Prof Fiona Macpherson
- Professor of Philosophy (Philosophy)
telephone: 01413308761
email: Fiona.Macpherson@glasgow.ac.uk
Go to my RESEARCH PAGE to obtain copies of my papers online and my complete research record. (The publications tab above takes you to the University's digital repository which only has some of my publications in it and does not contain all the online versions of papers available on my research page.)
My research concerns the nature of consciousness, perception, introspection, imagination and the metaphysics of mind. Topics that I have worked on include: cognitive penetration, the nature and individuation of the senses, cross-modal intersensory phenomena, sensory substitution and augmentation, hallucination, illusion, delusion, novel colours, inverted spectra, ambiguous and impossible figures, synaesthesia, the admissible contents of experience, disjunctivism and representational theories of phenomenal character.
| At Glasgow I am: | • | Director of the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience |
| Outwith Glasgow I am: | • | Co-Director of CenSes: Centre for the Study of the Senses at the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London |
| • | Co-investigator on the Network for Sensory Research at the University of Toronto | |
| • | Member of New York Institute of Philosophy's Project on the Nature of Taste | |
| • | Affiliate of the EXRE: Centre for Research on Mind and Normativity | |
| News: | • | The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have awarded a grant of 1.9 million pounds to the project Re-Thinking the Senses on which I am co-investigator. |
| • | Macpherson, F. and Platchais, D. (2013) (eds.)Hallucination: Philosophy and Psychology, MIT Press now available. - Read the Introductory Essay - Listen to my Philosophy Bites Podcast about Hallucination |
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| • | Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Conference - multimedia content of the talks and demo event held in March 2013, including a video | |
| • | awarded AHRC Fellowship for 2012-13 for a project entitled Perception, Imagination, and the Structure of Consciousness | |
| • | Derek Brown and I will be editing the Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Colour. | |
| • | Oxford University Press have agreed to publish a volume on Perceptual Imagination and Perceptual Memory, to be edited by Fabian Dorsch and me. Many of the papers which will feature in it were given at the conference on Perceptual Imagination and Perceptual Memory that we organised. | |
| • | Oxford University Press have agreed to publish a volume on Phenomenal Presence, to be edited by Fabian Dorsch, Martine Nida-Rumelin, and me. Many of the papers which will feature in it were given at the conference on Phenomeal Presence that we organised. |
I maintain a page of Visual and Auditory Illusions.
Some of my work is in or referenced in the popular media.
My Curriculum Vitae is available online.
| 2013 | The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have awarded a grant of 1.9 million pounds to the project Re-Thinking the Senses on which I am co-investigator. |
| 2013 | Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to attend the Primary and Secondary Qualities Workshop in Dubrovnik (£350) |
| 2012/13 | British Academy conference grant (£12,000), Chancellor's Fund of the Univeristy of Glasgow grant (£6,000) and a contribution from the Network for Sensory Research (£3,000) to host the Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Conference in March 2013 at the British Academy. |
| 2012 | Visiting Professorship award from the Institute of Philosophy, University of London, for 2012-13 (£6,000). |
| 2012 | Visiting academic: Dr Derek Brown (Brandon University, Canada), Autumn 2012, visits the Centre and Professor Macpherson, funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh International Exchange Programme grant awarded to Professor Macpherson (£2850). |
| 2012 | Graduate Conference: The Problems of Philosophy: Then and Now, June 2012. Funding: Mind Association (£600), the Analysis Trust (£400), the Bertrand Russell Society (£637), John Hopkins University Press (£400), The Scots Philosophical Association (£2,000), and the College of Arts Graduate School of the University of Glasgow (£1,000). |
| 2011 | Awarded an AHRC Fellowship for 2012-13 to work on a project entitled Perception, Imagination and the Structure of Consciousness: £68,375.
