Professor Stephan Leuenberger

  • Professor of Philosophy (Philosophy)

telephone: 01413304276
email: Stephan.Leuenberger@glasgow.ac.uk

R404 Level 4, Philosophy, 69 Oakfield Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LP

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4993-2816

Research interests

Modality. Some things are the way they are of necessity, while others could be different. But where does the line fall? One popular answer is that there are no brute, or unexplained, necessities. But if I am right, that answer would itself be a brute necessity, if it were necessary. So if it is true, it is contingent---and none the worse for it! 

Totality. In many contexts, it matters greatly whether some truth is the whole truth, or whether something is left out. But the question what it means for a truth to be the whole truth - to be "total" - raises a number of puzzles. I claim that the key to solving them is to distinguish different concepts of totality.

Metaphysical Relations.  What is the relationship between descriptions of the world at various levels, e.g. the physical and the sociological level? Philosophers have appealed to a number of different relations to formulate relevant hypotheses, among them supervenience, grounding, and emergence. I am using formal tools to clarify these concepts and their relationships. 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006
Number of items: 29.

2021

Leuenberger, S. and Smith, M. (2021) Epistemic logic without closure. Synthese, 198(5), pp. 4751-4774. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-019-02368-6)

2020

Leuenberger, S. (2020) Structural problems for reductionism. Philosophical Studies, 177, pp. 3571-3593. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-019-01383-0)

Leuenberger, S. (2020) The fundamental: Ungrounded or all-grounding? Philosophical Studies, 177, pp. 2647-2669. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-019-01332-x) (PMID:32713965) (PMCID:PMC7370665)

Leuenberger, S. (2020) Emergence. In: Raven, M. J. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding. Series: Routledge handbooks in philosophy. Routledge: New York, NY ; Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 312-323. ISBN 9780815366492 (doi: 10.4324/9781351258845-30)

2019

Leuenberger, S. (2019) Why it matters whether you are a contingentist. Analysis, 79(2), pp. 290-303. (doi: 10.1093/analys/anz005)

2018

Leuenberger, S. (2018) Global supervenience without reducibility. Journal of Philosophy, 115(8), pp. 389-422. (doi: 10.5840/jphil2018115824)

2017

Leuenberger, S. (2017) Wolff's close shave with fatalism. In: Sinclair, M. (ed.) The Actual and the Possible: Modality and Metaphysics in Modern Philosophy. Series: Mind association occasional series. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 45-63. ISBN 9780198786436

Leuenberger, S. (2017) Lego and the building blocks of metaphysics. In: Irwin, W. and Cook, R. T. (eds.) Lego and Philosophy: Constructing Reality Brick by Brick. Series: The Blackwell philosophy and pop culture series. Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, pp. 197-205. ISBN 9781119193975 (doi: 10.1002/9781119194033.ch19)

Leuenberger, S. and Schafer, B. (2017) The Whole Truth About the Law : Reasoning About Exceptions in Legal AI. In: 20th International Legal Informatics Symposium (IRIS 2017), Salzburg, Austria, 23-25 Feb 2017, pp. 131-138. ISBN 9783903035157

2015

Leuenberger, S. (2015) The contingency of contingency. Journal of Philosophy, 112(2), pp. 84-112.

2014

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Total logic. Review of Symbolic Logic, 7(3), pp. 529-547. (doi: 10.1017/S1755020314000124)

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Review of: Fabrice Correia and Benjamin Schnieder (eds), Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding the Structure of Reality. Dialectica, 68(1), pp. 147-151. (doi: 10.1111/1746-8361.12054)[Book Review]

Leuenberger, S. (2014) From grounding to supervenience? Erkenntnis, 79(1), pp. 227-240. (doi: 10.1007/s10670-013-9488-6)

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Grounding and necessity. Inquiry, 57(2), pp. 151-174. (doi: 10.1080/0020174X.2013.855654)

2013

Leuenberger, S. (2013) De jure and de facto validity in the logic of time and modality. Thought: A Journal of Philosophy, 2(3), pp. 196-205. (doi: 10.1002/tht3.76)

Leuenberger, S. (2013) Supervenience among classes of relations. In: Holtje, M., Schnieder, B. and Steinberg, A. (eds.) Varieties of Dependence: Ontological Dependence, Grounding, Supervenience, Response-Dependence. Philosophia: Munich, Germany, pp. 325-346. ISBN 9783884051054

Leuenberger, S. (2013) Review of: Re-Emergence: Locating Conscious Properties in a Material World, by Gerald Vision. Mind, 122(486), pp. 593-596. (doi: 10.1093/mind/fzt085)[Book Review]

2012

Leuenberger, S. (2012) Review of David Chalmers, The Character of Consciousness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 90(4), pp. 803-806. (doi: 10.1080/00048402.2012.721380)[Book Review]

