Staff profile

I joined the department in 2014, having previously held research posts in Heidelberg, Tilburg, and Amsterdam. As an undergrad I started off as an English major, but quickly got hooked on logic and philosophy and that's where I've made my career. After completing an MA in philosophy at University of Wisconsin, I did my Ph.D. in logic at University of Amsterdam. My dissertation, Modalities in Medieval Logic, combined two of my biggest academic and non-academic interests: logic and medieval history. In 2017 I co-founded the Durham centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy, of which I am currently a co-director.

Outside of logic, I have been doing research in medieval onomastics (the study of names) since I was in high school, and a culmination of that interest is the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources project, of which I am the Editor-in-Chief.

When not doing logic or names, I can generally be found watching sci fi and drinking beer with my husband, hanging out with my young daughter, doing medieval re-creation/re-enactment, or writing speculative fiction. I am also the head instigator of the site SFFReviews.com, a review site for short science fiction and fantasy.

Current PhD Students

• Zekiye Goz, linguistic creativity and artificial intelligence
• Wei Xie, universal grammar and tense

Research Supervision

I am available for, and interested in, supervising students, at any level, in any of the following areas:

• Logic (mathematical, philosophical, modal, etc.)
• Philosophy of language, esp. philosophy of fiction
• Philosophy of logic
• Philosophy of mathematics
• Medieval philosophy, esp. logic/philosophy of language
• Informal argumentation
• Human and machine reasoning

• Mathematical Logic
• Medieval Logic
• Modal Logic
• Onomastics
• Philosophical Logic
• Philosophy of Fiction
• Philosophy of Language

• 2017: Radio Interview: Interview on "Hannah Kate's Bookshelf", North Manchester Radio FM.
• 2017: Podcast Interview: Interview on "Philosophobia" podcast series.
• 2015: Magazine Interview: Interview in 3:AM magazine's "End Times" series of philosopher interviews; now available at https://316am.site123.me/articles/dynamic-epistemology?c=end-times-archive

Book review

• Uckelman, S. L. (online). Review of Robin Wilson and Amirouche Moktefi, eds., The Mathematical World of Charles L. Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), xiv+266pp
• Uckelman, S. L. (online). Maloney, Thomas S., ed. Logica, or Summa Lamberti. Notre Dame : Notre Dame Press, 2015. pp. xlix, 442. $64.00 (paperback) $64.00 (ebook). ISBN : 978-0-268-03535-8 (paperback) 978-0-268-08699-2 (ebook). The Medieval Review, Article 16.05.04
• Uckelman, S. L. (2020). Review of Peter Adamson, Medieval Philosophy, History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, volume 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), xxii+637pp. Philosophical Quarterly, 70(281), 890-892. https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqaa014
• Uckelman, S. L. (2017). Review of Ana María Mora-Márquez, The Thirteenth-Century Notion of Signification: The Discussions and Their Origin and Development. (Investigating Medieval Philosophy 10.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015. Pp. 256. $142. ISBN: 978-900-429867-5. Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, 92(4), 1223-1225. https://doi.org/10.1086/693663
• Uckelman, S. L. (2017). Review of Donna Thornton and Kevin Murray, Bibliography of Publications on Irish Placenames. Peritia, 27, 306-307
• Uckelman, S. L. (2016). Book Review: Jean Buridan, Treatise on Consequences. Translated with an introduction by Stephen Read, editorial introduction by Hubert Hubien. New York: Fordham University Press, 2015, pp. 185. ISBN 978-0-8232-5718-8 (hardback), $45. Studia Logica, 104(6), 1319-1323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11225-016-9693-9
• Uckelman, S. L. (2016). Book Review: Articulating Medieval Logic by Terence Parsons. Philosophical Quarterly, 66(263), 432-435. https://doi.org/10.1093/pq/pqv061
• Uckelman, S. L. (2016). Review of Brian P. Copenhaver, with Calvin G. Normore and Terence Parsons, Peter of Spain: Summaries of Logic: Text, Translation, Introduction, and Notes. Vivarium: A Journal for Medieval and Early-Modern Philosophy and Intellectual Life, 54(1), 113-116. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685349-12341315
• Uckelman, S. L. (2014). Review of Marko Malink, Aristotle's Modal Syllogistic. Metascience, 23(3), 573-579
• Uckelman, S. L. (2013). Review of Luca Castagnoli, Ancient Self-Refutation: The Logic and History of the Self-Refutation Argument from Democritus to Augustine. Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, 16, 398-402
• Uckelman, S. L. (2011). Review of Michael J. Fitzgerald, Albert of Saxony Questiones circa logicam (Twenty-Five Disputed Questions on Logic)

