Philosophy at the University of Reading

In Celebrating inspiring women in our community, meet Dr Michela Bariselli.

Dr Michela has been awarded the BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for her project ‘J.L. Austin’s notes for How to Do Things with Words: a case study for the performative approach to archival material’. Together with her Co-Investigator, Leo Townsend, she will begin the research in September 2026.

The project aims to develop a novel approach to the study of archival materials, such as drafts and notes. These materials are traditionally considered valuable only when they help explain a philosopher’s published work or can be edited for publication. This project challenges this view.

Using philosopher J.L. Austin’s notes for How to Do Things with Words as a case study, the project investigates their unpolished elements – such as cancellations and marginalia – as distinctive actions performed with words. The project’s hypothesis is that attending to these actions enriches the philosophical appreciation of the notes themselves, and of Austin’s contribution to philosophy.

Many congratulations to Finnola Stratton, who has not only graduated in PPE but is member of the GB Under 23 Women’s quadruple sculls team that won gold at this year’s world championships.

Brilliant work by Finn and the whole team! (And thanks to Benedict Tufnell for the pics!)

Congratulations to our recent graduate Dr Clare Hay, who has just published Tractarian Functions are not Propositional Functions:

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"We are pleased to announce that our lecturer Walter Veit has received the most popular philosopher in the department award from the philosophy student society at Reading."

Walter Veit wrote a piece for the Conversation on the consciousness of corvids.

What’s it like being a raven or a crow? Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a bird?

Workshop announcement: "Are there Unidimensional ‘Common Currencies’ of Value?"
- come by on the 18th of June :)

Are there Unidimensional ‘Common Currencies’ of Value? Reading Workshop: Are there Unidimensional ‘Common Currencies’ of Value?  18th of June, Edith Morley Building, Room 181, Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading Philosophers frequently discuss “common currencies” in relation to fitness, utility, decision-mak...

Our lecturer Walter Veit is in the process of creating a philosophy lab for animal and AI welfare, and is looking for interested post-docs, PhD students, as well as master students. More information here.

New philosophy lab Looking for post-docs, PhD students, and master students

Our lecturer Walter Veit appeared on the BRAINLAND podcast: "DECONSTRUCTING CONSCIOUSNESS: A philosophy for the science animal consciousness"

DECONSTRUCTING CONSCIOUSNESS: A philosophy for the science animal consciousness | BRAINLAND In conversation with Walter Veit

Walter Veit appeared on the Sentientism podcast to discuss his new book with Heather Browning "What are Zoos for?"

What (and who) Are Zoos For? - Heather Browning and @DrWalterVeit - Sentientism 223 Heather Browning (https://sentientism.info/sentientist-pledge/361) is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Southampton. Her primary research interes...

Walter Veit appeared on the Iron Culture Podcast to discuss the philosophical question of "What is Strength?"

Ep 305 - What is Strength? (w/Drs. Adrian Kind, Conor Heffernan & Walter Veit) Who is the strongest? Is it the person with the biggest Powerlifting total? Weightlifting total? The current Worlds Strongest Man/Woman Champion? Or, perhaps...

Another couple of new articles by our lecturer Walter Veit:

1. Browning, H., & Veit, W. (2025). Animal Welfare, Agency, and Animal–Computer Interaction. Animals, 15(2), 219. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15020219

2. Veit, W.; Gascoigne, S., and Salguero-Gomez, R. (2025). Evolution, complexity and life history theory. Biological Theory. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-024-00487-z

Evolution, Complexity, and Life History Theory - Biological Theory In this article, we revisit the longstanding debate of whether there is a pattern in the evolution of organisms towards greater complexity, and how this hypothesis could be tested using an interdisciplinary lens. We argue that this debate remains alive today due to the lack of a quantitative measure...

Two new papers on neurodiversity by our Lecturer Walter Veit:

1. Veit, W. (2025). Neurodiversity, Neurodevices, and Deep Brain Stimulation. AJOB Neuroscience, 16(1), 14–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2024.2437989

2. Browning, H., & Veit, W. (2025). The Neurodiversity Model and Medical Model: Competitors or Alternative Perspectives? AJOB Neuroscience, 16(1), 32–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/21507740.2024.2437994

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