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Professor Derek Matravers

BA (London), PhD (Cambridge)

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Professor
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Social Sciences & Global Studies
  • Philosophy
  • derek.matravers@open.ac.uk

Professional biography

Derek Matravers read for a degree in Philosophy at University College, London, after which he completed a PhD at Darwin College, Cambridge. He was supervised by Hugh Mellor on the topic of ‘Art and the Emotions’. He spent a further three years in Cambridge as a post-doctoral Research Fellow before moving to The Open University in 1994. He has written on various areas of aesthetics and the philosophy of art, as well as in ethics and the philosophy of mind.

He is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.

He has held visiting positions at the University of Latvia, the University of British Columbia, the University of Otago, Shanghai Normal University, Rhodes University (South Africa), and The University of Auckland.

Research interests

Matravers has published six books: Art and Emotion (OUP, 1998); Reading Political Philosophy: Machiavelli to Mill (with Jon Pike and Nigel Warburton) (Routledge, 2000); Introducing Philosophy of Art: Eight Case Studies, (Routledge, 2013); Fiction and Narrative (OUP, 2014); Empathy (Polity, 2017); and Stones and Lives: The Ethics of Protecting Heritage in War (OUP, 2024), written with Helen Frowe.

He has edited five collections of papers: Debates in Contemporary Political Philosophy (with Jon Pike) (Routledge, 2003); Figuring Out Figurative Art (with Damien Freeman) (Routledge, 2014); Philosophical Perspectives on Empathy (with Anik Waldow) (Routledge, 2018); Heritage in War: Ethical Issues (with William Bulow, Helen Frowe, and Joshua Lewis Thomas) (OUP, 2023); and The Expression of Emotion in the Visual Arts (with Vanessa Brassey) (Routledge, 2025).

He has published around 100 papers and book chapters.

He is the Series Editor of the highly successful Bloomsbury Aesthetics series.

Along with Paloma Atencia-Linares, of UNED, he edits The British Journal of Aesthetics and is an Associate Editor of AI and Society.

Along with Alessandra Marino and Natalie Trevino, he directs the OU Space Ethics Group.

He serves on the Executive Committee of the Royal Music Association Music and Philosophy Study Group.

He is an elected member of the Steering Group of the European Society for Analytic Philosophy.

Matravers has supervised 10 UK-based students and served on the doctoral committees of one US and one Canadian student, to sucessful completion of their PhDs.

He is currently interested in supervising graduate students in aesthetics, the philosophical issues around heritage and conservation, and the ethics of space exploration.

Current Graduate Students

Alessio Antonini: 'Reading as a Technology: An Integrative Theory of Reading Experience for Digital Humanities'

Claudia Giupponi: 'How does Renaissance Intarsia Relate to the 'Fine Arts'?

Bob Watt: 'Salvador Dali, Illusionist or Magician? Perception and Phenomenology of Selected Works by Salvador Dali'

Alec Schulz: 'The Aesthetic Experience and Content of Magic'

Teaching interests

Most recently Matravers has written for the Philosophy MA, writing about Environmental Aesthetics and about Consciousness.

Publications

Mental states and consciousness: a tribute to Daniel Dennett (2024-11-08)
Matravers, Derek
AI & SOCIETY ((Early access))

Colonizing Space: The Argument from an Obligation to Future Generations (2023)
Matravers, Derek; Marino, Alessandra and Trevino, Natalie
International Journal of Applied Philosophy, 37(1) (pp. 1-10)

Non-Fictions and Narrative Truths (2022-09-15)
Matravers, Derek
Croatian Journal of Philosophy, 22(65) (pp. 145-160)

[Book Review] Hatala Mathes, Erich. Drawing the Line: What to Do with the Work of Immoral Artists from Museums to the Movies (2022-06-25)
Matravers, Derek
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 80(3) (pp. 400-402)

Comments on Rafe McGregor’s Narrative Criminology (2020-12)
Matravers, Derek
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 54(4) (pp. 19-25)

