Keith Allen
Head of Department

Profile

Biography

After studying in Cambridge and University College London, I started at York in 2007. One main focus of my current research is the philosophy of colour. In a Naïve Realist Theory of Colour (Oxford University Press, 2016) I defend a naïve realist (or ‘primitivist’) theory of colour, according to which colours are mind-independent properties of objects that are distinct from those described by science. My work on colour is part of a wider interest in the philosophy of perception. I also work on related questions in the history of philosophy, including theories of ideas in the early modern period and the work of the phenomenologist Merleau-Ponty. I mostly teach philosophy of mind and history of philosophy. In 2024, I became Head of Department.

Departmental roles

• Head of Department
• Equality Champion and Chair of Athena Swan committee

University roles

• Research Champion for Culture and Communication 

Research

Overview

I work primarily on the philosophy of perception (especially colour), early modern philosophy, phenomenology, and the philosophy of philosophy. I welcome enquiries from potential research students wanting to work in these areas.

Projects

I am currently working on the relationship between naïve realist theories of perception and science, with a particular interest in a position that I call transcendental naïve realism.

Teaching

Other teaching

I mostly teach courses relating to philosophy of mind and the history of philosophy.

External activities

Memberships

• Member of SPIN (Sense Perception in the North), a network of philosophers of perception at York, Leeds, and Durham.
• Co-Director (with Robert Stern) of CHi-Phi (Centre for the History of Philosophy).