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Professor Christopher Norris - BA (London); Ph.D. (London)

Overview

Professor Christopher Norris Position: Distinguished Research Professor in Philosophy Email: NorrisC@cf.ac.uk
Telephone: +44(0)29 208 75412
Fax: +44(0)29 208 74618
Extension: 75412
Location: Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cathays, Cardiff

Research Group

Philosophy

Research Interests

Philosophy of Language, Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, Modern Continental Philosophy, Aesthetics, Literary Theory

Selected Publications

Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism: philosophical responses to quantum mechanics (London: Routledge, 2000)

Fiction, Philosophy and Literary Theory: will the real Saul Kripke please stand up? (London: Continuum, 2007)

Minding the Gap: epistemology and philosophy of science in the two traditions (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Pres, 2000).

On Truth and Meaning: language, logic and the grounds of belief (London: Continuum, 2006)

Spinoza and the Origins of Modern Critical Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)

Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism (London: Routledge, 2004)

Publications

Quantum Theory and the Flight from Realism: philosophical responses to quantum mechanics (London: Routledge, 2000)

Fiction, Philosophy and Literary Theory: will the real Saul Kripke please stand up? (London: Continuum, 2007)

Minding the Gap: epistemology and philosophy of science in the two traditions (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Pres, 2000).

On Truth and Meaning: language, logic and the grounds of belief (London: Continuum, 2006)

Spinoza and the Origins of Modern Critical Theory (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991)

Philosophy of Language and the Challenge to Scientific Realism (London: Routledge, 2004)

Biography

My BA degree (First-Class Honours in English Literature) was awarded by the University of London in 1970, as was my Ph.D. five years later (thesis topic: ‘William Empson and the Philosophy of Literary Criticism’).

My first teaching post was at the University of Duisburg in West Germany (1974-6), after which I worked for a year as Assistant Editor of the magazine Books and Bookmen and then came to Cardiff as a lecturer in the UWIST English Department. In 1987 I was appointed to a chair in the recently-merged joint institution (University of Wales, Cardiff College) and then – in 1991 – crossed over to the Philosophy Department, mainly as a result of changes in my fields of teaching and research over the previous few years.

I was awarded the title Distinguished Research Professor in 1997, which has brought relief from most administrative duties although I continue to teach a full complement of undergraduate and graduate courses. These include BA modules on Philosophy of Science, Modern French Philosophy, Deconstruction, Literary Theory, and Philosophy of History.

At MA level I offer courses on ‘Philosophy of Language in the “Two Traditions”’, ‘Deconstruction and Analytic Philosophy’, and ‘Topics in Recent Analytic Philosophy’, along with classes on research methodology and writing skills.

Since coming to Cardiff I have supervised 23 successful Ph.D. candidates whose thesis topics have ranged over most of my own chief interests and fields of research. At present these have to do mainly with philosophy of music, deconstruction, and the work of Alain Badiou, about whom I am currently completing a book, due for publication in 2009.

Teaching Interests

Philosophy of Science; Epistemology; Philosophy of Language; Modern Continental Philosophy (especially the work of Jacques Derrida)

Current Undergraduate Teaching

(Second- and Third-Year)

  • SE4330 French Philosophy: Sartre to Derrida
  • SE4329 Philosophy and Literary Theory
  • SE4332 Philosophy of Science and Critical Theory
  • SE4331 Deconstruction

Contribution to:

  • SE4101 Mind, Thought and Reality (First-Year)
MA Teaching
  • 'Analytic and Continental Philosophy'
  • Core course on 'Philosophy of Language in the Two Traditions'
  • Course option on 'Deconstruction' and 'Topics in Recent Analytic Philosophy'
  • 'Music, Culture and Politics' (jointly taught with colleagues in the Music and History Departments)
  • Contributions to courses on Aesthetics, Critical Theory, and the New Musicology.