Professor Alastair Wilson
- Position: Professor of Philosophy
- Areas of expertise: metaphysics; philosophy of science; philosophy of physics; epistemology
- Email: A.J.J.Wilson@leeds.ac.uk
- Location: P45 Parkinson Building
- Website: Homepage of Alastair Wilson | Twitter | Googlescholar | ORCID
Profile
I'm a philosopher at the University of Leeds, working on metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science and philosophy of physics. I was President of the Society for the Metaphysics of Science in 2017-18 and Honorary Secretary, Committee Member, Journal Liaison and Trustee of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science from 2018-23. I remain on the Council of the SMS and am also a member of the Climate Committee of the Philosophy of Science Association. I am PhilPapers editor for the categories Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and Theories of Modality, a member of the editorial board of Philosophy of Physics and a Managing Editor of Ergo.
Research interests
My doctoral thesis was on the metaphysics of Everettian (many-worlds) quantum mechanics; this line of thought culminated in my book The Nature of Contingency: Quantum Physics as Modal Realism (OUP, 2020). More recently I have worked on explanation and dependence in physics and metaphysics as part of my ERC-funded project FraMEPhys on metaphysical explanation in physics which ran 2018-2023. I have also worked on laws of nature, chance, counterfactuals, and the epistemology of disagreement and of self-locating beliefs.
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Any research projects I'm currently working 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>Qualifications
- DPhil in Philosophy, University of Oxford
- BPhil in Philosophy, University of Oxford
- BA in Physics and Philosophy, University of Oxford
Research groups and institutes
- Centre for History and Philosophy of Science
- Centre for Metaphysics and Mind