to subject and object: consciousness, thought, reason, space, time, possibility.

Qualifications

  • 1990: PhD in Philosophy, University of Arizona
  • 1987: MA in Philosophy, University of Arizona
  • 1985: BA in Philosophy, Texas A&M University

Biography

I was born in Amarillo, Texas and raised mostly in Dallas. For many years I taught at the University of London, first at King's College and then at Birkbeck.  Then I moved to the University of Oxford, where for several years I was Professor of Philosophy (and Tutorial Fellow at Wadham College). Now I am Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham.

I have also been Visiting Associate Professor at Harvard, Weingberg Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan, and Inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor at Brown, where I delivered the Blackwell-Brown Lectures.  In academic year 23/24 I will be President of the Aristotelian Society.

Postgraduate supervision

I am eager to supervise research students in epistemology, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind.


Find out more - our PhD Philosophy  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

*   On the less applied end of philosophy I tend to think about what is fundamental to subject and object: consciousness, thought, reason, space, time, causation & possibility. 

*   On the more applied end I tend to think about the positive impact of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu: why it's helpful for mental health, trauma recovery, personal confidence, problem-solving, reading comprehension, just force application by the police, and more. 

 

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Sturgeon, S 2020, The Rational Mind. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198845799.001.0001

Article

Sturgeon, S 2022, 'Rationality and Higher-order Awareness', Grazer Philosophische Studien, vol. 99, no. 1, pp. 78-98. https://doi.org/10.1163/18756735-00000157

Sturgeon, S 2015, 'The Tale of Bella and Creda', Philosophers' Imprint, vol. 15, no. 31, 31, pp. 1. <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/phimp/3521354.0015.031/--tale-of-bella-and-creda?view=image>

Sturgeon, S 2013, 'Pollock on Defeasible Reasons', Philosophical Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-012-9891-x

Sturgeon, S 2008, 'Reason and the Grain of Belief', Nous, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 139-165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0068.2007.00676.x

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Sturgeon, S 2011, Disjunctivism about Visual Experience. in A Haddock & F Macpherson (eds), Disjunctivism. Oxford University Press, pp. 112-143.

Chapter

Sturgeon, S 2016, Undercutting Defeat & Edgington's Burglar. in J Hawthorne & L Walters (eds), Conditionals, Paradox and Probability: Themes from the philosophy of Dorothy Edgington. Oxford University Press.

Sturgeon, S 2010, Apriorism about Modality. in B Hale & A Hoffman (eds), Modality: Metaphysics, Logic and Epistemology . Oxford University Press.

Sturgeon, S 2010, Confidence and Coarse-Grained Attitudes. in T Gender & J Hawthorne (eds), Oxford Studies in Epistemology. vol. 3, Oxford University Press, pp. 126.

Review article

Sturgeon, S 2018, 'Epistemology, Pettigrew style: a critical notice of *accuracy and the laws of credence*', Mind. https://doi.org/10.1093/mind/fzy029

View all publications in research portal