Thomas Crowther
Profile
I studied PPP at Wadham College, Oxford, and went on to complete an MPhil and PhD in Philosophy at King's College, London. My PhD supervisors were Mark Sainsbury and Jim Hopkins. I have previously taught at the University of Oxford, Birkbeck, and at Heythrop College, University of London.
I joined the Warwick Philosophy Department as Associate Professor in 2013. I am now Reader in Philosophy.
Research
My areas of research interest are metaphysics, philosophy of mind, epistemology, and the philosophy of Aristotle. I have particular interests in temporal ontology, the metaphysics of mass and stuff, the philosophy of perception and agency, and the nature of states of consciousness (such as wakeful consciousness, somnambulism, trance and dreams).
I am currently working on a book that focuses on the relations between the persistence of primary substances, the nature of process and activities, and the notion of the present. The book aims to identify and develop a metaphysical view according to which the notions of persistence, process and the present are to be understood together, and to show what the significance of this view is for various aspects of the contemporary literature.
With Professor Matthew Soteriou, KCL, I am involved in collaborative research exploring the nature and significance of wakeful consciousness. We are developing an interdisciplinary research project - involving collaboration with researchers working on the science of sleep - that aims to show that a correct understanding of wakeful consciousness is significant for understanding a range of issues in the philosophy of mind, action and epistemology. This research is informed by the empirical work on the science of waking, sleep and dreaming, but also is of significance for a number of theoretical questions left unanswered by the empirical science in those areas.
I supervise postgraduate research on Metaphysics, the Philosophy of Mind and Action, Epistemology, and the Philosophy of Aristotle (specifically, Aristotle's Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind and Action).
Teaching
At undergraduate level I teach the Metaphysics and Aristotle Honours-level modules, as well as an Introduction to Ancient Philosophy module for first years. At postgraduate level I teach seminars on Advanced Topics in Metaphysics and Epistemology, and Aristotle's Physics: Continuity, Infinity and Time.
PH354 Aristotle 2020-1 (Options Information)
Selected Publications
Books
2018. Perceptual Ephemera. Oxford, O.U.P. (co-edited with Clare Mac Cumhaill)
Papers
2020. ‘Temporal Ontology and Joint Action’. Inquiry. Published online 17 March. https://doi.org/10.1080/0020174X.2020.1731592
2019. ‘Verbs, Times and Objects’. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, Volume 27, Issue 4, 475- 497. Published online 09 April. https://doi.org/10.1080/09672559.2019.1598102.
2018. ‘Experience, Dreaming and the Phenomenology of Wakeful Consciousness’. In Fiona Macpherson and Fabian Dorsch (eds.). Phenomenal Presence. Oxford, O.U.P.
2018. ‘In Touch with the Look of Solidity’. In Thomas Crowther and Clare Mac Cumhaill (eds.) Perceptual Ephemera. Oxford, O.U.P. pp. 260- 88
2018. ‘A Tour of the Ephemeral’ (co-authored with Clare Mac Cumhaill) In Thomas Crowther and Clare Mac Cumhaill (eds.) Perceptual Ephemera. Oxford, O.U.P. pp. 1- 30.
2018. ‘Processes as Continuants and Process as Stuff’. In Rowland Stout (ed.) Process, Action and Experience. Oxford, O.U.P.
2017. ‘Time in the Dream’ (co-authored with Matthew Soteriou). In I. Phillips (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Temporal Experience. London, Routledge.
2016. ‘Failures of Rationality and Self-Knowledge in Addiction’. In Gabriel Segal and Nick Heather (eds.) Addiction and Choice. Oxford, O.U.P.
2014. ‘The Perception of Activity’. In James Stazicker (ed.), Ratio, Vol. 27 (4), Special Edition: The Structure of Perceptual Experience, pp 439-461.
2011. ‘The Matter of Events’, The Review of Metaphysics, 65 (1) pp. 3-39.
2010. ‘The Agential Profile of Perceptual Experience’, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 110 (2) pp. 219-242.
2009. ‘Watching, Sight and the Temporal Shape of Perceptual Activity’, The Philosophical Review, 118 (1) pp. 1-27.
2009. ‘Perceptual Activity and the Will’. In Lucy O'Brien and Matthew Soteriou (eds.) Mental Actions, (Oxford, O.U.P.) pp. 173-191.
2006. ‘Two Conceptions of Conceptualism and Nonconceptualism’, Erkenntnis, 65 pp. 245-276
