Professor James Laing

Background

I arrived in Oxford in Michaelmas 2023 upon taking up a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Faculty of Philosophy. During this time I was also a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at St Hugh’s College. Before coming to Oxford, I completed a PhD in Philosophy at University College London, and held a string of postdoctoral positions in York, Dublin, and Edinburgh.

Research

My research is situated at the intersection of ethics, the philosophy of mind, and social philosophy, and is animated by an interest in our nature as social animals. In my work I ask: How should we understand our deep and abiding concern with the way we figure in the minds of others and the associated emotions of pride, shame, embarrassment and humiliation? What do philosophers and social scientists mean when they write of a human ‘need for connection’, and how is this related to our other social needs? And what are the implications of these issues for our understanding of human ethical life?

I have written on a variety of topics relating to human sociality. My first publication, for example, was a paper on eye contact, whereas my more recent work explores some questions relating to the concept of belonging. Over the next year I plan to think more about the distinctively ethical significance of the human face, drawing on ideas from Simone Weil and Emmanuel Levinas. 

Publications

* Naturalism and The Desire for Esteem, Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Forthcoming. 

* The Shared Life, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2026. 

* Is Joint Attention An Essentially Communicative Relation? Synthese. 2026. 

* Interpersonal Connection, Mind and Language, 2024. 

* The Harm of Humiliation, European Journal of Philosophy, 2024.

* Making Sense of Shame, Philosophy. 2022. 

* Ordinary Self-Consciousness as a Philosophical Problem, European Journal of Philosophy. 2021. 

* When Eyes Touch, Philosophers’ Imprint. 2021.