[Book Review] Things: In Touch with the Past by Carolyn Korsmeyer (New York: Oxford University Press) (2020-01)
Matravers, Derek
The Philosophical Quarterly, 70(278) (pp. 212-215)

Visualizing and Visualizing Representations (2018-08-01)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 76(3) (pp. 275-284)

Recent philosophy and the fiction/non-fiction distinction (2018-04-03)
Matravers, Derek
Collection and Curation, 37(2) (pp. 93-96)

Art, knowledge, and virtue: comments on Alana Jelinek's This is Not Art. (2014-11-19)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Visual Art Practice, 13(3) (pp. 169-177)

Why we should give up on the imagination (2010-09-08)
Matravers, Derek
Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 34(1) (pp. 190-199)

Recent philosophical work on the connection between music and the emotions (2010)
Matravers, Derek
Music Analysis, 29(1-3) (pp. 8-18)

Design as communication: exploring the validity and utility of relating intention to interpretation (2008-09)
Crilly, Nathan; Good, David; Matravers, Derek and Clarkson, P. John
Design Studies, 29(5) (pp. 425-457)

Institutional definitions and reasons (2007)
Matravers, Derek
The British Journal of Aesthetics, 47(3) (pp. 251-257)

Some questions about radical externalism (2006)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 13(7-8) (pp. 95-108)

Two comments and a problem for David Davies’ Performance Theory (2005-12-01)
Matravers, Derek
Acta Analytica, 20(4) (pp. 32-40)

Aesthetic properties 1 - Derek Matravers (2005-07)
Matravers, Derek and Levinson, Jerrold
Supplementary Volume - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 79(1) (pp. 191-210)

The Experience of emotion in music (2003-10)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 61(4) (pp. 353-363)

The Aesthetic Experience (2003-04)
Matravers, Derek
British Journal of Aesthetics, 43(2) (pp. 158-174)

The institutional theory of art: a protean creature (2000-04-01)
Matravers, Derek
British Journal of Aesthetics, 40(2) (pp. 242-250)

Justice and moral theory (1999-07-01)
Matravers, Derek
Skepsis: A Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research, 10 (pp. 71-82)

Revising principles of architecture (1999-01-01)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Architecture, 4(1) (pp. 39-45)

Truth in fiction: a reply to New (1997-10-01)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 55(4) (pp. 423-425)

Aesthetic concepts and aesthetic experience (1996-07-01)
Matravers, Derek
British Journal of Aesthetics, 36(3) (pp. 265-277)

Is boring art just boring? (1995-10-01)
Matravers, Derek
Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 53(4) (pp. 425-426)

Beliefs and the fictional narrators (1995-04-01)
Matravers, Derek
Analysis, 55(2) (pp. 121-122)

Why some modern art is junk (1994-01-01)
Matravers, Derek
Cogito, 8(1) (pp. 19-25)

Unsound sentiment: a critique of Kivy's 'Emotive Formalism' (1993-04-01)
Matravers, Derek
Philosophical Papers, 22(2)

Art and the feelings and emotions (1991-10-01)
Matravers, Derek
British Journal of Aesthetics, 31(4) (pp. 322-331)

Whose afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1991-06-01)
Matravers, Derek
Ratio, 4(1) (pp. 25-37)

The Expression of Emotion in the Visual Arts (2025)
Matravers, Derek and Brassey, Vanessa
ISBN : 9781003390404 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Stones and Lives: The Ethics of Protecting Heritage in War (2024)
Frowe, Helen and Matravers, Derek
ISBN : 9780198877660 | Publisher : Oxford University Press

Empathy (2017-01-20)
Matravers, Derek
Key Concepts in Philosophy
ISBN : 9780745670751 | Publisher : Polity Press | Published : Cambridge

Fiction and Narrative (2014-04-24)
Matravers, Derek
ISBN : 978-0-19-964701-9 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

Introducing Philosophy of Art: Eight Case Studies (2012-12-27)
Matravers, Derek
ISBN : 9781844655373 | Publisher : Acumen Press | Published : Durham

Art and Emotion (1998)
Matravers, Derek
ISBN : 0-19-823638-7 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

