Brian Ball

Ball’s primary research interest is in the metaphysics of intentional states and acts – which is to say that he explores the natures of such things as knowledge, belief, judgment, and assertion, all of which have the distinctive characteristic of being about something.

His doctoral thesis, Semantics, Metasemantics, and Ontology (Oxford, 2008), investigated issues at the intersection of metaphysics and the philosophy of language, arguing that the things which must exist if a speaker’s remarks are to be true are best discerned through an examination, not of what their words mean, but of why it is that they have those meanings. He has since published on topics in metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophies of mind and language in such journals as Analysis, Mind and Language, Philosophical Psychology, and Philosophical Quarterly; and he has presented his work at conferences and colloquia to both national and international audiences. His 2016 paper, ‘Knowledge, Safety, and Questions’ won the Philosophy South Essay Prize; and in 2019 he was awarded a Research and Learning Development Initiative grant in Information Ethics with Ron Sandler (Northeastern)

Dr Ball regularly attends the Philosophy Research Seminar and the Cognitive Science Research Group meetings at Northeastern University London. He co-organized the Northeastern University London conferences on Mind and Brain, and on Numbers, Minds, and Magnitudes, as well as the Northeastern University London workshops Judgment: Act and Object, and Debating Debates.