Chapter in book

• Uckelman, S. (2024). Whether Something Known by You is Uncertain to You: A Puzzle in Paul of Venice. In J. Kaukua, V. Lähteenmäki, & J. Toivanen (Eds.), Mind and Obligation in the Long Middle Ages (83-105). Brill Academic Publishers
• Uckelman, S. L. (2024). William of Sherwood. In E. N. Zalta, & U. Nodelman (Eds.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Winter 2024 Edition)
• Uckelman, S. L. (2023). Christine Ladd-Franklin. In A. L. Stone, & L. Moland (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197558898.013.16
• Uckelman, S. L. (2021). Kinds of Arguments. In R. Cross, & J. Paasch (Eds.), Routledge Companion to Medieval Philosophy. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315709604
• Uckelman, S. L. (2018). Bathsua Makin and Anna Maria van Schurman: Education and the Metaphysics of Being a Woman. In E. Thomas (Ed.), Early modern women on metaphysics (95-110). Cambridge University Press
• Uckelman, S. L. (2017). Medieval Logic. In A. Malpass, & M. A. Marfori (Eds.), The history of philosophical and formal logic : from Aristotle to Tarski (71-99). Bloomsbury
• Uckelman, S. L., Murphey, S., & Percer, J. (2017). What's in a Name? History and Fantasy in Game of Thrones. In B. A. Pavlac (Ed.), Game of Thrones versus history : written in blood (241-250). Wiley
• Dutilh Novaes, C., & Uckelman, S. L. (2016). Obligationes. In C. Dutilh Novaes, & S. Read (Eds.), Cambridge Companion to Medieval Logic (370-395). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107449862.016
• Uckelman, S. L., & Lagerlund, H. (2016). Logic in the 13th Century. In S. Read, & C. Dutilh Novaes (Eds.), Cambridge Companion to Medieval Logic (119-141). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781107449862.006
• Kellner, B., & Uckelman, S. L. (2015). Dialectical Self-Refutation and Nāgārjuna's Discussion in Six Points (ṣaṭkoṭiko vādaḥ). In G. Paul (Ed.), Logic In Buddhist Scholasticism: From Philosophical, Philological, Historical and Comparative Perspectives (101-134). Lumbini International Research Institute
• Uckelman, S. L. (2014). A Medieval Epistemic Puzzle. In Z. Christoff, P. Galeazzi, N. Gierasimczuk, A. Marcoci, & S. Smets (Eds.), LIRa Yearbook (301-316). Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation
• Alama, J., & Uckelman, S. L. (2012). What is Dialogical About Dialogical Logic?. In H. Jales Ribeiro (Ed.), Inside Arguments: Logic and the Study of Argumentation (207-222). Cambridge Scholars Publication
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012). Making Logic Explicit. In J. Jans (Ed.), Humanities Perspectives (25-27). Tilburg University
• Uckelman, S. L. (2011). A Dynamic Epistemic Logic Approach to Modeling Obligationes. In D. Grossi, S. Minica, B. Rodenhäuser, & S. Smets (Eds.), LIRa Yearbook (147-172). Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation
• Uckelman, S. L. (2011). The Ontological Argument. In M. Bruce, & S. Barbone (Eds.), Just the Argument: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy (25-27). Wiley
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010). Jean Buridan. In J. Williamson, & F. Russo (Eds.), Key Terms in Logic. Continuum
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010). Reasoning About the Trinity: A Modern Formalization of a Medieval System of Trinitarian Logic. In A. Schumann (Ed.), Logic in Religious Discourse (216-239). Ontos Verlag
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010). Dynamic Logic. In J. Williamson, & F. Russo (Eds.), Key Terms in Logic. Continuum

