Keith Allen

Keith Allen is a Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Philosophy at the University of York, a position he assumed in 2024 after serving as Senior Lecturer and Lecturer since joining the university in 2007. He holds significant administrative roles including Equality Champion, Chair of the Athena Swan committee, and University Research Champion for Culture and Communication.

Education:

• University of Cambridge
• University College London

Allen's research centers on the philosophy of colour, where he defends a naïve realist (primitivist) theory asserting colours as mind-independent properties distinct from scientific descriptions, as detailed in his 2016 Oxford University Press monograph A Naïve Realist Theory of Colour. His work extends to broader philosophy of perception, early modern philosophy (particularly Locke and theories of ideas), and phenomenology (including Merleau-Ponty). He actively bridges historical and contemporary perspectives, emphasizing how perceptual experience connects to scientific understanding.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications (2019-2025) reveals a dominant focus on colour and vision within philosophy of perception, increasingly incorporating experimental methods (e.g., perceptual averaging studies, folk belief surveys). A strong secondary thread examines historical contexts, especially early modern theories of ideas, while recent interdisciplinary work explores sociocultural dimensions of perception. The research consistently engages with naïve realism and its relationship to science.

Scientific Awards: None documented in available sources.

Allen mentors PhD students in philosophy of mind, perception, and history of philosophy, welcoming new candidates. His research is supported by multiple active grants including the White Rose Centre for the History of Philosophy (CHi-Phi) and projects like Art and the Limits of Perception and Purpose and Procedure in the Philosophy of Perception, reflecting sustained external funding for collaborative work.

He co-directs CHi-Phi (with Robert Stern) and participates in SPIN (Sense Perception in the North), a cross-institutional network connecting philosophers of perception at York, Leeds, and Durham. His current work explores transcendental naïve realism and its implications for science.