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Dr Jonathan Mitchell

Dr Jonathan Mitchell

Lecturer

School of English, Communication and Philosophy

Email
mitchellj11@cardiff.ac.uk
Users
Available for postgraduate supervision

Overview

I am currently Lecturer in Philosophy, having joined in 2021.

I work in the philosophy of mind, with a focus on emotion and value, and have a strong interest in Nietzsche and the Phenomenologists.

I recently published a book, titled "Emotions as Feelings Towards Value: A Theory of Emotional Experience" with Oxford University Press.

For a full list of publications and research see http://www.jonathanmitchell.co.uk/

Biography

I studied for my masters in Philosophy of Science at the University of Sheffield and got my Ph.D. from the University of Warwick in 2016. From 2017-8, I was a post-doc at the University of Johannesburg (Department of Philosophy). From 2018-2021 I was a British Academy postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Manchester (on the project 'Emotions as Feeling Towards Value'). I joined the Philosophy Department at the University of Cardiff as a lecturer in September 2021

Publications

2021

2020

2019

2017

2016

Teaching

I am an associate fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

UG courses taught or co-taught: A Sense of the Possible, The Varieties of Experience, Critical Thinking

PG courses taught: Varieties of Philosophical Reasoning

My research focuses on the intersection between philosophy of mind, emotion, and value.

I am now working towards a theory of intentional horizons, drawing on material from Husserl, Sartre, and contemporary philosophers. Consider the following puzzling features of everyday experience. Standing in front of a house, we only see its front-side. Nonetheless, our visual experience is of a three-dimensional entity. We see a house, not a mere façade. Alternatively, say I am listening to a piece of music. All I strictly hear at any one moment are the notes currently being sounded, yet nonetheless, I hear a melody unfolding, rather than a series of disconnected chords. Next, consider how a range of our emotions and desires seem to concern themselves with ‘future values’ – say the anticipated joy of a reunion with a friend – the realization of which often falls short of expectations (we experience a ‘dissatisfaction in presence’). In all these cases, different though they are in important respects, the puzzling features seem to stem from the way such experiences involve a ‘sense of the possible’ which goes beyond what is explicitly represented. My current research aims to explain the way in which this sense of the possible figures across a range of experiences, from the kinds of sense-perceptual cases mentioned above to affective and evaluative experience. Connecting discussions of similar themes in the history of philosophy with contemporary philosophy of mind, this research will provide a comprehensive investigation into this fascinating but often overlooked topic.

I continue to have a lively interest in recent developments in the philosophy of emotion, and more broadly in areas of the philosophy of mind that concern themselves with understanding the nature of conscious intentionality.

Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas:

  • Emotion and Value
  • Intentionality
  • Consciousness (specifically topics related to conscious experience)
  • Husserl, Sartre, and other classical phenomenologists
  • Nietzsche

Past projects

Ph.D. co-supervisor (University of Manchester): Emile Chan (passed no corrections 2021), Benedetta Margo (2018-); Hsu-Nan Liou (2020-)