School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences

Dr Allan Hazlett

Photograph of Dr Allan Hazlett
Position
Lecturer
Phone
0131 650 3654
Location
5.07 (DSB)
Research Interests
Epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, philosophy of language, moral psychology
Biography

Dr Hazlett received his PhD from Brown University in 2006 and worked at Texas Tech and Fordham Universities, before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2010.  His research has focused on several issues in epistemology and metaphysics. 

Teaching and Supervision

Dr Hazlett lectures for the 2nd-year course "Knowledge and Reality" and organizes "Scepticism" (Honours/MSc) and "Epistemology 2" (MSc).  He is available to supervise Honours, MSc, and PhD students in all areas of epistemology.

His office hours are Thursdays, 13:00 - 15:00. 

Research

Dr Hazlett is currently thinking about the metaphysical foundations of normativity, broadly understood to include value and normative reasons.  This project seeks expanations of normative truths, by asking questions such as: Why is true belief better than false belief?  Why is practical rationality better than practical irrationality?  Why is authenticity better than inauthenticity?  Why is coherence better than incoherence?  Why is intellectual virtue better than intellectual vice?  Dr Hazlett is at work on a book that offers a critique of the value of true belief and proposes an anti-realist approach to epistemic normativity.  His works in progress are available at PhilPapers.org.

Dr Hazlett is also interested in the relationship between questions about the semantics, pragmatics, and genealogy of ordinary language (e.g. questions about the semantics of normative discourse) and questions in other areas of philosophy (e.g. metaphysical questions about the existence of value and reasons), entitlement theories of reasonable belief, social epistemology, the definition or characterization of different normative domains (moral, epistemic, aesthetic), and the ontology of time.  

He's the Secretary of the Scots Philosophical Association.

Dr Hazlett is organizing a conference on "The Aims of Inquiry and Cognition", taking place in May of 2012, and a conference on the Gettier problem, taking place in June of 2013. 

Curriculum Vitae

Dr Hazlett’s CV (pdf).

Recent and Forthcoming Publications

  • "Factive Presupposition and the Truth Condition on Knowledge," Acta Analytica (forthcoming).
  • "Higher-Order Epistemic Attitudes and Intellectual Humility," Episteme (forthcoming). 
  • "Non-Moral Evil," Midwest Studies in Philosophy (forthcoming, 2012).
  • "Against Repeatable Artworks," in C. Mag Uidhir (ed.), Art and Abstract Objects (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). 
  • "What's Bad About Bad Faith?," (with Simon D. Feldman), European Journal of Philosophy (forthcoming, 2012).

Administrative Roles

  • Deputy Director of Postgraduate Studies for Research (Philosophy)
  • Events Coordinator (Philosophy)
  • Visiting Speaker Seminar Organizer (Philosophy)
  • Departmental Symposium Organizer (Philosophy)