Conference Paper

• Liu, M., Frawley, J., Wyer, S., Shum, H. P. H., Uckelman, S. L., Black, S., & Willcocks, C. G. (2024, June). Self-Regulated Sample Diversity in Large Language Models. Presented at NAACL 2024: 2024 Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics, Mexico City
• Uckelman, S. L. (2020, July). William of Sherwood on Necessity and Contingency. Presented at Advances in Modal Logic, Helsinki, Finland
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012, June). Beyond Formality: The Role of the Dialectical Context in Medieval Logic. Presented at 19th European Symposium in Medieval Logic and Semantics, Geneva, Switzerland
• Uckelman, S. L. (2023, August). The Logic of Where and While in the 13th and 14th Centuries. Presented at Advances in Modal Logic 2016., Budapest, Hungary
• Uckelman, S. L. (2014, August). Reasoning about Obligations in Obligationes: A Formal Approach. Presented at The tenth Advances in Modal Logic conference (AiML-2014), Groningen, The Netherlands
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012, December). The Reception of St. Anselm's Logic in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Presented at Saint Anselm of Canterbury and His Legacy
• Uckelman, S. L. (2011, December). Obligationes as Formal Dialogue Systems. Presented at STAIRS 2010: Proceedings of the Fifth Starting AI Researchers' Symposium
• Alama, J., Knoks, A., & Uckelman, S. L. (2011, December). Dialogue Games for Classical Logic (short paper). Presented at TABLEAUX 2011: Workshops, Tutorials, and Short Papers
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010, December). Computing with Concepts, Computing with Numbers: Llull, Leibniz, & Boole. Presented at Programs, Proofs, Processes, Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Computability in Europe, 2010, Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, June 30-July 4, 2010
• Uckelman, S. L., & Johnston, S. (2010, December). A Simple Semantics for Aristotelian Apodeictic Syllogistics. Presented at Advances in Modal Logic, Moscow, Russia
• Øhrstrøm, P., Schärfe, H., & Uckelman, S. L. (2008, December). Jacob Lorhard's Ontology: A 17th Century Hypertext on the Reality and Temporality of the World of Intelligibles. Presented at Conceptual Structures: Knowledge Visualization and Reasoning, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Conceptual Structures, ICCS 2008
• Uckelman, S. L. (2008, December). Three 13th-Century Views of Quantified Modal Logic. Presented at Advances in Modal Logic
• Øhrstrøm, P., Uckelman, S. L., & Schärfe, H. (2007, December). Historical and conceptual foundations of diagrammatical ontology. Presented at 15th International Conference on Conceptual Structures, ICCS 2007
• Friedemann, S. L. (2002, December). A response to the case against compositionality: Universal sufficient applicability conditions. Presented at Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Conference, Oneonta, NY, USA

Doctoral Thesis

• Uckelman, S. L. Modalities in Medieval Logic. (Thesis). University of Amsterdam. https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1618586

