Dr Thomas Brouwer

Profile

I'm a philosopher working primarily in social ontology, though I also have interests in some other areas like the philosophy of logic, metaphysics and metasemantics. I am also the Research Development Officer for the School of PRHS, which means that I advise on research funding applications. In my time at Leeds, I’ve been attached to the ERC Consolidator Project Group Thinking: New Foundations (2019-2024) and the Starter Project The Nature of Representation (2012-2017), both led by Robbie Williams. Before I was at Leeds, I worked at the Northern Institute of Philosophy in Aberdeen for a few years, working with Francesco Berto and Toby Meadows on the AHRC project The Metaphysical Basis of Logic (2013-15). And before that, I did my PhD back here at Leeds, under the supervision of Robbie Williams, Jason Turner and Robin Le Poidevin, on a topic at the intersection of metaphysics and the philosophy of logic.

I am currently a member of the steering committee of the International Social Ontology Society.

Responsibilities

• Research Development Officer

Research interests

Within social ontology, I'm interested in some very general questions about social facts: how they come about, how they interrelate and relate to other kinds of facts about the world, and what logical constraints they can be expected to obey. I'm interested in counterfactual reasoning about social facts, and in the relativity (if such it should be called) of social facts to times and cultures. I also work on issues to do with the actions and attitudes of collective agents, and on issues to do with norms, conventions and social roles.

In the philosophy of logic, my (currently mostly dormant) interests include the nature and normativity of logical consequence (when A follows from B, what does that mean, and why should we care?); in logical complexity and the logical constants (what kinds of facts, if any, are expressed by logically complex statements?); and in truth and falsity in non-classical logics.

Beyond these areas, I have some interests in metasemantics, general metaphysics and metaontology, and aesthetics.

For more information see also my personal website.

<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>

Professional memberships

• International Social Ontology Society (ISOS)
• Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW)
• Aristotelian Society

Student education

I do occasional teaching on a variety of topics, and I’m supervising some PhD and dissertation projects in social ontology. I hope to do a bit more teaching in social ontology-related areas in future.

Research groups and institutes

• Philosophy
• Centre for Theoretical Philosophy

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>