(New) Two PhD candidates in Philosophical Logic
Are you looking for a PhD position at the intersection of logic, philosophy and semantics? Would you like to be part of a research team developing new foundations for intensional notions such as property, content, proof, possibility and necessity? If so, come and join the GOOD INTENSIONS project!
Join us!
The New Foundations for Intensionality (GOOD INTENSIONS) project, based at the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC) at the University of Amsterdam, is looking to fill two PhD positions. One position is on the philosophy, semantics and logic of property talk; the other position is on the philosophy, semantics and logic of modal talk.
GOOD INTENSIONS is a research project funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant and led by Dr. Luca Incurvati (Principal Investigator). Intensional notions such as those of property, content, proof, possibility and necessity are central to philosophy, logic, mathematics and linguistics. However, these notions are threatened by paradoxes reminiscent of those that plagued the foundations of mathematics at the beginning of the XX century. The GOOD INTENSIONS project aims to provide new philosophical, semantical and logical foundations for intensional notions, which will deliver a comprehensive and uniform solution to the intensional paradoxes. The project is highly interdisciplinary and brings together methods and techniques from philosophy, logic and linguistics.
PhD 1 will be conducting research within the Property work package. The overall goal of this work package is to develop an account of the function, meaning and logic of property talk and to apply the account to the question of realism about properties. PhD 2 will be conducting research within the Modality work package. The overall goal of this work package is to distinguish between two expressive functions for modal talk and to develop a theory and logic of predicate modality. You will work under the supervision of the PI, Luca Incurvati, and will collaborate with him and the other team members. In addition to the PI and the two PhD students, the research team will include a postdoc working on propositions and a postdoc working on provability. The team also includes a research assistant, providing organizational and administrative support.
Your application & contact
If you believe you are a good fit for the position and are interested in joining us, we look forward to receiving your application. Your application should consist of the following materials:
- A cover letter of maximum two A4 pages explaining your reasons for applying for the position and how you can contribute to the project in terms of both teamwork and expertise;
- A CV, including: (a) details of studies and in particular a list of completed courses and corresponding grades; (b) a list of all relevant outputs (e.g. articles, reports, talks); (c) the names of two referees;
- A writing sample of maximum 5,000 words. This can (but need not be) a chapter of your master’s thesis, in which case it is expected that the writing sample would still be sufficiently self-contained. The writing sample should be demonstrably relevant to the project’s themes and objectives.
You can apply online via the button. Please submit two pdf files: (I) your CV (named as applicant’s name-PhD-CV.pdf ); (II) a single file containing both the cover letter and the writing sample (named as applicant’s name-PhD-cover.pdf). Please clearly state in your cover letter whether you intend to be considered for the position on property theory, the position on modality or both.
If you have any questions or require further information about the vacancy, please contact the chair of the selection committee and PI of the GOOD INTENSIONS project:
- Dr. Luca Incurvati: Associate Professor
- L.Incurvati at uva.nl
The vacancy closes on 27-04-2026. The first round of interviews will take place in May.
Application form: https://werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies/two-phd-candidates-in-philosophical-logic-netherlands-14955/apply