David Liggins

In 2005, I completed my Ph.D. at the University of Sheffield, where my supervisors were Rosanna Keefe and Chris Hookway. Supported by an award from the Analysis Trust, I spent the 2005-6 academic year at the Faculty of Philosophy at Cambridge, continuing my research. I became a Lecturer at Manchester in 2006, and a Senior Lecturer in 2010.

I spent the 2009-10 academic year on research leave, thanks to an AHRC Research Leave award.

From 2011 to 2014, Chris Daly and I directed a research project entitled The Foundations of Ontology, funded by the AHRC.

I was an Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy from 2009 to 2016. From September 2021, Stacie Friend, Lee Walters, and I are the Editors of Analysis.

The philosophy of mathematics was the subject of my Ph.D. thesis and remains a major research interest of mine. In particular, I have defended nominalist accounts of mathematics: those which do not posit mathematical objects such as numbers or sets. Other ontological debates also interest me, particularly those concerning possible worlds, composite objects, and propositions. I have tended to explore theories which posit less rather than more, which has led me to think about paraphrase, pretence, fictionalism, and error theory. At present I am working on a book which brings some of these ideas into discussions of truth and paradox.

Other interests include philosophical method, grounding, and metaontology.

Publications

Links to published versions (PhilPapers)

Penultimate drafts of many of my papers are available on PhilPapers. If you have trouble getting hold of any of my papers, just email me.

I would be delighted to work with graduate students who share any of my research interests. Just drop me an email to discuss. Possible topics include: grounding, the indispensability argument, fictionalism, pretence theories, truth, analyticity, philosophical method, metaontology. For funding opportunities available to students wishing to do a PhD in any of these areas, please seehttp://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/philosophy/postgraduate-research/phd-funding/.