Rate My Professor Stuart Brock

Professor Stuart Brock serves as Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Otago, having joined the institution on 15 January 2024. A native of Melbourne, he earned a BA (Honours) from Monash University, an MA from the Australian National University, and a PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University in 2002, with his dissertation titled "Creatures of Fiction." Brock's academic career commenced at Western Washington University in the United States before he took up a lecturing position in philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington in 2002. Over more than two decades there, he progressed through leadership roles including Philosophy Programme Director, Associate Dean in portfolios such as Learning Innovation and Teaching, Academic Services and Operations, Vice-Provost (Academic), and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic). His extensive experience encompasses strategy and policy development in teaching, learning, and student experience.

Brock's scholarly contributions center on the philosophy of fiction, fictionalism, realism and anti-realism, empty names, and imaginative resistance, reflected in publications across prestigious outlets. Notable works include "Fictionalism about Fictional Characters" in Noûs (2002), "The Ubiquitous Problem of Empty Names" in the Journal of Philosophy (2004), Realism and Anti-Realism co-authored with Edwin Mares (Routledge, 2006; revised edition 2014), "Fictions, Feelings, and Emotions" in Philosophical Studies (2007), "The creationist fiction: The case against creationism about fictional characters" in Philosophical Review (2010), Fictional Objects edited with Anthony Everett (Oxford University Press, 2015), A Critical Introduction to Fictionalism co-authored with Fred Kroon and Jonathan McKeown-Green (Bloomsbury Academic, 2018), and Moral Fictionalism and Religious Fictionalism edited with Richard Joyce (2023). At Otago, he teaches PHIL105 Critical Thinking, PHIL229 Reason, Belief and the Sacred, and PHIL417 Advanced Issues in Foundational Philosophy. He formerly served as CEO of the Australasian Association of Philosophy and currently edits its journal, Philosophical Exchange. Brock delivered his Inaugural Professorial Lecture in April 2024 and holds ex officio membership on the University's Scholarships and Prizes Committee.