Laura Schroeter

Laura Schroeter is an Associate Professor in Philosophy within the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. She holds a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, completed in 1999. After her doctorate, she undertook postdoctoral research at the Australian National University and a part-time position at Monash University. In 2007, she was awarded an Australian Research Council (ARC) Postdoctoral Fellowship, which she held for five years. She joined the University of Melbourne in 2008 in a continuing academic appointment and was later promoted to Associate Professor. Schroeter has served as Director of Postgraduate Studies in Philosophy, supporting research students' development and wellbeing. She teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses including Philosophy of Mind (PHIL20033), Philosophy of Language (PHIL30053), Language and Mind (PHIL40007), and Big Questions (PHIL10003).

Schroeter's research specializes in philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and metaethics, focusing on concepts, theory of reference, and normative concepts. She has advanced the 'jazz model' of concepts and meaning, which posits shared cooperative practices akin to improvisation to explain coordination in language and thought. This framework addresses puzzles in epistemic and metaphysical aspects of ethical concepts and extends to social kinds such as gender terms like 'woman', moral concepts, and legal theory. She is completing a monograph with François Schroeter on this model. Key publications include 'Keeping Track of What's Right' (2018, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, with François Schroeter), 'Bootstrapping Our Way to Samesaying' (2012, Synthese), 'Why Be an Anti-Individualist?', 'Rationalizing Self-Interpretation' (with François Schroeter), and 'Concepts as Shared Regulative Ideals'. Schroeter leads the ARC Discovery Grant project 'Constructing Social Hierarchy' with collaborators at the University of Melbourne and MIT. Her scholarship has earned over 900 citations, contributing to debates on two-dimensional semantics, metalinguistic negotiation, and conceptual heterogeneity.

Professional Email: laura.schroeter@unimelb.edu.au