My main research is in philosophy of mind, with a focus on philosophical issues in developmental psychology. I am also interested in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of action. I am currently a lecturer in philosophy.

Published papers and book reviews

You're welcome to email me for copies

• 'Do humans have two systems to track beliefs and belief-like states?', Ian Apperly & Stephen Butterfill, Psychological Review (in press)
• 'Seeing Causings and Hearing Gestures' Philosophical Quarterly (in press)
• 'What are modules and what is their role in development?' Mind and Language 22:4 (September 2007)
• 'Awareness of Belief' (2001), in A. Beckermann and C. Nimtz (eds.), Argument & Analyse, vol. 2. Bielefeld: Mentis.
• 'Two Kinds of Purposive Action' (2001), European Journal of Philosophy 9:2.
• Review of Self-Knowing Agents by Lucy O'Brien forthcoming in Philosophical Review
• Review of The Rational Imagination by Ruth Byrne Mind 117:468,1065-1069 (2008)
• Review of Thinking without Words by Jose Luis Bermudez Mind 113: 452, 733–736
• Review of Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives. Edited by Quentin Smith and Aleksander Jokic Philosophical Quarterly 55:219, 373–375

Recent invited talks

• 'Which mental states ground cooperative social interactions?', Grounding Social Interaction: From Neurons to Shared Cognition and Culture, Amsterdam, May 6-9 2009
• 'Categorical Perception: Not What It Seems', University of Leeds, 9 October 2008 [abstract] [handout (pdf)] [slides]
• 'Minimal Theory of Mind', 30 Years of Theory of Mind, University of Nottingham, 11-12 September 2008 [abstract] [handout (pdf)] [slides]
• 'Commentary on How Much Theory of Mind Do You Need for Theory of Mind', European Society for Philosophy and Psychology Universiteit Utrecht, 26-28 June 2008
• (with Liz Robinson & Erika Nurmsoo) 'Extracting Knowledge from Other Minds: What do Children Understand about Question-Asking?', Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham, 19 November 2007 (also at the local work in progress series on Friday 7 December)
• 'Joint Action', Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham, 29 October 2007 [abstract] [slides] [handout (pdf)]
• 'Commentary on Joint action and communication in early childhood symposium', British Psychological Society Developmental Section, University of Plymouth, 29-31 August 2007 [pdf]
• 'Seeing causes and hearing gestures', The Admissible Contents of Experience, Glasgow, 20-22 March 2007
• 'The role of perception in causal understanding', University of York, 23 February 2007
• 'The role of perception in developing causal understanding', Institute of Education, University of London, 14 February 2007
• 'Is vision a source of causal understanding?', The Metaphysics of Science, Nottingham 10-11 February 2007
• 'Developing Understanding of Minds and Maps', Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, 20 November 2006
• 'Is there a role for modularity in explaining development?', Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, 9 November 2006
• 'The role of perception in causal understanding', Royal Institute of Philosophy Lecture Series, University of Bradford, 8 November 2006
• 'Lexical Innovation in Linguistic Communication' and 'What Is a Theory of Mind?',  Philosophy Society, University of Hertfordshire, 16 October 2006

Email

s.a.butterfill at warwick

Office

S2.48

Office hour

Autumn Term 2009-10: Wednesdays 14:00-15:00 in S2.48