Thomas Smith

After graduating with a BA in philosophy from the University of Cambridge (1992), I spent eight years trying to make a living in the theatre, before taking an MPhil (2002) and a PhD (2007) in philosophy at University College London. I held a Research Fellowship at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge (2005-07). I joined the department at Manchester in 2007.

I research action, and practical thinking. I don't know of any way to work on this topic without working on metaphysics, language and practical reason. I am less focused on joint action than I used to be, but this is still an interest.

Publications

My job and its requirements The Ethics of Social Roles ed. A. Barber and S. Cordell (2023) OUP 

Joint commitment (contribution to Gilbert special issue) Protosociology 35 (2018): 38-52

'Shared Agency' on Gilbert and deep continuity (contribution to Bratman symposium) Journal of Social Ontology 1 (2015): 49-57

Review of Christian List and Philip Pettit's Group Agency. Mind 121 (2012): 501-07

Playing One's Part. Review of Philosophy and Psychology: special issue on joint action - what is shared? 2 (2011): 213-44

Romantic Love. Essays in Philosophy: special issue on love and reasons 12 (2011): 68-92

Non-Distributive Blameworthiness. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 109 (2009): 31-60

Review of Margaret Gilbert's A Theory of Political Obligation. Mind 116 (2007): 1126-9

Out of the Closet - Frege's Boots. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 106 (2006): 399-407

What is the Halle? Philosophical Papers 34 (2005): 74-109

I have been the primary supervisor for the following PhD students:

Charlie Place (justice as sharing) PhD 2013. 

Christopher Ovenden (agential control) PhD 2013.

Rebecca Simpson (emotions and rationality) PhD 2014.

Anthony Wheatley (natural law ethics) PhD 2015.

Andrew Kirton (trust and reliance) PhD 2018.

Pilar Lopez-Cantero (romantic love) PhD 2019. 

Leonie Smith (social knowledge and epistemic justice) PhD 2021.

Jonas Faria Costa (agency and sociality) PhD 2023.

Ajinkya Deshmukh (group identity) PhD 2024.

Suddhasatwa Guharoy (trust, roles and markets) PhD 2024.

I have also been involved in co-supervising these PhD students: Patrick Ben, Hadis Farokhi Kakesh, Jack Morgan Jones, Hsu-Nan Liou, James Edwards, Alan McDonald, Rebecca Hamilton, Emile Chan, Fred Horton, Joey Montgomery, Mike Chidley.

I am pleased to consider PhD supervision requests from students wishing to work in or around the philosophy of action.