 I was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire on July 31st 1965 and attended Outwood Grange School. After working as a low-grade civil servant for three years, I read Philosophy and History of Ideas with Politics at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now University). After that I entered the Philosophy Department at the University of Leeds to take an MA in Philosophy of Mind. There I met Robin LePoidevin who became my PhD supervisor. I was awarded a PhD in 1994 for 'Dispositions and Reductionism' and was offered a two-year lectureship at Leeds. I left to join the Philosophy department at Nottingham in 1995, where I have been ever since. I was for three years the Head of Department and then for two years Head of the School of Humanities (the School of which Philosophy is a part). I am currently Dean of the Arts Faculty: a four-year appointment. While at Nottingham, I wrote my books Dispositions, Laws in Nature, David Armstrong, Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotions and co-wrote Getting Causes from Powers.
My research is very important to me and I like to travel to meet other philosophers and attend conferences. I find it very helpful to discuss philosophy with others and try out ideas and I also like to see how philosophy is done in other parts of the world. I like to be involved in collaborative projects, including co-authored work. As well as philosophy and my family, football is the other great passion of my life, though I support no team. I have written a couple of football books and a number of articles for Groundtastic magazine. |