Michael Blome-Tillmann

McGill Philosophy

About

I'm an Associate Professor in Philosophy at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and hold a William Dawson Scholarship -- McGill’s equivalent to a Canada Research Chair. Before joining the McGill faculty in 2009 I was the Stevenson Junior Research Fellow in the Arts at University College, Oxford. More recently (2014-16) I was a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher at the University of Cambridge. I have earned a BPhil (2003) and DPhil (2007) in philosophy from the University of Oxford.

My primary areas of research lie in epistemology, the philosophy of language, and especially their intersection (the semantics of knowledge attributions). I have published articles on a number of topics in epistemology, including scepticism, closure, Moorean reasoning, reliabilism, and epistemic contextualism, but also on topics in the philosophy of language—such as conversational implicatures and definite descriptions. A monograph developing my views on epistemic contextualism has appeared in 2014 with Oxford University Press.

Besides the above work, I’m interested in pretty much any philosophical topic that is related to knowledge or to issues in the areas of the three Ls: logic, language and linguistics.

For more details on my current research please visit my research section.

Recent News

  • I have organized the BARSEA Conference "Future Directions in Epistemology: Formal, Informal, Applied", which took place in Cambridge on Feb. 25/26 2016.
  • I have been invited to deliver a keynote address at the conference "New Trends in Epistemology", at the University of Hamburg (turned down for family reasons).
  • There is another review of Knowledge and Presuppositions in the Philosophical Review, describing the book as "ambitious", "very good", and "claer and illuminating".
  • I have been awarded a William Dawson Scholarship, McGill's internal equivalent to a Canada Research Chair.
  • Knowledge and Presuppositions has been reviewed in ANALYSIS and has been described as "impressive" and "illuminating".
  • I have been awarded a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award for my project: "Future Directions in Epistemology: Formal, Informal, Applied"
  • Sensitivity Actually is now forthcoming in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
  • My paper Sensitivity, Causality, and Statistical Evidence in Courts of Law has been published in Thought: A Journal of Philosophy.
  • Knowledge and Presuppositions has been described as "outstanding", "a must read", and "a seriously excellent book" on Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
  • My monograph Knowledge and Presuppositions has now been published with OUP.
  • I have just been granted tenure at McGill and have been promoted to the level of Associate Professor.
  • Ignorance, Presuppositions, and the Simple View, is now forthcoming in Mind.
  • My paper Solving the Moorean Puzzle has been accepted for publication by Philosophical Studies.
  • My paper Counter Closure and Knowledge despite Falsehood (co-authored with Brian Ball) is now forthcoming in the Philosophical Quarterly .
  • The EU has recently offered me a two-year Marie Curie Research Fellowship, which I will hold at the University of Cambridge.
  • My paper Contextualism and the Knowledge Norms has been accepted for publication by the Pacific Philosophical Quarterly.
  • I have been nominated for the 2010 SSHRC Aurora Prize and named Canada’s “top ranked new scholar” in the SRG competition in philosophy.