Contact
Biography
I joined Nottingham in 2007, having spent two years at the University of Leeds. Prior to that I completed a PhD on the metaphysics of time at Durham University, working with E.J. Lowe.
From 2013 to 2016 I was Chair of the Department and from 2015-2018 I was Head of Taught Postgraduate Courses in the Faculty of Arts. I'm currently Chair of the University's Quality and Standards Committee and one of the University's Site Directors for the Midlands 3 Cities Doctoral Training Partnership.
Teaching Summary
Since I arrived in Nottingham I've taught a range of modules, including: Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Time, Metaphysics and Communicating Philosophy. In 2012 I won a… read more
Research Summary
I'm currently working on five main projects: four in traditional metaphysics, and one that looks at notions of trust. I'd be very happy to supervise PhD students working in any of these areas. I… read more
Since I arrived in Nottingham I've taught a range of modules, including: Epistemology, Logic, Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Time, Metaphysics and Communicating Philosophy. In 2012 I won a Lord Dearing Award for 'outstanding performance....in enhancing the student learning experience'. I like exploring new ways of presenting material as well as new topics. If you're a current student with an idea for a new module, then let me know! I'd be happy to talk about it.
Because of a mixture of research leave and administrative responsibilities, I'm not teaching in the academic year 2018/19.
To find out much more about my teaching--past and present--take a look at my personal webpage: jonathantallant.com
I'm very happy to supervise undergraduate dissertations in any area of metaphysics and in any of the areas described in my 'research' tab.
Current Research
I'm currently working on five main projects: four in traditional metaphysics, and one that looks at notions of trust. I'd be very happy to supervise PhD students working in any of these areas. I describe each in more detail, below:
1. I'm trying to motivate and defend a version of presentism--that I call 'Existence Presentism'. This involves discussions of temporal passage, successful reference to the past, change, and how we should understand the connection between philosophy and science.
2. I argue (in a few places) that that not all truths require ground. I'm now looking to do more on this, spelling out which truths do need ground, and defending my initial arguments from some recent attacks in the literature. My book 'Truth and the World' spells out quite a bit of my thinking on this topic.
3. I'm interested in the idea that one thing might exist 'in virtue of' or 'because of' some others. So, for instance, a table might be said to exist 'in virtue of' its parts. How can we make sense of this claim? In this project I've been writing and thinking about the notions of priority, dependence, fundamentality and explanation.
4. We normally assume that time is real. Philosophical positions that deny the reality of time get a pretty short shrift. But what does it mean to deny the reality of time? People aren't always so clear. And what exactly is so bad about a model that denies the reality of time? Might such a view even be made to work? Well, maybe. I'm currently working on a project exploring these issues.
5. People trust me to perform particular actions. Some others just trust me, without being committed to trusting me to do any particular things. I've recently been thinking a bit about these different notions of trust, how they're connected, and how we might analyse them. I've also been getting interested in related concepts, like advice and recommendation.