2011

Leuenberger, S. (2011) Critical Notice: Michael Jubien, Possibility, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Analytic Philosophy, 52(1), pp. 61-74. (doi: 10.1111/j.2153-960X.2011.00518.x)

2010

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Humility and constraints on O-language. Philosophical Studies, 149(3), pp. 327-354. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-009-9352-3)

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Exclusion and physicalism. Reply to O'Connor and Churchill. In: Macdonald, G. and Macdonald, C. (eds.) Emergence in Mind. Series: Mind Association occasional series. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England. ISBN 9780199583621

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Review of Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, vol. 2. Dean Zimmerman, ed. Philosophical Review, 119(1), pp. 118-123. (doi: 10.1215/00318108-2009-033)[Book Review]

2009

Keller, P. and Leuenberger, S. (2009) Special Issue: The Philosophy of Vectors [Guest Editor]. Dialectica, 63(4), pp. 369-601.

Leuenberger, S. and Keller, P. (2009) Introduction: the philosophy of vectors. Dialectica, 63(4), pp. 369-380. (doi: 10.1111/j.1746-8361.2009.01220.x)

Leuenberger, S. (2009) What is global supervenience? Synthese, 170(1), pp. 115-129. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-008-9360-4)

Leuenberger, S. (2009) Review of Stephen Yablo, Thoughts: Papers on Mind, Meaning, and Modality (Philosophical Papers, Volume 1). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, [Book Review]

2008

Leuenberger, S. (2008) Supervenience in metaphysics. Philosophy Compass, 3(4), pp. 749-762. (doi: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2008.00150.x)

Leuenberger, S. (2008) Ceteris absentibus physicalism. In: Zimmerman, D.W. (ed.) Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 145-170. ISBN 9780199542987

2006

Leuenberger, S. (2006) A new problem of descriptive power. Journal of Philosophy, 103(3), pp. 145-162.

This list was generated on Sat Apr 20 10:46:32 2024 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Conference Proceedings
Number of items: 29.

Articles

Leuenberger, S. and Smith, M. (2021) Epistemic logic without closure. Synthese, 198(5), pp. 4751-4774. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-019-02368-6)

Leuenberger, S. (2020) Structural problems for reductionism. Philosophical Studies, 177, pp. 3571-3593. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-019-01383-0)

Leuenberger, S. (2020) The fundamental: Ungrounded or all-grounding? Philosophical Studies, 177, pp. 2647-2669. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-019-01332-x) (PMID:32713965) (PMCID:PMC7370665)

Leuenberger, S. (2019) Why it matters whether you are a contingentist. Analysis, 79(2), pp. 290-303. (doi: 10.1093/analys/anz005)

Leuenberger, S. (2018) Global supervenience without reducibility. Journal of Philosophy, 115(8), pp. 389-422. (doi: 10.5840/jphil2018115824)

Leuenberger, S. (2015) The contingency of contingency. Journal of Philosophy, 112(2), pp. 84-112.

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Total logic. Review of Symbolic Logic, 7(3), pp. 529-547. (doi: 10.1017/S1755020314000124)

Leuenberger, S. (2014) From grounding to supervenience? Erkenntnis, 79(1), pp. 227-240. (doi: 10.1007/s10670-013-9488-6)

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Grounding and necessity. Inquiry, 57(2), pp. 151-174. (doi: 10.1080/0020174X.2013.855654)

Leuenberger, S. (2013) De jure and de facto validity in the logic of time and modality. Thought: A Journal of Philosophy, 2(3), pp. 196-205. (doi: 10.1002/tht3.76)

Leuenberger, S. (2011) Critical Notice: Michael Jubien, Possibility, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Analytic Philosophy, 52(1), pp. 61-74. (doi: 10.1111/j.2153-960X.2011.00518.x)

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Humility and constraints on O-language. Philosophical Studies, 149(3), pp. 327-354. (doi: 10.1007/s11098-009-9352-3)

Keller, P. and Leuenberger, S. (2009) Special Issue: The Philosophy of Vectors [Guest Editor]. Dialectica, 63(4), pp. 369-601.

Leuenberger, S. and Keller, P. (2009) Introduction: the philosophy of vectors. Dialectica, 63(4), pp. 369-380. (doi: 10.1111/j.1746-8361.2009.01220.x)

Leuenberger, S. (2009) What is global supervenience? Synthese, 170(1), pp. 115-129. (doi: 10.1007/s11229-008-9360-4)

Leuenberger, S. (2008) Supervenience in metaphysics. Philosophy Compass, 3(4), pp. 749-762. (doi: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2008.00150.x)

Leuenberger, S. (2006) A new problem of descriptive power. Journal of Philosophy, 103(3), pp. 145-162.

