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Staff profile

Overview

Professor Stephen Mumford

Professor / On research leave

Affiliations
Affiliation
Professor / On research leave in the Department of Philosophy

Biography

I am author of Dispositions (Oxford, 1998), Russell on Metaphysics (Routledge, 2003), Laws in Nature (Routledge, 2004), David Armstrong (Acumen, 2007), Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotion (Routledge, 2011), Getting Causes from Powers (Oxford, 2011 with Rani Lill Anjum), Metaphysics: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2012) and Causation: a Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013 with Rani Lill Anjum). I was editor of George Molnar's posthumous Powers: a Study in Metaphysics (Oxford, 2003) and Metaphysics and Science (Oxford, 2013 with Matthew Tugby). My PhD was from the University of Leeds in 1994 and I was at Nottingham between 1995 and 2016, serving served as Head of the Department of Philosophy, Head of the School of Humanities and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. I am currently completing a number of book projects: What Tends to Be: Essays on the Dispositional Modality and Causation in Science: on the Methods of Scientific Discovery (both with Rani Lill Anjum). I will shortly be publishing my first philosophical novel, Glimpse of Light (Bloomsbury). From 2016 to 2019 I will be on leave as I hold a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship to work on the metaphysics of nothingness and absence. The project will result in a book to be called Nothing Really Matters.

 Supervision

I supervise theses and dissertations primarily in metaphysics.

 

Research interests

  • Metaphysics (esp. absences and causal powers)
  • Philosophy of Medicine
  • History of Philosophy (esp. Ancient Philosophy and Hume)
  • Philosophy of Sport
  • Modality

Publications

Authored book

  • Causation in Science and the methods of scientific discovery
    Anjum, R. L., & Mumford, S. (2018). Causation in Science and the methods of scientific discovery. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198733669.001.0001
  • What Tends to Be
    Anjum, R. L., & Mumford, S. (2018). What Tends to Be. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351009805
  • Getting Causes from Powers
    Mumford, S., & Anjum, R. (2012). Getting Causes from Powers. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199695614.001.0001
  • Powers: A Study in Metaphysics
    Molnar, G., & Mumford, S. (2011). Powers: A Study in Metaphysics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199204175.001.0001
  • David Armstrong
    Mumford, S. (2010). David Armstrong. Acumen.
  • Laws in nature
    Mumford, S. (2004). Laws in nature. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203458426
  • Dispositions
    Mumford, S. (2003). Dispositions. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199259823.001.0001

Chapter in book

  • Powers and potentiality
    Mumford, S., & Anjum, R. (2018). Powers and potentiality. In K. Engelhard & M. Quante (Eds.), Handbook of Potentiality (pp. 261-278). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1287-1_10
  • Emergence and demergence
    Anjum, R., & Mumford, S. (2017). Emergence and demergence (pp. 92-109). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315638577
  • Relations all the way down? Against Ontic Structural Realism
    Briceño, S., & Mumford, S. (2016). Relations all the way down? Against Ontic Structural Realism. In A. Marmodoro & D. Yates (Eds.), The Metaphysics of Relations (pp. 198-217). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780198735878.001.0001
  • The aesthetics in football: The beautiful game?
    Mumford, S. (2016). The aesthetics in football: The beautiful game?. In J. Hughson, K. Moore, R. Spaaij, & J. Maguire (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Football Studies. (pp. 236-244). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203066430
  • The power of power
    Mumford, S. (2013). The power of power (pp. 9-24). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203075609
  • Causal dispositionalism
    Mumford, S., & Anjum, R. (2013). Causal dispositionalism. In A. Bird, B. Ellis, & H. Sankey (Eds.), Properties, Powers and Structures:Issues in the Metaphysics of Realism (pp. 101-118). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203124482
  • A new solution to the problem of negative truth
    Mumford, S. (2013). A new solution to the problem of negative truth (J. Monnoyer, Ed.; pp. 313-329). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110326918.313
  • Dispositions and ethics
    Anjum, R., Lie, S., & Mumford, S. (2013). Dispositions and ethics (pp. 231-247). Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203075609
  • With great power comes great responsibility
    Mumford, S., & Anjum, R. (2013). With great power comes great responsibility. In B. Kahmen & M. Stepanians (Eds.), Critical Essays on "Causation and Responsibility" (pp. 219-238). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110302295.219
  • A pornographic way of seeing
    Mumford, S. (2013). A pornographic way of seeing. In H. Maes (Ed.), Pornographic Art and the Aesthetics of Pornography (pp. 58-72). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137367938
  • Filled in space
    Mumford, S. (2012). Filled in space. In B. Gnassounou & M. Kistler (Eds.), Dispositions Et Pouvoirs Causaux (pp. 67-80). Ashgate Publishing.
  • Causal Powers and Capacities
    Mumford, S. (2010). Causal Powers and Capacities. In H. Beebee, C. Hitchcock, & P. Menzies (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Causation (pp. 265-278). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199279739.003.0013
  • A powerful theory of causation
    Mumford, S., & Anjum, R. (2010). A powerful theory of causation (pp. 143-159). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203851289
  • Powers and persistence
    Mumford, S. (2009). Powers and persistence. In L. Honnefelder, E. Runggaldier, & B. Schick (Eds.), Unity and Time in Metaphysics (pp. 223-236). Walter De Gruyter Incorporated. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110212358
  • Ascribing dispositions
    Mumford, S. (2009). Ascribing dispositions. In Debating Dispositions: Issues in Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Mind (pp. 168-185). Walter de Gruyter GmbH and Co. KG. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110211825
  • Powers, dispositions, properties or a causal realist manifesto
    Mumford, S. (2007). Powers, dispositions, properties or a causal realist manifesto. In R. Groff (Ed.), Revitalizing Causality:Realism about Causality in Philosophy and Social Science (pp. 139-151). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932636

Journal Article

Supervision students

Eleena Takashima