Helen Beebee is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

. Previously, Beebee was the Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. Beebee's work has been influential across a wide variety of fields, including causation,

free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...

, and natural kinds.

Eric Schliesser The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, writing on NewApps, described Beebee as 'one of the most prominent

metaphysic Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

ists of our time'. Beebee has a significant interest in the problem of underrepresentation of women in the field of philosophy, and has spoken about the problems that face women philosophers in a modern academic context, such as in her paper "Women and Deviance in Philosophy".

Education and career

Beebee received her bachelor's from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, her master's from the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

, and her doctorate from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. Beebee is currently the Samuel Hall Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manchester, a position she has held since 2012. Before her current position, Beebee held full-time appointments at the University of Manchester, and the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. During her time at Birmingham, she served as Head of Department, and later as Head of School. Besides for her permanent appointments, Beebee has also held temporary appointments at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, and the

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, and has also held a postdoctoral position at

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Research areas

A majority of Beebee's research could be broadly classed as dealing with

Humeanism Humeanism refers to the philosophy of David Hume and to the tradition of thought inspired by him. Hume was an influential eighteenth century Scottish philosopher well known for his empirical approach, which he applied to various fields in philosop ...

and related issues. She has written on a wide variety of topics related to Humeanism, including attempting to tackle the question of whether or not the laws of nature govern what happens, whether inductive scepticism follows necessarily from a Humeanistic approach, and whether or not it is possible to observe causal relations in a meaningful way. She has also written on Hume himself. Beebee also has a secondary interest in free will, particularly in bringing Humean approaches to the problem of compatibilitism.

Publications

Beebee is on the editorial boards of ''

Hume Studies ''Hume Studies'' is an interdisciplinary journal that publishes articles on the philosophical thought of David Hume. It is published by the Hume Society in April and November issues. There is Open access (publishing), open access to the journal's f ...

'' as well as the ''

Australasian Journal of Philosophy The ''Australasian Journal of Philosophy'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of philosophy and "one of the oldest English-language philosophy journals in the world". It was established in 1923 as ''The Australasian Journal of Psychol ...

''. She's also an associate editor of the ''

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science ''British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'' is a peer-reviewed, academic journal of philosophy, owned by the British Society for the Philosophy of Science and published by University of Chicago Press. The journal publishes work that uses p ...

''. She has co-authored two textbooks, written two books and numerous book chapters, and published a number of peer-reviewed papers in journals of philosophy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beebee, Helen Living people Alumni of the University of Warwick Alumni of the University of Liverpool Alumni of King's College London Academics of University College London British metaphysicians English women philosophers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English women 21st-century English philosophers Fellows of the British Academy Academics of the University of Manchester