Britt Harrison

Profile

I am a Visiting Research Fellow (2024-2025) at the University of Leeds’ School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science. 

Most recently I gained my second PhD from the University of York (2022) with my thesis Cinematic Humanism: Cinematic, Dramatic, and Humanistic Values in Fiction Films.  My first PhD, entitled The Epistemology of Know-How was done at the University of Hertfordshire (2013).  I began philosophy in 1996 as a mature student at Birkbeck College, University of London and subsequently returned to Birkbeck for my MA with a thesis entitled Are Religious Beliefs Wittgensteinian Hinges? – the answer to which is ‘yes’.

My philosophical journey has always run in tandem with my professional career in the film and television industry. Having began as a runner on films such as A Private Function and Room with a View, I moved into the camera department for various films including the Joe Orton-biopic Prick Up Your Ears, before finding my primary focus in the world of screenwriting and script development.  

Research interests

My scholarly interests are perhaps best characterised as philosophical anthropology. I’m interested in what makes humans human and the range of ways we go about understanding ourselves as language-using, art-creating animals. I regard the work of Wittgenstein as particularly helpful in this task. 

Having kept my work in film separate from my philosophical pursuits, for most of my life, I brought the two together for my latest PhD which seeks to expand the range of artistic and aesthetic values normally discussed in the philosophy of film.  Crucial to this has been the development of a new methodological orientation, which I call the ‘philosophy of film without theory’. This methodological approach encompasses a range of methods which seeks to avoid the philosophical pitfalls of reductive scientism.  My work has resulted in the collected volume Philosophy of Film Without Theory (co-edited with Craig Fox); a Special Issue of the Journal Aesthetic Investigations; and two international conferences.  More details can be found here: https://philosophyoffilmwithouttheory.com/

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy (University of York)
• Doctor of Philosophy (University of Hertfordshire)
• MA Philosophy (Birkbeck College, University of London)
• BA Philosophy (Birkbeck College, University of London)
• BA History of Art (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London)

Professional memberships

• British Society of Aesthetics