Stacie Friend
Reader
- Philosophy
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Contact details
- Email: sfriend@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Room 9.07
- City
- 40 George Square, Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9JX
Availability
Tuesdays 11.10-1pm during term, and by appointment.
Background
I joined the University of Edinburgh in 2023, after teaching at Birkbeck, University of London (from 2014). I have also taught at Heythrop College, University of London; Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania; and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow. I received my PhD from Stanford University in 2002.
Responsibilities & affiliations
I am currently the President of the British Society of Aesthetics, an Editor of the journal Analysis, and the Director of the interdisciplinary research project 'Art Opening Minds: Imagination and Perspective in Film', funded by the Templeton Religion Trust. I was previously a co-investigator on a three-year Leverhulme Trust research project on 'Learning from Fiction' (2018-2022).
Research summary
My research is at the intersection of aesthetics, language and mind, especially as these pertain to our engagement with works of fiction. I have published widely on such topics as the cognitive and aesthetic values of literature and film; the distinction between fiction and nonfiction; emotional and imaginative responses to narratives; representations of reality in fiction; and the intentionality of thought and discourse about the non-existent, including fictional characters. Pre-print versions of many of my papers are available at PhilArchive (https://philarchive.org/s/stacie%20friend).
More video
- 'The World in Fiction' (Collège de France, 2022)
- 'Fiction in the World' (Collège de France, 2022)
- 'Criticising Misrepresentation in Fiction and Non-fiction' (Aesthetics for Birds, 2020)
- 'Based on a True Story' (Korean Society for Aesthetics, 2019)
- 'Fiction, Non-fiction and Religious Narrative' (Tantur Institute, Jerusalem, 2023)
- London Philosophy Talk podcast on imaginative resistance