Professor James Tartaglia
- Title
- Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy
- Location
- CBA2.014
- Role
- UG Philosophy Programme Director
- Contact me
- via email
- Phone
- +44 (0)1782 734315
- j.tartaglia@keele.ac.uk
Biography
After studying jazz saxophone at Berklee College of Music in Boston, U.S.A., I studied philosophy at University College London, where I graduated with a BA (hons.) in 1996, an M.Phil. (on intentionality) in 1998, and a Ph.D. (on consciousness) in 2001. In 2001-2 I was a Teaching Fellow at UCL and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham. I then joined Keele Philosophy in 2002.
My main interest is in understanding and enhancing awareness of the nature of philosophical inquiry, which I think centres on the question of the meaning of life; in reconnecting Philosophy with issues of natural human interest; and in re-positioning philosophy within a contemporary culture dominated by scientific understanding. My main work in this connection is Philosophy in a Meaningless Life (Bloomsbury 2016). In addition, I lead the band Continuum of Selves, which combines jazz music with philosophical ideas.
For more information, including downloads, go to the 'Philosophy' part of my personal website.
To find out more about Jazz-Philosophy Fusion, and to hear samples, visit my band website.
Click here to find out about James Tartaglia: The Meaning and the Meaninglessness of Life.
Research and scholarship
My research specialisms are:
- Philosophy of Mind
- Metaphilosophy
- Metaphysics
- The philosophy of Richard Rorty
- Philosophy of Technology
For downloads of my publications, go to the 'Philosophy' part of my personal website.
I am Associate Editor of the journal, Human Affairs.
Teaching
Undergraduate Teaching
- 10 Problems of Philosophy (Year 1)
- Philosophy of Mind (Year 2)
- Metaphysics (Year 3)
- Rorty and the Mirror of Nature (Year 3)
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Selected Publications
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2018. Better Git It In Your Soul [translated into Polish as 'Lepiej poczuj to w swej duszy']. Filozofuj!. full text>
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2018. The Original Meaning of Life. Philosophy Now. link>
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2018. The Original Meaning of Life. Philosophy Now. link>
Full Publications List show
Books
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2016. Philosophy in a Meaningless Life: A System of Nihilism, Consciousness and Reality. (1st ed.). Bloomsbury. doi> link> full text>
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Tartaglia JPF and Leach S (Eds.). 2016. Consciousness and the Great Philosophers: What would they have said about our Mind-Body Problem?. Routledge.
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Tartaglia JPF and Leach S (Eds.). 2016. Consciousness and the Great Philosophers: What would they have said about our Mind-Body Problem?. Routledge.
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Tartaglia JPF and Leach S (Eds.). 2013. Mind, Language, and Metaphilosophy: Early Philosophical Papers. UK: Cambridge University Press.
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tartaglia JPF (Ed.). 2009. Richard Rorty: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers. Routledge.
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tartaglia JPF (Ed.). 2009. Richard Rorty: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers. Routledge.
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2007. Rorty and the Mirror of Nature. London: Routledge.
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Nihilism and the Meaning of Life: A Philosophical Dialogue with James Tartaglia. (21 vols.). Saitama, Japan: Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
Journal Articles
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2018. Better Git It In Your Soul [translated into Polish as 'Lepiej poczuj to w swej duszy']. Filozofuj!. full text>
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2018. The Original Meaning of Life. Philosophy Now. link>
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2018. The Original Meaning of Life. Philosophy Now. link>
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2017. The Sound of Philosophy. Philosophy Now, 26-29. full text>
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2016. What is at Stake in Illusionism?. Journal of Consciousness Studies. full text>
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Rorty's Ambivalent Relationship with Kant. Contemporary Pragmatism, vol. 13(3), 298-318. doi> link> full text>
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Response to Darragh Byrne's "Do Phenomenal Concepts Misrepresent?”. Philosophical Psychology, vol. 29(5), 679-681. doi> link> full text>
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Is Philosophy All About the Meaning of Life?. Metaphilosophy, vol. 47(2), 283-303. doi> link> full text>
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2016. What is at Stake in Illusionism?. Journal of Consciousness Studies, vol. 23(11-12), 236-255. link> full text>
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Review of Todd May's A Significant Life. TLS - The Times Literary Supplement. full text>
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2015. Metz's Quest for the Holy Grail. Journal of the Philosophy of Life. full text>
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2015. Czy jesteśmy tylko mózgami? [Are we just brains?]. Filozofuj!, vol. 1(4), 6-8. full text>
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2015. O co naprawę chodzi w pytaniu o sens życia [The Real Question of the Meaning of Life]. Filozofuj!, vol. 1(2). full text>
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2013. Conceptualizing Physical Consciousness. Philosophical Psychology, vol. 26(6), 817-838. doi>
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2014. Rorty's Thesis of the Cultural Specificity of Philosophy. Philosophy East and West: a quarterly of comparative philosophy, vol. 65(4), 1016-1036. full text>
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2012. Does Rorty's Pragmatism Undermine Itself?. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, vol. 4(1), 284-301.