Empathy, the Aesthetic Emotion, and Expression in the Visual Arts (2025)
Matravers, Derek
In: Matravers, Derek and Brassey, Vanessa eds. The Expression of Emotion in the Visual Arts (pp. 10-24)
ISBN : 9781003390404 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Introduction (2025)
Matravers, Derek and Brassey, Vanessa
In: Matravers, Derek and Brassey, Vanessa eds. The Expression of Emotion in the Visual Arts (pp. 1-9)
ISBN : 9781003390404 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Unearthing Global Justice: From Space to Inter-Planetary Ethics (2024-03-22)
Matravers, Derek; Marino, Alessandra and Treviño, Natalie
In: Garasic, Mirko Daniel and Di Paola, Marcello eds. The Philosophy of Outer Space (pp. 127-138)
ISBN : 9781003374381 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Empathy, Fiction, and Non-Fiction (2024)
Matravers, Derek
In: Petraschka, Thomas and Werner, Christiana eds. Empathy's Role in Understanding Persons, Literature, and Art. Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy (pp. 158-173)
ISBN : 9781032367767 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York, USA

Theory and practice in heritage decision-making (2024)
Matravers, Derek
In: Somhegyi, Zoltán and Giombini, Lisa eds. The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Architectural Reconstruction (pp. 9-18)
ISBN : 9781003334200 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

Richard Wollheim (2023-06-30)
Matravers, Derek
In: Carroll, Noël and Gilmore, Jonathan eds. The Routledge Companion to the Philosophies of Painting and Sculpture (pp. 407-416)
ISBN : 9781003312727 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

Fiction and the Actual World (2023)
Matravers, Derek
In: Engisch, Patrik and Langkau, Julia eds. The Philosophy of Fiction: Imagination and Cognition (pp. 62-76)
ISBN : 978-0-367-68720-5 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York, NY, USA and Oxon, UK

Heritage and War: An Introduction (2023)
Frowe, Helen and Matravers, Derek
In: Bülow, William; Frowe, Helen; Matravers, Derek and Thomas, Joshua eds. Heritage and War: Ethical Issues (pp. 1-11)
ISBN : 9780191953699 | Publisher : Oxford Academic

Conflicts in Heritage Protection (2023)
Frowe, Helen and Matravers, Derek
In: Bülow, William; Frowe, Helen; Matravers, Derek and Thomas, Joshua Lewis eds. Heritage and War: Ethical Issues (pp. 33-50)
ISBN : 9780191953699 | Publisher : Oxford Academic

The “Cultural Turn” and the Reconstruction of Heritage (2022-09-22)
Frowe, Helen and Matravers, Derek
In: Finkelstein, Claire; Gillman, Derek and Rosén, Frederik eds. The Preservation of Art and Culture in Times of War (pp. 53-69)
ISBN : 9780197610565 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : New York, USA

Sympathy and Empathy (2022)
Matravers, Derek
In: Hogan, Patrick Colm; Irish, Bradley J. and Hogan, Lalita Pandit eds. The Routledge Companion to Literature and Emotion. Routledge Literature Companions (pp. 144-154)
ISBN : 978-0-367-40915-9 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon, Oxon

Walton on ‘the Paradox of Fiction’: Confusions and Misunderstandings (2021)
Matravers, Derek
In: Sedivy, Sonia ed. Art, Representation, and Make-Believe: Essays on the Philosophy of Kendall L. Walton (pp. 58-73)
ISBN : 9780367808662 | Publisher : Routledge

Social and Cultural Costs (2020-09-08)
Matravers, Derek
In: Cuno, James and Weiss, Thomas G. eds. Cultural Heritage Under Siege: Laying the Foundation for a Legal and Political Framework to Protect Cultural Heritage at Risk in Zones of Armed Conflict. J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy (pp. 54-64)
ISBN : 978-1-60606-681-2 | Publisher : Getty Publications | Published : Los Angeles, CA

