- On this page
Research is at the heart of the Philosophy Department at the OU. There are nine full-time members of staff, all of whom are active researchers, who specialise in a range of subjects across the disciplines. The Department hosts the innovative Open University Ethics Centre, and staff regularly work with and consult for other institutions and multimedia broadcasters, particularly concerning ethics, morality, aesthetics, and metaphysics. Recent activities include ‘making good decisions’, bioethics, ‘knowing and deciding’, and justice. In addition to research under the headings of ‘value’ and ‘mind, meaning and rationality’, we welcome applications in modern French philosophy and political philosophy.
Key facts
- Competitive Faculty of Arts Studentships available.
- Annual dedicated Graduate Student research conference.
- Frequent research talks and seminars held, recently sponsored by the Royal Institute of Philosophy.
- Established record of attracting research funding.
- Philosophy’s academics are internationally renowned - having been individually invited to Sci Foo 2010 ‘un-conference’ at Googleplex, collaborating with museums and galleries, leading the world in podcasting (regularly in iTunes top 20 downloads), and consulting for leading media broadcasters.
Facilities
The Department hosts the Open University Ethics Centre, which seeks to clarify our understanding of the key ethical concepts we all use, develops imaginative teaching methods and innovative e-resources to spread ethical understanding as widely as possible, and promotes public debate at national and international levels about the pressing moral problems faced by society.
Further information
If you have an enquiry specific to this research area please contact:
- Name:
- Professor Timothy Chappell
- Email:
- arts-philosophy-enqs@open.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)1908 659214
For general enquiries please contact the Research Degrees Team via the link under 'Your questions' further down the page.
Publications
Research publications by Open University staff are available through Open Research Online (ORO), the university's repository of research publications and other research outputs. ORO can be searched or browsed by staff name or subject.
The following list, generated from ORO, provides a flavour of the most recently published work in Philosophy:
- Belshaw, Christopher (2013). Harm, change and time. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (in press).
- Belshaw, Christopher (2012). Death, value and desire. In: Feldman, Fred; Bradley, Ben and Johannsen, Jens eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Death. Oxford, UK: OUP.
- Roden, David (2012). The disconnection thesis. In: Eden, Amnon; Moor, Jim; Soraker, Johnny and Steinhart, Eric eds. The Singularity Hypothesis: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment. Frontiers Collection. Springer.
- Frankish, Keith and Ramsey, William eds. (2012). The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (In Press).
- Belshaw, Christopher (2012). What's wrong with the Experience Machine? European Journal of Philosophy (in press).
- More publications relating to Philosophy
OU research degree areas
- Acoustics
- Art History
- Business and Management
- Chemistry and Analytical Sciences
- Children, Young People and Families
- Classical Studies
- Computing
- Design
- Development Studies
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Economics
- Education and Educational Technology
- English
- Geography
- Health, Social Work and Social Care
- History
- Languages and Applied Linguistics
- Life Sciences
- Materials Engineering
- Mathematics
- Music
- Philosophy
- Physics and Astronomy
- Planetary and Space Sciences
- Politics and International Studies
- Psychology
- Religious Studies
- Social Policy and Criminology
- Sociology
- Statistics
Your questions
The Research Degrees Team is here to advise you about our research degree programme and the OU experience.
- research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)1908 654882
Employers' questions
The Research Degrees Team is happy to advise about supporting students through our research degree programmes.
- research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)1908 654882