Fiona Ellis
Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts
Contact
Biography
Before joining Nottingham in 2024 I was Director of the Centre for Inclusive Humanities at the University of Roehampton, and, before that, Professor of Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. I have just completed a term as a Professorial Fellow at the Hamilton Centre, University of Florida as part of a John Templeton project on spiritual alienation. I obtained a DPhil from the University of Oxford in 1997 and a BPhil in 1995.
Expertise Summary
I work at the intersection of philosophy and theology and my areas of research expertise include the philosophy and theology of desire, the philosophy and theology of nature, the nature of spirituality, and the question of life's meaning. I have a particular interest in figures like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Hegel, Heidegger, and Spinoza.
Teaching Summary
I love teaching philosophy of religion. For the last few years I've taught a module called Love, Sex, Death, and God. I hope to include elements of this module in the teaching I do at Nottingham -… read more
Research Summary
My research is in the philosophy of religion and focuses upon questions of love, desire, spirituality, and life's meaning. The question of the limits of the natural world is key to my research and I… read more
I love teaching philosophy of religion. For the last few years I've taught a module called Love, Sex, Death, and God. I hope to include elements of this module in the teaching I do at Nottingham - it's a joy to teach and I never cease to be amazed by how brilliant and interesting my students are. I learn so much from them.
Current Research
My research is in the philosophy of religion and focuses upon questions of love, desire, spirituality, and life's meaning. The question of the limits of the natural world is key to my research and I have developed and defended an expansive naturalism which promises to accommodate God. The book I am currently writing is called The End of Desire: Meaning, Nihilism, and God. It engages with some fascinating figures including Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Iris Murdoch, and theologians like John Robinson and Paul Tillich. I am also editing a volume on Love, Religion, and God which comes from my previous work as President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion.
I would love to hear from you if you'd like to do a PhD in any of these areas.
Past Research
My DPhil was on the relation between concepts and reality and allowed me to get to grips with questions of idealism and realism. This led to my interest in the limits of nature and naturalism, and my position at Heythrop College - a Jesuit college which specialized in philosophy and theology - made me see that my interests converged significantly with those of the theologians I got to know. I came to see that philosophy of religion can be one of the most interesting and important areas of philosophy and that it is so much more than scrutinizing arguments for God's existence and finding them lacking. My interest in the question of God is thanks to philosophers like Spinoza, Hegel, Heidegger, and Levinas, and, of course, the amazing Jesuits I met at Heythrop!
Future Research
I am interested in the question of what philosophy of religion is and ought to be, and am working up a proposal for a volume which will serve this purpose. I shall be continuing my explorations into the limits of naturalism and approaching relevant topics and figures from within this expansive naturalist framework.