Faculty

Philosophy
Modern German Philosophy, Philosophical Logic

The main aims of my research are twofold: 1) to compare and connect G. Frege's philosophy of logic, Wittgenstein's early philosophy and Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology to each other over the problems of the so-called "metaphysical internalism" and the possibility of philosophical languages, and 2) to depict the thoughts of Aristoteles, Kant (Kritik der Urteilskraft), Heidegger, Gadamer, Wittgenstein, Ryle, Anscombe, McDowell, and M. Thompson as a tradition in the philosophy of knowledge, language and action, which might be called "the tradition of Phronesis."

Philosophy
Western Medieval Philosophy

Metaphysics and epistemology in Thomas Aquinas. Analytic Thomism. Contemporary epistemology. The philosophy of religion.

Philosophy
Philosophy of Action, Contemporary Metaphysics

My main research areas are in the philosophy of action, the philosophy of mind and rationality, the philosophy of language, and contemporary metaphysics (including event ontology, philosophy of time, and the study of the nature of values). Recently I have been interested in the problem of the relationship between time and rationality in the context of human actions or lives, and also interested in questions about death.

Philosophy
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, Greek and Roman Classics

Specialising in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, especially from the Hellenistic period through to Late Antiquity, he has explored diverse topics addressed by ancient philosophers, including fate and freedom, virtue and happiness, theory and practice, as well as gender and sexuality, with a particular interest in the intersection between natural and practical philosophy and the reception of Plato and Aristotle in antiquity. He is also currently engaged in a collaborative project on the reception of the Greek and Roman classics in Japan.

Philosophy
Philosophy of Science

My research focuses on philosophical issues in contemporary biology, especially evolutionary biology, microbiology, developmental biology, and cell biology. Particular topics include: evolution of altruism, levels of selection, species problem, essentialism, biological individuality, homology, teleology, reductionism, and anthropocentrism. I am also interested in naturalistic approaches to human mind and morality.

Philosophy
Philosophy of time and mind. Metaphysics of memory. Modern and contemporary philosophy with a focus on Bergson and Leibniz.

While focusing on the multiscale structure in time and incorporating not only extension and tense but also aspect into philosophy of time, I hope to apply this to metaphysical problems such as consciousness, mind, freedom and memory. By reinterpreting and reformulating the ideas contained in traditional philosophical texts through the lens of contemporary analytical discussion and scientific theory, I am interested in drawing out more universal and inspiring tools of thinking from the history of philosophy.

Philosophy
Philosophy of Language, Logic, Semantics and Pragmatics

My main research areas are in the philosophy of language, logic, semantics and pragmatics. Specifically, I am interested in building formal and computational models of how natural language understanding works using theoretical tools developed in linguistics, logic, computer science and cognitive science.