Research
Research groups
Research interests
- Philosophy of mind
- Epistemology of perception
- Epistemology of other minds
- Nature of explanation
- Philosophy of artificial intelligence - in particular the epistemological significance of complex machine learning systems
Current research
Recent research concerns the epistemological structure of artificial perception systems - in particular deep neural networks. Will argues that these are importantly 'opaque' and that this relates to their manifesting epistemically non-inferential processes.
This work interacts with a collaborative project on the ethics of artificial intelligence with Prof. Fiona Woollard.
Publications
Pagination
Teaching
I have taught philosophy of mind, epistemology, philosophy of science, other minds, philosophy of artificial intelligence, early modern empiricism, philosophy of language, philosophy of psychology, Kant's prolegomena, philosophical logic.
I am happy to discuss PhD projects that concern:
philosophy of perception
knowledge of others' minds
philosophy or ethics of artificial intelligence
Biography
Will gained his PhD from University College London in 2009. He is best known for his research into how we know about each others' mental states. He has argued that we may sometimes secure non-inferential knowledge of others' mental states, and suggests that such knowledge counts as perceptual. If so, we can perceive some high-level features of our environment; our knowledge base is rich.
Will worked at the University of York, Cardiff University and King's College London before joining the philosophy department in Southampton in 2006.
Will is currently on the advisory panel for Southampton's EPSRC-funded AI3SD network+ project and the Southampton-based Web Science Institute.
Will has taught modules in the philosophies of language, psychology, mind, perception and science; also epistemology, early modern empiricism, Kant and philosophical logic.