University of Leeds
School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science
PhD, 1994
Areas of Interest
Metaphysics
  •  18
    Russell's Defence of Idleness
    Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 28 (1): 5-19. 2008.
    Abstract:Russell has a famous defence of idleness. But I argue that he was not supporting idleness as such. Russell valued the active and productive life. He was instead attacking overwork and defending leisure, where such leisure is used productively to contribute to civilization. This paper offers a critique of Russell’s argument on the grounds that it is difficult to sustain a distinction between activities that do and do not contribute to civilization. The questions are then addressed of whe…Read more
  •  186
    Causation and evidence-based practive - an ontological review
    Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 18 (5): 1006-1012. 2012.
    We claim that if a complete philosophy of evidence-based practice is intended, then attention to the nature of causation in health science is necessary. We identify how health science currently conceptualises causation by the way it prioritises some research methods over others. We then show how the current understanding of what causation is serves to constrain scientific progress. An alternative account of causation is offered. This is one of dispositionalism. We claim that by understanding ca…Read more
  •  13
    Book Symposium: Jason Holt, Kinetic Beauty: The Philosophical Aesthetics of Sport
    with Jason Holt, John E. MacKinnon, and Andrew Edgar
    Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 17 (3): 369-392. 2023.
    This book symposium on Jason Holt’s Kinetic Beauty: The Philosophical Aesthetics of Sport includes commentaries from Stephen Mumford, John E. MacKinnon and Andrew Edgar with replies from Holt.
  •  2
    I firmly believed there was a world outside of our own minds... But all around me were challenges.... How could we be so sure there were such things existing apart from us? Philosopher Benedict Chilwell faces a crisis of confidence and hopes to resolve it in a self-imposed exile, far away in the north of Norway. From his cabin, he begins his meditations, pondering the mysteries of philosophy in the dark Arctic winter. Pride, a whale, love and lust, the Huldra, God and a chain of causes all inter…Read more
  • Negation and denial
    In Piotr Stalmaszczyk (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge University Press. 2021.
  • Negation and denial
    In Piotr Stalmaszczyk (ed.), Cambridge Handbook of the Philosophy of Language, Cambridge University Press. 2021.
  •  33
    This book argues that nothing is not and explains how we can meaningfully speak about what is not.
  •  20
    Causation is the main foundation upon which the possibility of science rests. Without causation, there would be no scientific understanding, explanation, prediction, nor application in new technologies. How we discover causal connections is no easy matter, however. Causation often lies hiddenfrom view and it is vital that we adopt the right methods for uncovering it. The choice of methods will inevitably reflect what one takes causation to be, making an accurate account of causation an even more…Read more
  •  6
    People tend to enjoy listening to music or watching television, sleeping at night and celebrating birthdays. Plants tend to grow and thrive in sunlight and mild temperatures. We also know that tendencies are not perfectly regular and that there are patterns in the natural world, which are reliable to a degree, but not absolute. What should we make of a world where things tend to be one way but could be another? Is there a position between necessity and possibility? If there is, what are the impl…Read more
  •  33
    Powers as Causal Truthmakers
    Disputatio 3 (4). 2021.
    Most theories of causation assume that it must involve some kind of necessity, or that the cause must be entirely sufficient for the effect. Others have already suggested that it should be possible to get a theory of causation from a theory of powers or dispositions. Such a project is far from complete but even here we find that the key point in a dispositional theory of causation has been lacking. This paper attempts to establish some of the most important principles of such a theory and in so …Read more
  •  491
    Formal Causes for Powers Theorists
    In Ludger Jansen & Petter Sandstad (eds.), Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Formal Causation, Routledge. pp. 87-106. 2021.
    In this paper we examine whether and how powers ontologies can back formal causation. We attempt to answer three questions: i) what is formal causation; ii) whether we need formal causation, and iii) whether formal causation need powers and whether it can be grounded in powers. We take formal causal explanations to be explanations in which something's essence features prominently in the explanans. Three kinds of essential explanations are distinguished: constitutive, consequential, and those sin…Read more
  •  10
    A Philosopher Looks at Sport
    Cambridge University Press. 2021.
