Professor David Oderberg

Responsibilities:Director of Postgraduate Studies (Semester 1)

Areas of interest

My chief area of research is contemporary metaphysics. I have special interests in moral philosophy, philosophy of religion, and the philosophies of Aristotle and Aquinas.
I am the author ofЬ§The Metaphysics of Good and Evil (Routledge, 2020), Opting OutЬ§(IEA, 2018),Real EssentialismЬ§(Routledge, 2007),Moral TheoryЬ§(Blackwell, 2000),Applied EthicsЬ§Ь§(Blackwell, 2000), andThe Metaphysics of Identity over TimeЬ§(Palgrave, 1993). I am currently writing a book on philosophy of biology for Springer, to appear in 2026.
In addition, I am: editor of Classifying Reality (Blackwell, 2012); editor of Form and Matter: Themes in Contemporary Metaphysics (Blackwell, 1999); The Old New Logic: Essays on the Philosophy of Fred Sommers (MIT Press, 2005); co-editor of Human Lives: Critical Essays on Consequentialist Bioethics (Palgrave, 1997); and co-editor of Human Values: New Essays on Ethics and Natural Law (Palgrave, 2004).

I usually supervise around five PhD students, mainly in my areas of expertise. I am happy to supervise doctoral research students in the following areas: metaphysics, Aristotle, Aquinas, ethics, philosophy of religion.

Modules I teach have included Society and State in Ancient Greece, Metaphysics, and God, Time and Freedom.

I am the editor of Ratio, an international journal of analytic philosophy, and on the editorial boards of Metaphysica and Studia Neo-Aristotelica.
From 2021-2024 I was Principal Investigator on a major research project entitled тт, bringing together scientists and philosophers at 91ЕМКН, and funded by the John Templeton Foundationтs global research programme тт.
From 2024-2027 I am Co-investigator on a follow-on grant from Templeton, called тт, working with philosophers and biologists at Manchester Met, St Andrews, and Hull.