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2012. Horizons, PIOs, and Bad Faith. Philosophy and Technology, vol. 25(3), 345-361. doi>
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2011. Review of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature: Thirtieth Anniversary Edition by Richard Rorty. European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 19(1), 165-169.
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2011. Philosophy Between Science and Religion. Papers in Philosophy, vol. 12(2), 224-241.
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2010. Did Rorty's Pragmatism Have Foundations?. International Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol. 18(5), 607-627. doi>
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2009. The History of the Concept of Mind, Volume 2 by Paul Macdonald. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 1(17), 225-229.
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2008. Consciousness, Intentionality, and the mark of the mental: Rorty's challenge. The Monist, vol. 91(2), 324-346. doi>
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2005. From passions to emotions by Thomas Dixon. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 13(4), 811-814.
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2005. Review of Richard Rorty, eds. C. Guignon and D. Hiley, and Richard Rorty by Alan Malachowski. Philosophical Books, vol. 46(1), 79-81.
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2004. The history of mind. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, vol. 12(4), 743-752. doi>
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2003. "Richard Rorty: critical dialogues", by M Festerstein and S Thompson (Eds). Philosophical Books, vol. 44(2), 168-171.
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2003. "Rorty and his critics", by R Brandom (Ed). Philosophical Books, vol. 44(2), 168-171.
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2001. Critical study of Stephen Priest's Merleau-Ponty. Nous, vol. 35(2), 317-323.
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2000. Review of Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers, volume 3, by Richard Rorty. European Journal of Philosophy, vol. 8(3), 393-396.
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Nihilism and the Meaning of Life. Journal of Philosophy of Life, vol. 7(1). full text>
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Reply to Adam Balmer. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Alan Malachowski. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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REPLY TO BJØRN RAMBERG. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Brooke Alan Trisel. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Damian Veal. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to J.J. Valberg. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Philip Goff. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Ronald A. Kuipers. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Sho Yamaguchi. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
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Reply to Tracy Llanera. Journal of Philosophy of Life. full text>
Chapters
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2016. Rorty and the Problem of Consciousness. In Consciousness and the Great Philosophers: What would they have said about our Mind-Body Problem?. Routledge. full text>
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2016. Rorty and the Problem of Consciousness. In Consciousness and the Great Philosophers: What would they have said about our Mind-Body Problem?. Routledge. full text>
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2016. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. In A Companion to Rorty. Malachowski A (Ed.). Wiley. full text>
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2016. Rorty's Philosophy of Consciousness. In A Companion to Rorty. Malachowski A (Ed.). Wiley. full text>
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2009. Are Causal Pressures a part of the Way the World Is. In Richard Rorty: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers. (vol. 1). Routledge.
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2009. Are Causal Pressures a part of the Way the World Is. In Richard Rorty: Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers. (vol. 1). Routledge.
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2006. Metaphilosophy. In The continuum encyclopedia of British philosophy. Grayling AC, Pyle A, Goulder N (Eds.). (vol. III). Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum.
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2005. J.J.C. Smart, U.T. Place, B.A. Farrell. In The dictionary of twentieth-century British philosophers. Brown SC (Ed.). Thoemmes Pr.
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2005. Richard Rorty. In Richard Rorty by Alan Malachowski. Guignon C and Hiley D (Eds.). (vol. 46:1). Philosophical Books.
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Ayer and the Meaning of Life. In The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Tartaglia J and Leach S (Eds.). Routledge. full text>
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Ayer and the Meaning of Life. In The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Tartaglia J and Leach S (Eds.). Routledge. full text>
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Technology and Rorty's Cultural Politics. In A Companion to Richard Rorty. Müller M (Ed.). New York: Springer. full text>
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The Blue Flower. In The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Tartaglia JPF (Ed.). Routledge. full text>
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The Blue Flower. In The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Tartaglia JPF (Ed.). Routledge. full text>
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The Blue Flower. In The Meaning of Life and the Great Philosophers. Tartaglia JPF (Ed.). Routledge. full text>
PhD Supervision
I am available for supervision in all areas of philosophy of mind, especially consciousness and physicalism; metaphilosophy, especially the nature and subject-matter of philosophy; most areas of metaphysics, especially the meaning of life, freedom, personal identity, time, universals, and truth; and I may be interested in some projects in the history of philosophy, continental philosophy or non-Western philosophy. Plus anything on Richard Rorty.
Current Research Students
PhD
- Kieran Brayford (Philosophy of Consciousness)
- Sila Ozdemir (Philosophy of Technology)
Master's
- Gemma Coleman (Philosophy of Consciousness)
- Jacob Fox (Meaning of Life)
- Rose Frain (Personal Identity)
- Jennifer McCarthy (Personal Identity)
Further information is available about studying in SPIRE, including funding available for pursuing a doctoral research degree.
