Staff profile

About Me

My research is primarily on topics in metaphysics and formal ontology, the philosophy of language and linguistics, and metaphilosophy. I am also interested in the history of analytic philosophy, in particular the work of Rudolf Carnap, and have written a number of pieces outlining and examining the philosophy of EJ Lowe.

At the moment, I'm working on some issues in the metaphysics of language (especially the ontology of words), and in metametaphysics. I am also currently writing a monograph on metaphysical realism and anti-realism, to be published as part of the Cambridge Elements in Metaphysics series.

I have recently edited two books: The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics (2020, Routledge), and The Language of Ontology (2021, Oxford University Press).

Previously, I worked at Nottingham University and Trinity College Dublin in teaching-focused roles.

Office Hours

During 2020-21 academic year, my office hours are online only, on Tuesdays 1-3.30pm via Microsoft Teams (Durham students have access to this via your Durham Microsoft 365 accounts, info here: https://www.dur.ac.uk/cis/email/studentemail/office/).

• Metaphysics
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Linguistics
• History of Analytic Philosophy

Chapter in book

• Miller, J. T. M. (2021). What Counts as a 'Good Metaphysical Language'? In The Language of Ontology. Oxford University Press. 102-118.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2020). Metaphysics as the Science of the Possible. In The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics. Routledge. 480-491.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2012). The Unavoidable Dream Problem. In Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream. Johnson, D. & Irwin, W. Wiley-Blackwell.

Edited book

• Miller, J. T. M (2021). The Language of Ontology. Oxford University Press.
• Bliss, R. & Miller, J. T. M. (2020). The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics. Routledge.

Journal Article

• Miller, J. T. M. (2021). Easy Ontology, Regress, and Holism. Erkenntnis
• Miller, J. T. M. (2020). On the individuation of words. Inquiry 63(8): 875-884.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2020). The ontology of words: Realism, nominalism, and eliminativism. Philosophy Compass 15(7): e12691.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2019). A bundle theory of words. Synthese 198: 5731–5748.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2019). Natural Name Theory and Linguistic Kinds. The Journal of Philosophy 116(9): 494-508.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2018). Are All Primitives Created Equal? The Southern Journal of Philosophy 56(2): 273-292.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2017). Language and ontological emergence. Philosophica 91: 105-143.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2016). Can an Ontological Pluralist Really be a Realist? Metaphilosophy 47(3): 425-430.
• Miller, J. T. M. (2016). The Non-existence of Ontological Categories: A defence of Lowe. Metaphysica 17(2): 163-176.
• Hughes, Thomas J. & Miller, J. T. M. (2014). Lexicalisation and the Origin of the Human Mind. Biosemiotics 7(1): 11-27.