Book Sections

Leuenberger, S. (2020) Emergence. In: Raven, M. J. (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Metaphysical Grounding. Series: Routledge handbooks in philosophy. Routledge: New York, NY ; Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 312-323. ISBN 9780815366492 (doi: 10.4324/9781351258845-30)

Leuenberger, S. (2017) Wolff's close shave with fatalism. In: Sinclair, M. (ed.) The Actual and the Possible: Modality and Metaphysics in Modern Philosophy. Series: Mind association occasional series. Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 45-63. ISBN 9780198786436

Leuenberger, S. (2017) Lego and the building blocks of metaphysics. In: Irwin, W. and Cook, R. T. (eds.) Lego and Philosophy: Constructing Reality Brick by Brick. Series: The Blackwell philosophy and pop culture series. Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, pp. 197-205. ISBN 9781119193975 (doi: 10.1002/9781119194033.ch19)

Leuenberger, S. (2013) Supervenience among classes of relations. In: Holtje, M., Schnieder, B. and Steinberg, A. (eds.) Varieties of Dependence: Ontological Dependence, Grounding, Supervenience, Response-Dependence. Philosophia: Munich, Germany, pp. 325-346. ISBN 9783884051054

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Exclusion and physicalism. Reply to O'Connor and Churchill. In: Macdonald, G. and Macdonald, C. (eds.) Emergence in Mind. Series: Mind Association occasional series. Oxford University Press: Oxford, England. ISBN 9780199583621

Leuenberger, S. (2008) Ceteris absentibus physicalism. In: Zimmerman, D.W. (ed.) Oxford Studies in Metaphysics. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, pp. 145-170. ISBN 9780199542987

Book Reviews

Leuenberger, S. (2014) Review of: Fabrice Correia and Benjamin Schnieder (eds), Metaphysical Grounding: Understanding the Structure of Reality. Dialectica, 68(1), pp. 147-151. (doi: 10.1111/1746-8361.12054)[Book Review]

Leuenberger, S. (2013) Review of: Re-Emergence: Locating Conscious Properties in a Material World, by Gerald Vision. Mind, 122(486), pp. 593-596. (doi: 10.1093/mind/fzt085)[Book Review]

Leuenberger, S. (2012) Review of David Chalmers, The Character of Consciousness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 90(4), pp. 803-806. (doi: 10.1080/00048402.2012.721380)[Book Review]

Leuenberger, S. (2010) Review of Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, vol. 2. Dean Zimmerman, ed. Philosophical Review, 119(1), pp. 118-123. (doi: 10.1215/00318108-2009-033)[Book Review]

Leuenberger, S. (2009) Review of Stephen Yablo, Thoughts: Papers on Mind, Meaning, and Modality (Philosophical Papers, Volume 1). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, [Book Review]

Conference Proceedings

Leuenberger, S. and Schafer, B. (2017) The Whole Truth About the Law : Reasoning About Exceptions in Legal AI. In: 20th International Legal Informatics Symposium (IRIS 2017), Salzburg, Austria, 23-25 Feb 2017, pp. 131-138. ISBN 9783903035157

This list was generated on Sat Apr 20 10:46:32 2024 BST.

Grants

  • "Being without Foundations", Swiss National Science Foundation (Glasgow PI; September 2019 - August 2023).
  • "Grounding in Law", Royal Society of Edinburgh (PI; April 2019 - March 2020).
  • "The Whole Truth", AHRC Early Career Research Project (PI; January 2016 - August 2017).
  • "Sense-Data", project funded by the John Templeton Foundation via the Cambridge New Directions in Mind Project (CI; July 2016 - 2017).
  • "Emergence", project funded by the John Templeton Foundation via the Durham Emergence Project (joint PI; 1 October 2014 - 30 September 2015).
  • “The Contingency of Contingency”, AHRC Early Career Fellowship (1 September 2012 – 31 May 2013)
  • “Grounds without Supplements”, Carnegie Research Grant (summer 2012)

Supervision

I am happy to supervise Masters and PhD students in metaphysics, philosophical logic, and philosophy of law.

 

 

 

Past supervisions:

  • Mental Causation
  • Counterfactual Theories of Causation
  • Predestination and Foreknowledge
  • Multiple Realization
  • Properties as Powerful Qualities
  • Ontology of Legal Institutions

Teaching

Junior Honours / MSc Conversion: Metaphysics

Senior Honours: Philosophy of Law

MSc: The Metaphysics of the Social Worlds

Additional information

Outwith Glasgow, I am 

  • a Visiting Professor at the MAP - the Research Master in Metaphysics and Mind at the USI, Lugano
  • affiliated member of eidos, the Centre for Metaphysics at the University of Geneva, and
  • book reviews editor of dialectica.

Dr Stephan Leuenberger