The Reconstruction of Damaged or Destroyed Heritage (2020)
Matravers, Derek
In: Bicknell, Jeanette; Judkins, Jennifer and Korsmeyer, Carolyn eds. Philosophical Perspectives on Ruins, Monuments, and Memorials (pp. 189-200)
ISBN : 9781138504691 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York

The History Plays: Fiction or Non-Fiction? (2018-10-22)
Matravers, Derek
In: Bourne, Craig and Caddick-Bourne, Emily eds. The Routledge Companion to Shakespeare and Philosophy. Routledge Philosophy Companions (pp. 591-602)
ISBN : 9781138936126 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

What is the Object of an Empathetic Emotion? (2018-10-22)
Matravers, Derek
In: Matravers, Derek and Waldon, Anik eds. Philosophical Perspectives on Empathy: Theoretical Approaches and Emerging Challenges
ISBN : 9781138584334 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York

Empathy in the Aesthetic Tradition (2017)
Matravers, Derek
In: Maibom, Heidi ed. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Empathy (pp. 77-85)
Publisher : Routledge | Published : London and New York

Life and Narrative (2016-11-24)
Matravers, Derek
In: Dodd, Julian ed. Art, Mind, and Narrative: Themes From the Work of Peter Goldie (pp. 35-46)
ISBN : 9780198769736 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

What Difference (If Any) Is There Between Reading as Fiction and Reading as Non-Fiction? (2016-11-05)
Matravers, Derek
In: Selleri, Andrea and Gaydon, Philip eds. Literary Studies and the Philosophy of Literature: New Interdisciplinary Directions (pp. 169-184)
ISBN : 978-3319331461 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : London

The Aesthetic Experience (2015)
Matravers, Derek
In: Ribeiro, Anna Christina ed. The Bloomsbury Companion to Aesthetics (pp. 74-83)
ISBN : 9781474236386 | Publisher : Bloomsbury Academic (Reprint Edition) | Published : London

Negative Emotions and Creativity (2013-11-01)
Matravers, Derek
In: Levinson, Jerrold ed. Suffering Art Gladly: The Paradox of Negative Emotions in Art (pp. 207-223)
ISBN : 9780230349834 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Houndmills

Art, expression, and emotion (2013-04-08)
Matravers, Derek
In: Gaut, Berys and McIver Lopes, Dominic eds. The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (3rd Edn.). Routledge Philosophy Companions (pp. 404-414)
ISBN : 978-0-415-78286-9 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Wollheim (2013-04-03)
Matravers, Derek
In: Gaut, Berys and McIver Lopes, Dominic eds. The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics (3rd ed). Routledge Philosophy Companions (pp. 200-209)
ISBN : 978-0-415-78286-9 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Wonder and cognition (2012-10)
Matravers, Derek
In: Vasalou, Sophia ed. Practices of Wonder: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives (pp. 166-178)
ISBN : 978-1-61097-216-1 | Publisher : Pickwick Publications | Published : Eugene, OR

Empathy as a route to knowledge (2011-10-27)
Matravers, Derek
In: Coplan, Amy and Goldie, Peter eds. Empathy: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives (pp. 19-30)
ISBN : 9780199539956 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Pictorial representation and psychology (2011-10-13)
Matravers, Derek
In: Schellekens, Elisabeth and Goldie, Peter eds. The Aesthetic Mind: Philosophy and Psychology (pp. 427-438)
ISBN : 9780199691517 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : New York, USA

Imagination, fiction, and documentary (2011-06)
Matravers, Derek
In: Carroll, Noel and Gibson, John eds. Narrative, Emotion, and Insight. Studies of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium (pp. 173-184)
ISBN : 9780271048574 | Publisher : Penn State University Press | Published : Pennsylvania, USA

Arousal theories (2011-02-07)
Matravers, Derek
In: Gracyk, Theodore and Kania, Andrew eds. Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Music. Routledge Philosophy Companions (pp. 212-223)
ISBN : 9780415486033 | Publisher : Taylor & Francis | Published : Abingdon, UK and New York, USA