Abstract: I will investigate the nature of perception and perceptual experience. The research focuses around two main questions. First, whether perceptual experiences, involved in seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting the world, can be affected by cognitive states such as beliefs, desires and expectations. This question is whether 'cognitive penetration' can occur and if it occurs I will examine in what conditions it does so. The existence of cognitive penetration is highly disputed. My distinctive and original contribution will be to argue that cognitive penetration can take place, however, I will claim that one needs more substantial argument to show this than is usually given. The second question is: What is the nature of perceptual experience, such that it can be so influenced by beliefs, desires and expectations? I will explore mechanisms by which cognition may affect experience. I will argue that one mechanism that can explain many cases of cognitive penetration involves perceptual imagination affecting perceptual experience. I will also argue that imagination's influence on experience can account for many features of perceptual experience that have resisted explanation, in particular, types of experience of absence. Thus my research will cast light on the nature of perceptual experience. Insight will be gained about the nature of the structure of experience and its representational and conscious aspects. The implications of the existence of cognitive penetration for epistemology and ethics will also be made vivid. |
| 2011 | Co-applicant on a Partnership Development Grant for the Network for Sensory Research, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: $199,400 (Canadian Dollars). The Network is a research partnership between the Departments of Philosophy at Toronto (Principal Investigator: Mohan Matthen), Harvard (Co-Investigator: Susanna Siegel), MIT (Co-Investigator: Alex Byrne), the Centre for the Study of the Senses of the Institute of Philosophy (Co-Investigator: Barry Smith), and the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience at the University of Glasgow (Co-Investigator: Fiona Macpherson). Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by the partner institutions, this will be a philosophy-led, interdisciplinary, international network of researchers to study how the brain/mind integrates information from the senses. |
| 2011 | Conference: ‘Perceptual Imagination and Perceptual Memory’, 6 - 9 September 2011. Organised jointly with Fabian Dorsch (Fribourg). Funding: £3,000 Mind Association; £2,000 Scots Philosophical Association; £1,410, Department of Philosophy, University of Fribourg; £600 Strategic Research Fund, College of Arts, University of Glasgow. |
| 2011 | Conference: ‘Graduate Conference on the Metaphysics of Mind’, June 2011. Funding: £3,000 Mind Association; £1,000 Scots Philosophical Association; £750 Graduate School, College of Arts, University of Glasgow. |
| 2011 | Workshop: ‘Cognitive and Cross-Modal Effects on Vision’, 26 and 27 March 2011. Organised with Athanassios Raftopoulos (University of Cyprus) and the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Funding: £800 Mind Association; £2,000 The Scots Philosophical Association; £750 British Society for the Philosophy of Science. |
| 2010 | Conference: ‘Mind, Science and Everything!’, Graduate Conference, 25 – 26 June 2010. Funding: £700 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Graduate School; £437 British Society for the Philosophy of Science; £225 Mind Association; £250 Aristotelian Society. Orgnaised with Neil McDonnell and Umut Baysan. |
| 2010 | British Academy Overseas Conference Grant to present a paper on the senses at the American Philosophical Association Conference in San Francisco (£500) |
| 2010 | Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to present a paper on the senses at the American Philosophical Association Conference in San Francisco (£500) |
| 2010 | Conference: ‘Phenomenal Presence: What is Phenomenally Given in Experience?’, 7 – 9 June 2010, University of Fribourg. Organised this jointly with Martine Nida-Rümelin, Fabrice Theler and Fabian Dorsch of the University of Fribourg. Funding: £1908 University of Fribourg; £8904 Pro*Doc Graduate School ‘Mind and Reality’ Universities of Fribourg, Geneva and Lausanne. |
| 2009 | Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to reply to a paper at the Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest (£300) |
| 2009 | Seminar Series: Philosophy of Mind and Psychology (September 2009 – present), jointly organized with the Department of Psychology. Funding: £400 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund; £400 Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow. |
| 2009 | Conference: ‘Varieties of Experience Graduate Conference’, July 2009. Funding: £500 Scots Philosophical Club; £500 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. Organised with Stuart Critchfield and Robert Cowan. |
| 2008 | Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to reply to a paper at a workshop ‘The Role of Thought in Consciousness’, Harvard University (£490) |
| 2008 | University of Glasgow Chancellor’s Fund to give a paper at the SPAWN Conference on Perception at Syracuse University and to visit academics in Boston (£1,500) |
| 2008 | Carnegie Trust Grant for research expenses for visit to the Centre for Consciousness, Australian National University (£2,500) |
| 2008 | Conference: 'Hallucination on Crete', 11 – 14 September 2008, Crete. Organised jointly with the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies, and the Mind and Brain Graduate Programme, University of Crete. Funding: 8,000 Euros Greek Government and the University of Crete; £1,000 Scots Philosophical Club; £500 University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. |
| 2007 | Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund award to present a paper at the 'Self-Knowledge and Agency Conference, Centre for Philosophy, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (£700) |
| 2007 | British Academy Overseas Conference Grant to present a paper at the 'Self-Knowledge and Agency’ Conference, Centre for Philosophy, Jawharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India (£600) |
