Dorothy Edgington

Dorothy Edgington is an Emeritus member of staff and Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her research focuses on philosophical logic, conditionals, probabilistic reasoning, vagueness, and metaphysical philosophy. She has held professorial roles at Oxford and Birkbeck, contributing significantly to philosophical discourse.

Education:

• Bachelor of Arts (PPE) from St Hilda’s College, Oxford (1964)
• B.Phil. from Nuffield College, Oxford (1967)

Research Interests: Edgington’s work explores foundational questions in logic and language, including:

• The semantics of conditionals and counterfactuals
• Vagueness and the sorites paradox
• Causal reasoning and its epistemological implications

She advocates for a nuanced approach to reasoning with vague terms, emphasizing “more-or-less thinking” over rigid distinctions.

Awards & Honors:

• Fellow of the British Academy (2005)
• Presidency of the Mind Association and Aristotelian Society

Advising & Grants: Supervised research students at Birkbeck on topics like conditionals and self-knowledge. Her career bridged Oxford and Birkbeck, fostering collaborative research environments. No grants explicitly listed in text.

Labs/Teams: Central to Birkbeck’s philosophy department, her legacy includes the Edgington Lectures series, featuring prominent philosophers like John McDowell and Kit Fine.