Journal Article

• Uckelman, S. L. (2024). Fiction Writing as Philosophical Methodology. Principia, 28(3 - Special Issue: 13th Principia International Symposium), 453-475. https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2024.e98571
• Uckelman, S. (2024). What Logical Consequence Could, Could Not, Should, and Should Not Be. Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume, 98(1), 255–275. https://doi.org/10.1093/arisup/akae011
• Øhrstrøm, P., & Uckelman, S. L. (2022). Lorhard, Ramus, and Timpler and “The Birth of Ontology”. Journal of Knowledge Structures & Systems, 3(2), 48-56
• Uckelman, S. L. (2022). Fictional Modality and the Intensionality of Fictional Contexts. Australasian journal of logic, 19(4), 124-132. https://doi.org/10.26686/ajl.v19i4.7542
• Uckelman, S. L. (2021). What Problem Did Ladd-Franklin (Think She) Solve(d)?. Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, 62(3), 527-552. https://doi.org/10.1215/00294527-2021-0026
• Uckelman, S. L. (2020). Against the Theistic Multiverse. Kriterion (Salzburg), 34(4), 1-14
• Uckelman, S. L. (2019). Names Shakespeare Didn't Invent: Imogen, Olivia, and Viola Revisited. Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 67(3), 153-159. https://doi.org/10.1080/00277738.2018.1490518
• Uckelman, S. L. (2019). Contradictions, Impossibility, and Triviality: A Response to Jc Beall. The journal of analytic theology, 7, 544-559. https://doi.org/10.12978/jat.2019-7.180000200213
• Besold, T. R., & Uckelman, S. L. (2018). Normative and Descriptive Rationality: From Nature to Artifice and Back. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 30(2), 331-344. https://doi.org/10.1080/0952813x.2018.1430860
• Uckelman, S. L., & Chan, P. (2016). Against Truth-Conditional Theories of Meaning: Three Lessons from the Language(s) of Fiction. Res Philosophica, 2(93), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2016.2.93.4
• Uckelman, S. L., & Slíz, M. (2015). Többnyelvű névtani lexikográfia: a Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources elnevezésű nemzetközi szótári projekt. Névtani Értesítõ, 37, 203-220
• Uckelman, S. L. (2015). The Logic of Categorematic and Syncategorematic Infinity. Synthese, 192(8), 2361-2377. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-015-0670-z
• Uckelman, S. L. (2015). Sit Verum Obligationes and Counterfactual Reasoning. Vivarium: A Journal for Medieval and Early-Modern Philosophy and Intellectual Life, 53(1), 90-113. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685349-05301005
• Uckelman, S. L., Alama, J., & Knoks, A. (2014). A Curious Dialogical Logic and Its Composition Problem. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 43(6), 1065-1100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10992-013-9307-1
• Uckelman, S. L. (2013). Medieval Disputationes de obligationibus as formal dialogue systems. Argumentation, 27(2), 143-166
• Prior, A. N., & Uckelman, S. L. (2013). Finnegan's Wake: An Interpretation. Philosophical inquiries, 1(1), 211-214
• Uckelman, S. L. (2013). A quantified temporal logic for ampliation and restriction. Vivarium: A Journal for Medieval and Early-Modern Philosophy and Intellectual Life, 51(1-4), 485-510. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685349-12341259
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012). Arthur Prior and medieval logic. Synthese, 188(3), 349-366
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012). Interactive logic in the Middle Ages. Logic and Logical Philosophy, 21(3), 439-471
• Uckelman, S. L. (2012). Prior on an Insolubilium of Jean Buridan. Synthese, 188(3), 487-498
• Uckelman, S. L. (2011). Deceit and Indefeasible Knowledge: The Case of Dubitatio. Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics, 21(3/4), 503-519
• Uckelman, S. L., & Johnston, S. (2010). John Buridan's Sophismata and Interval Temporal Semantics. Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, 13, 133-147
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010). The Ontological Argument and Russell's Antinomy. Logic and Logical Philosophy, 18, nos. 3-4, 309-312
• Uckelman, S. L. (2010). Logic and the Condemnations of 1277. Journal of Philosophical Logic, 39, no. 2, 201-227
• Uckelman, S. L. (2009). Anselm's Logic of Agency. Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, 12, 248-268
• Uckelman, S. L., & Uckelman, J. (2007). Modal and temporal logics for abstract space-time structures

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Uckelman, S. (2024). Lambert of Auxerre. [Online Article]

Other (Print)

• Uckelman, S. L. (2014). Medieval destinations: Lumbini