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James Clark Ross


I am a PhD researcher in philosophy at the University of Southampton, researching the connection between grounding and causation in explanation.

I am the founder of The Human Front, a philosophy website covering topics in art, ethics, existentialism, film, metaphysics, science, and society and featuring interviews with real philosophers.

From September 2013 to December 2023 I was a
medical physicist for the National Health Service (NHS).

Here I also showcase my poetry and advertise some services of mine: namely, CV-making, typesetting, proofreading, graph-making, and data analysis. If you are interested, you can navigate to this website’s dedicated pages.

Thanks for stopping by.

James


About Me


Philosophy

I am a PhD researcher in philosophy at the University of Southampton. My project is funded by the SWW DTP (AHRC). I am a Lex Academic Philosophy Scholar and the Administrator for the Mind Association. My main interests are in metaphysics.

Under the supervision of Naomi Thompson and Tuomas Tahko I am investigating the relationship between grounding and causation. Grounding and causation are two world-structuring relations which play similar roles in explanation: namely, in metaphysical explanation (philosophy) and causal explanation (science) respectively. My view is that there is a deep structural analogy between the two. I take grounding to be a metaphysical kind of relational dependence between more-fundamental and less-fundamental facts; and, by analogy, I take causation to be a nomic kind of relational dependence between events, facts about events, or components of events. Although causation is temporal, it has the same logical properties and plays the same role in explanation as grounding.

Prior to studying for my PhD I obtained a master’s degree in philosophy (MA) at Birkbeck, University of London, graduating in 2020 with a distinction. My dissertation is titled ‘Top-Down Causation in the Animal Kingdom’ and was completed under the supervision of Ben Springett. I researched a theory of mental causation, reaching a point of scepticism in virtue of the breakdown between intelligible explanation and unintelligible grounds.

The Human Front

The Human Front is an evolving project which embodies my overflowing interests in philosophy. The project is made possible by our wonderful team and contributors. Common themes of my own writing include freedom, truth, meaning, selfishness, justice, the Absurd, and identity. How questions are interpreted is left with the reader. In an attempt to make sense of them I reach out to illustrious pieces of fiction and films, and, of course, my own beliefs.

Poetry

I recently entered the world of poetry, albeit as a complete novice (excluding the poem I had published at primary school, of course).

I am learning all the time, by reading and by practising on the job. I cannot yet pick out any common themes amongst my poems. But at the time of writing they have each been about: the death of a bird following its collision with a 4×4; my saving of a cricket from drowning at the beach; my stricken family life; the conflicts associated with feeling connected with one’s nationality; nature’s seasons; and dread.

You can read my poems here.

Medical Physics

From September 2013 to December 2023 I worked professionally as a medical physicist. Though I still am clinically registered.

I was employed by a number of NHS trusts across London and the West Midlands during my career—working at many more.

I specialised in nuclear medicine and radiology. I developed and implemented novel imaging techniques and assisted in protecting patients, the public, and members of staff from radiation exposure. My chief aim was to make positive differences to people’s lives, while I always relished the opportunity to train the next generation of scientists.

I am proficient with multitudes of equipment and software platforms which are common across nuclear medicine and radiology departments.

I have degrees in physics, MPhys (Hons), from the University of Manchester, and medical physics, MSc (Dist), from the University of Liverpool.

I have published numerous research papers, many of which as leading author, and have spoken at and chaired national conferences.

Services

I am pretty handy at using LaTeX and can make you very-fancy-looking CVs and cover letters for exceptionally low fees (buy now while stocks last!). I also proofread, make graphs, and manage data. Click here to explore these options and browse the site to see examples of my work (e.g., my CV).

Me

This website hosts details of some of the biggest projects of my life: philosophy, writing, science, my work, and now poetry. But my passions do not end here.

I have a deep love of film and listen to a lot of music; I feel strongly toward nature and travelling; I am a proud member of The Green Party of England and Wales; I am a passionate teacher of physics and mathematics; and I watch and play football quite seriously (perhaps too seriously).

Anyway, I hope you are able to find what you are looking for on my website. If not, you can always contact me via email, X, Instagram, or LinkedIn.