Liam Livesley

I am a PhD candidate in philosophy at the University of Southampton, UK.

My research is mostly in the philosophy of disability.

L.A.Livesley [at] soton.ac.uk
 PhilPapers |  Southampton

Research

My doctoral research asks what disability is, what it should be, and how we get there. I defend a radical social constructionist account of disability, on which to be disabled is to be subordinated in virtue of being believed to have a defective body. This is set against both the traditional medical and social models of disability, as well as more moderate social constructionist views, and draws on contemporary ameliorative conceptual engineering strategies.

My work is funded by an AHRC Studentship from the South, West & Wales Doctoral Training Partnership. I am supervised by Alex Gregory at Southampton, and Havi Carel & Naomi Thompson at Bristol.

I'm interested in most aspects of disability, but I also have broader interests across social & political philosophy, including:

  • Conceptual engineering – particularly of socio-political concepts, and the politics of engineering
  • Social ontology & social construction
  • Speech, harm, violence & oppression
  • The political thought of J. S. Mill

    • Talks

    Justice as a Constraint on Conceptual Engineering
    28th Oxford Philosophy Graduate Conference, University of Oxford | Nov '24
    ASPP Annual Conference, Swansea University | Jul '24
    BPPA Annual Conference, University of York | Oct '23

    Disability as Subordination
    MANCEPT Disability & Justice Workshop, University of Manchester | Sep '24
    Radical Disability Politics: A Global Dialogue, University of Brighton | Jun '24
    Social Ontology 2023, Stockholm University | Aug '23

    Making Sense of Disability Pride
    Understanding Value XII, University of Sheffield | Jul '24
    LSE Graduate Conference in Political Theory, LSE | May '24

    Disability, Social Construction, and the Disappearing Body
    CAPPE Interventions in Disability Politics Seminar, University of Brighton | Feb '24

    Reasonable Adjustment, COVID-19, and Crises in Disability Justice
    Nordic Network on Disability Research 16th Research Conference, Reykjavík | May '23

    Teaching

    I have previously taught on:

  • Southampton PHIL3041: Happiness and Wellbeing (2024/25).
  • Southampton LIBA1002: Truth, Knowledge, and Objectivity (2024/25).
  • Southampton PHIL1005: Ethics (2023/24; 2022/23; 2021/22).

    I've also done a bit of consulting work on bringing philosophy of disability, and disability studies, into modules; do get in touch if you'd like to chat about that.