| 2007 | Workshop: ‘Perception and Introspection’, 16 November 2007. Funding: £1,900 in total from The Aristotelian Society, The Analysis Trust, the Scots Philosophical Club and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. |
| 2006 | Conference: 'The Admissible Contents of Experience', 20 – 22 March 2006. Funding: £9,500 in total from the Philosophical Quarterly, The British Academy, The Mind Association, The Analysis Trust, and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. |
| 2006 | Workshop: 'Art and the Senses', on 7 October 2006, jointly with Professor Robert Hopkins, at the University of Sheffield. Funding: approximately £500 from the British Association for Aesthetics and the Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield. |
| 2005 | Conference: ‘Graduate Conference on Philosophy of Perception’ 8 October 2005. Funding: £2000, AHRC; £400 Faculty of Arts, University of Glasgow. Organised with Dimitris Platichias. |
| 2005 | Conference: 'Disjunctivism: Perception, Action, Knowledge' 4 – 5 June 2005. Funding: £2,500 in total from The Mind Association, The Royal Institute of Philosophy, The Analysis Trust, Blackwell's on behalf of the Philosophical Quarterly, and the Scots Philosophical Club. |
| 2004 | Conference: 'Individuating the Senses' 4 – 5 December 2004. Funding: £5,000 in total from The British Academy, The Mind Association, The Analysis Trust, The Scots Philosophical Club, Blackwell's on behalf of Analysis, and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. |
| 2004 | Seminar series on 'Disjunctivism', Autumn 2004. Funding: £950 in total from the Scots Philosophical Club and the University of Glasgow Faculty of Arts Strategic Research Fund. |
| 1999 | Royal Institute of Philosophy Jacobsen Fellowship (funding tuition fees and living expenses for one year of the PhD) |
| 1999 | British Federation of Women Graduates Grant (for additional living expenses for one year of the PhD) |
| 1998 | Kennedy Scholarship to attend Harvard University for one year as a Visiting Fellow in Philosophy (covered tuition fees, living expenses, medical insurance and travel costs) |
| 1997 | Royal Institute of Philosophy bursary (for additional living expenses for one year of the PhD) |
| 1995 | Major Scottish Studentship from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (funding three years of PhD tuition fees and living expenses) |
| 1995 | Stirling/St. Andrews Graduate Philosophy Programme 'top-up' award (for additional living expenses for three years of the PhD) |
| 1994 | One year postgraduate scholarship from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (funding tuition fees and living expenses for the MLitt) |
| 1994 | Stirling/St. Andrews Graduate Philosophy Programme 'top-up' award (for additional living expenses for the one year MLitt) |
| 1993 | Edward Caird Medal for Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow |
| 1993 | MacLagan Prize for Moral Philosophy from the University of Glasgow |
| 1992 | Thomas Holt Prize for Logic from the University of Glasgow |
I am happy to supervise Masters and PhD students in philosophy of mind, psychology and perception and related areas. I also welcome applications from students studying elsewhere who would like to spend time as a visiting research student working with me and/or at the Centre for the Study of Perceptual Experience. Please see the philosophy postgraduate webpages for details of postgraduate degrees that we offer and how to apply to be a visiting student.
Current Graduate Students:
Umut Baysan PhD Topic: Multiple Realizability
Ariel Cecchi (Visiting PhD student from the University of Geneva, Feb 2012 - Aug 2013), PhD Topic: The Epistemology of Perception
Andrew MacGregor, PhD Topic: Relationalist Theories of Perception
Visiting Graduate Students:
October 2013 Błażej Skrzypulec (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
May - August 2013 Mette Hansen (University of Bergen)
May - August 2013 Morten Nag Opsal (University of Bergen)
February 2012 - August 2013 Ariel Checci (University of Geneva)
October - December 2012 Oscar Ralsmark (University of Lund)
October 2012 Mette Hansen (University of Bergen)
November 2011 Błażej Skrzypulec (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland)
Previous Graduate Students:
2008 - 2013 Akiko Frischhut (Joint with the University of Geneva), PhD Topic: The Metaphysics of the Phenomenal Present
2006 - 2011 Stuart Crutchfield, PhD Topic: Phenomenal Unity
2008 - 2011 I was an "expert reader" for Alex Spaulding who is doing a practice-led PhD at the Glasgow School of Art. Her project is entitled, "Slipping Outside of Yourself: The Evaluation and Analysis of Aural Ineffable Immersive Contemporary Installation Art".
2008 - 2011 David Uings, MLitt by Research, Glasgow, Thesis: The Divided Mind
2008-2009 Sheena McAnulla, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: Panpsychism
2005-2007 Dimitris Platchias, Ph.D, Glasgow, Thesis: Phenomenal Consciousness, Experience and Higher-Order Thoughts
2006-2007 Akiko Frushhut, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: The Specious Present
2006-2007 Katherine Hook, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: Colour Inversion: A Problem for Externalist Representationalism?
2006-2007 Elisa Oddone, MLitt, Glasgow,Thesis: Representationalism and the Argument From Transparency
2006-2007 Gerd Watzenig, MLitt, Glasgow,Thesis: Time Travel Troubles
2006-2007 Niall Duncan, MLitt, Glasgow, Thesis: A Consideration of the Knowledge Argument
2001-2002 David Wall, MLitt, St. Andrews, Thesis: Representation, Information and Experience
These are the courses I regularly teach on:
Postgraduate Specialist MLitt Philosophy of Mind - Classes
Postgraduate MLitt 1 Course 0, Introduction to Analytic Philosophy - Classes
Postgraduate Specialist MLitt Research Methods Module - Classes
Senior Honours Philosophy of Perception - Lectures
Senior Honours Philosophy of Perception - Tutorials
Junior Honours Philosophy of Mind - Lectures and tutorials
Junior Honours Epistemology - Tutorials
2K Knowledge, Meaning and Inference - Tutorials
1K Knowledge and the World - Lectures
My office hours are: 3-4pm Tuesdays and Fridays.