Stephen Mumford
| Stephen Dean Mumford | |
|---|---|
| Born |
31 July 1965 Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy / 21st-century philosophy |
| Region | Western Philosophy |
| School | Analytic philosophy |
|
Main interests
|
dispositions, laws, causation, metaphysics, truth, aesthetics |
|
Notable ideas
|
dispositions |
Stephen Dean Mumford (born 31 July 1965) is a British philosopher, who is currently Professor of Metaphysics in the Department of Philosophy at Durham University. Mumford is best known for his work in metaphysics on dispositions and laws, but has also made contributions in the philosophy of sport.
Mumford was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Mumford went on to read Philosophy and History of Ideas with Politics at Huddersfield Polytechnic (now University of Huddersfield) as his first degree. After Huddersfield, Mumford went on to the University of Leeds to take an MA in Philosophy of Mind. At Leeds, Mumford met Robin Le Poidevin who was to become his PhD supervisor. Mumford was awarded a PhD in 1994, for his thesis Dispositions and Reductionism, and was awarded a two-year lectureship at Leeds. Mumford left Leeds in 1995 for The University of Nottingham, where he has been Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 2011 to 2015.
Prior to his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 2011, Mumford was Head of the Department of Philosophy from 2004–2007 and Head of the School of Humanities from 2009-2011.
Mumford is the sole-author of four books: Dispositions (1998), Laws in Nature (2004), David Armstrong (2007), and Watching Sport: Aesthetics, Ethics and Emotions (2011). Mumford has also edited two books: Russell on Metaphysics (2003) and George Molnar’s Powers: A Study in Metaphysics (2003). Most recently, Mumford co-authored, with Rani Lill Anjum, Getting Causes from Powers (2011).
Commonplace dispositions are the elasticity of a rubber band, the fragility of a wineglass, and the solubility of sugar and salt. Such dispositions are to be found in abundance.
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