PhD Research Assistantship: The History of Western Philosophy of Language (HOWPOL)

Professors Benjamin Hill and Robert Stainton, philosophers at Western University, are seeking a PhD student interested in the history of Western philosophy of language to join their HOWPOL research project. This is a call for expressions of interest from potential candidates.

The Project

Philosophers of language often treat their subject as beginning with Frege and Russell. HOWPOL (the History of Western Philosophy of Language) looks at the more than two thousand years of philosophical work on what sub-varieties of meaning there are, how mind, language, and the world are related, and what sorts of things meanings are. We plan journal articles on early modern philosophy of language, starting with varieties of meaning (including non-referential kinds such as emotive meaning), and two books on the history of the field.

The (Possible) Assistantship

If everything below works out, one student would be added as a research assistant (RA) for up to 200 hours a year at about $35 an hour (roughly $7,000 a year), for the length of their funded PhD, on top of Western’s standard graduate funding package. The work would include:

• Research: bibliographic research, manuscript preparation, proofing and indexing.
• Project management: organizing team meetings, preparing agendas and notes, and tracking timelines for deliverables.

The RA would be a full member of the research group and may be invited to co-author papers and present at conferences.

Contingent On

The RA position is contingent on both of the following:

1. Our SSHRC Insight Grant application being funded. That decision is expected from SSHRC in spring 2027.
2. The student’s admission to Western’s PhD program in Philosophy. Admission is decided separately, through the department’s regular admissions process, and not by us.

If either does not obtain, we cannot award an RA position. A student’s admission and Western’s standard funding do not depend on our SSHRC grant being successful.

If Interested

Please email us before you apply. Tell us a little about your background and interests, and we will set up a Zoom meeting about the position, so you can decide whether this is a good fit before submitting an application. Meeting to discuss the assistantship neither promises nor commits either party to anything regarding this assistantship.

To get in touch, write to Benjamin Hill (bhill28@uwo.ca) and Robert Stainton (rstainto@uwo.ca).