George Stamets

Profile

I began PhD study in Philosophy at Leeds in October 2016, and work under the supervision of Prof Helen Steward and Dr Lea Salje.

I am very grateful to have received support in the form of a PhD Scholarship from the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science.

For more information, including a copy of my CV, see my personal website.

Research interests

My PhD thesis lies in general metaphysics and aims to defend what I call a ‘quasi-realist’ account of powers or dispositions, including sketching a substance-causal approach to causation on the basis of that account. In these areas I am especially influenced by the work of E.J. Lowe and John Heil, among others – though my approaches differ from each in a number of important ways. In the coming months I aim to connect this account of powers to promising approaches to modality, laws of nature, and the metaphysics of agency (including the free will debate).

In addition to metaphysics, I have research and teaching interests throughout the discipline. As an undergraduate, I was initially focused on social and political philosophy, before my interests expanded throughout ethics and then onto the free will debate. In epistemology, I am particularly interested in the work of Laurence BonJour, which frequently serves as a foundation for positions I develop in other areas. More recently, my work in metaphysics has led to developing interests in several areas of philosophy of science. I hope to do serious work, and teaching, in each of these areas in the future.

Qualifications

• MA, Philosophy, Florida State University, 2016
• BA, Politics and Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, 2008

Research groups and institutes

• Philosophy
• Centre for Metaphysics and Mind