I am a full-time doctoral research student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, working on metaphilosophical problems arising in the early work of the twentieth-century French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze. My doctoral research, which I began my research in October 2011, is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and supervised by Prof. Miguel de Beistegui.

About Me

I began my higher education at the University of York, where in 2009 I was awarded a BA (1st Class Hons.) in Philosophy. Subsequently, I completed an MA in Continental Philosophy at Warwick, which was awarded with Distinction in 2010. My dissertation, which was supervised by Prof. Beistegui, was on the possibility of a materialism within the limits of Heidegger's philosophy.

I am a member of the editorial board for Pli - The Warwick Journal of Philosophy, as well as a peer-reviewer for the British Journal of Undergraduate Philosophy.

Forresten snakker jeg norsk, og har en norsk kone.

My Research

The title of my thesis is 'Science and Philosophy in the Work of Gilles Deleuze, 1953-1968'. This thesis focuses on the role played by science in the metaphilosophical concerns that occupy the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze in his early work. I criticise readings of Deleuze that overemphasise or misconstrue the role of the natural sciences in his early thinking about the nature of philosophy, and seek to articulate an alternative reading more sensitive to Deleuze's concern to maintain the 'specificity' of philosophy in relation to non-philosophical modes of intellectual activity. Ultimately, I argue that Deleuze's early conception of philosophy can make a meaningful contribution to a vision of philosophy's role in our moral and intellectual lives unbound by the regulative ideal of 'scientific philosophy' that has played an important role in facilitating the 'professionalisation' of philosophy as an academic discipline, although I am also keen to diagnose some of the pitfalls of this supposedly more 'vital' image of the philosopher's activity.

Outside of my doctoral research, I am interested in (amongst other things) issues surrounding (both historical and contemporary) philosophical naturalism, particularly the relation between naturalism and eliminativism, the significance of nihilism and the status of normativity; methodological questions in the history of philosophy; and historical and contemporary reflections on 'the philosophy of philosophy'.

Contact

D dot J dot Allen at warwick dot ac dot uk

Other pages

Academia.edu profile

Memberships

BSHP

NoSP

Teaching

Applied Ethics (2014/15)

Elements of Scientific Method (2012/13)

Curriculum Vitae [pdf]