    Why is sport so important among participants and spectators when its goals seem so pointless? Stephen Mumford's book introduces the reader to a host of philosophical topics found in sport, and argues that sports activities reflect diverse human experiences - including important values that we continue to contest. The author explores physicality, competition, how sport is best defined, ethics in sport, and issues of inclusion such as disability sports, the gender divide, and transgender athletes.…Read more
  •  21
    Powers and persistence
    In Benedikt Schick, Edmund Runggaldier & Ludger Honnefelder (eds.), Unity and Time in Metaphysics, Walter De Gruyter. pp. 223-236. 2009.
  •  10
    Understanding Philosophy of Science
    Mind 112 (446): 353-355. 2003.
  •  2
    Introduction: George Molnar and Powers
    In George Molnar (ed.), Powers: A Study in Metaphysics, Oxford University Press. 2003.
    This introductory chapter discusses the purposes for the creation of this book and briefly tells about the nature of metaphysics and the questions it tries to answer. It sheds light on the debate to which the late George Molnar was contributing and trying to answer, and shows in detail the background to the works of Molnar and Powers. The chapter also gives an account of the most controversial claims of the book. Lastly, the chapter explains the history of the unfinished manuscript and indicates…Read more
  •  42
    Jennifer McKitrick: Dispositional Pluralism
    Journal of Philosophy 116 (10): 577-581. 2019.
  • Dispositions
    Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 32 (1): 193-197. 1998.
  •  153
    Function, structure, capacity
    Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 37 (1): 76-80. 2006.
  •  3
    Russell's Defence of Idleness
    Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies 28 (1): 5-19. 2014.
    Abstract:Russell has a famous defence of idleness. But I argue that he was not supporting idleness as such. Russell valued the active and productive life. He was instead attacking overwork and defending leisure, where such leisure is used productively to contribute to civilization. This paper offers a critique of Russell’s argument on the grounds that it is difficult to sustain a distinction between activities that do and do not contribute to civilization. The questions are then addressed of whe…Read more
  •  47
  •  43
    Analysis of scientific truth status in controlled rehabilitation trials
    with Roger Kerry, Aurélien Madouasse, and Antony Arthur
    Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 19 (4): 617-625. 2013.
  •  77
    All the Power in the World (review)
    Journal of Philosophy 104 (8): 424-431. 2007.
  •  77
    The Tendential Theory of Sporting Prowess
    Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 41 (3): 399-412. 2014.
    The results of sport would not interest us if either they were necessitated or they were a matter of pure chance. And if either case were true, the playing of sport would seem to make no sense either. This poses a dilemma. But there is something between these two options, namely the dispositional modality. Sporting prowess can be understood as a disposition towards victory and sporting liabilities a disposition towards defeat. The sporting contest then pits these net prowesses against each other…Read more
  •  596
    Omissions are sometimes linked to responsibility. A harm can counterfactually depend on an omission to prevent it. If someone had the ability to prevent a harm but didn’t, this could suffice to ground their responsibility for the harm. Michael S. Moore’s claim is illustrated by the tragic case of Peter Parker, shortly after he became Spider-Man. Sick of being pushed around as a weakling kid, Peter became drunk on the power he acquired from the freak bite of a radioactive spider. When a police of…Read more
  •  195
    Getting Causes From Powers
    Oxford University Press. 2011.
    Causation is everywhere in the world: it features in every science and technology. But how much do we understand it? Mumford and Anjum develop a new theory of causation based on an ontology of real powers or dispositions. They provide the first detailed outline of a thoroughly dispositional approach, and explore its surprising features
  • Is the world of appearances the real world? Are there facts that exist independently of our minds? Are there vague objects? _Russell on Metaphysics_ brings together for the first time a comprehensive selection of Russell's writing on metaphysics in one volume. Russell's major and lasting contribution to metaphysics has been hugely influential and his insights have led to the establishment of analytic philosophy as a dominant stream in philosophy. Stephen Mumford chronicles the metaphysical natur…Read more