Postdoctoral research fellow in Group Thinking (EXPIRED)

We are looking for talented researchers to join the ERC-funded project Group Thinking: New Foundations (2019-2024), led by Prof. J. Robert G. Williams. This project explores group thought: its nature, and its significance for explanatory projects inside and outside philosophy. It seeks to reveal the underlying unity between the facts that constitute the beliefs and desires of individuals, and the facts that constitute the beliefs and desires of groups. It will provide criteria for demarcating which groups genuinely have beliefs and desires, distinguishing this situation from circumstances when attributing beliefs and desires is mere “loose talk”. The aim is new and rigorous foundations for theory and for public discourse about group belief and desire. 

 The project draws on several fields of philosophy including:

• Philosophy of mind and language (e.g. metasemantics, metaphysics of mental content, collective intentionality, group attitudes in psychological theory). 

• Metaphysics (e.g. social ontology, personal identity, group persistence).

• Formal Epistemology (e.g. representation theorems, social choice, analysis of common knowledge, judgement aggregation)

• Philosophy of action (e.g. nature and grounding of intention, collective action). 

• Philosophy of normativity (e.g. nature of reasons and rationality, group reasons) 

• Ethics/political philosophy (e.g. group attitudes and duties, legitimacy, complicity). 

You will have a PhD (by start of post) in philosophy or an allied discipline. As one of two postdocs involved in the project, you will an integral part of a eight-member project team, pursuing independent work related to the overall project theme. You will also work as a research assistant to the PI, and will be expected to be involved in planning and running collaborative activities of the project group, as well as undertaking administrative work associated with the project.

You will be based at the University of Leeds and will be expected to take an active role in the overall research life and culture of the department. There will be opportunity for career development by undertaking a small amount of teaching and administration roles related to project themes.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates belonging to groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in philosophy, including but not limited to women and ethnic minorities.