Film, literature and non-cognitive affect (2011)
Matravers, Derek and Coplan, Amy
In: Carel, Havi and Tuck, Greg eds. New Takes in Film-Philosophy (pp. 117-134)
ISBN : 978-0-230-25029-1 | Publisher : Palgrave Macmillan | Published : Basingstoke

Expression in the arts (2010-01)
Matravers, Derek
In: Goldie, Peter ed. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Emotion. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy (pp. 617-634)
ISBN : 9780199235018 | Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA | Published : Oxford, United Kingdom

La expresión como forma de aparecer (2010)
Matravers, Derek
In: Alcaraz, María José and Carreño, Francisca Pérez eds. Significado, emoción y valor: Ensayos sobre filosofía de la música
ISBN : 978-84-7774-696-6 | Publisher : Machado Libros | Published : Madrid

Expression in Music (2007-09-27)
Matravers, Derek
In: Stock, Kathleen ed. Philosophers on Music: Experience, Meaning, and Work (pp. 95-116)
ISBN : 978-0-19-921334-4 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

The Dematerialization of the art object (2007-03-22)
Matravers, Derek
In: Goldie, Peter and Schellekens, Elisabeth eds. Philosophy and Conceptual Art (pp. 18-32)
ISBN : 9780199285556 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford, UK

Richard Wollheim (2007-01)
Matravers, Derek
In: Costello, Diarmuid and Vickery, Jonathan eds. Art: Key Contemporary Thinkers (pp. 140-143)
ISBN : 978-1-84520-319-1 | Publisher : Berg | Published : Oxford

Pictures, knowledge, and power: the case of T.J. Clark (2006)
Matravers, Derek
In: Kieran, Matthew and Lopes, Dominic eds. Knowing Art: Essays in Aesthetics and Epistemology. Philosophical Studies Series (107) (pp. 19-35)
ISBN : 9781402052644 | Publisher : Springer | Published : Dortrecht, Netherlands

Aesthetics (Twentieth Century) (2006)
Matravers, Derek
In: Grayling, A.C.; Pyle, Andrew and Naomi, Goulder eds. The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199754694 | Publisher : Continuum | Published : London

The challenge of irrationalism and how not to meet it (2005-07)
Matravers, Derek
In: Kieran, Matthew ed. Contemporary debates in aesthetics and the philosophy of art. Contemporary Debates in Philosophy
ISBN : 140510239X | Publisher : Blackwell | Published : Oxford, UK

Ought Painting to Die? (2005-03)
Matravers, Derek
In: Van Eck, Caroline and Winters, Edward eds. Dealing with the Visual: Art History, Aesthetics and Visual Culture. Histories of Vision
ISBN : 0 7546 3428 0 | Publisher : Ashgate | Published : Aldershot, UK

Fictional assent and the (so-called) 'puzzle of imaginative resistance' (2003-04-17)
Matravers, Derek
In: Kieran, Matthew and Lopes, Dominic McIver eds. Imagination, philosophy and the arts (pp. 91-106)
ISBN : 415305160 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London, UK

The paradox of fiction: the report versus the perceptual model (1997)
Matravers, Derek
In: Hjort, Mette and Laver, Sue eds. Emotion and the Arts (pp. 78-92)
ISBN : 978-0-19-511105-7 | Publisher : Oxford University Press | Published : Oxford

Heritage and War: Ethical Issues (2023)
Bülow, William; Frowe, Helen; Matravers, Derek and Thomas, Joshua
Bülow, William; Frowe, Helen; Matravers, Derek and Thomas, Joshua Lewis eds.
ISBN : 9780191953699 | Publisher : Oxford Academic

Philosophical Perspective on Empathy: Theoretical Approaches and Emerging Challenges (2018-10-17)
Matravers, Derek and Waldow, Anik eds.
Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory
ISBN : 978-1138584334 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Figuring Out Figurative Art: Contemporary Philosophers on Contemporary Paintings (2014-08-19)
Matravers, Derek and Freeman, Damien eds.
ISBN : 978-1-84465-802-2 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Debates in Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology (2002-12-12)
Matravers, Derek and Pike, Jon eds.
ISBN : 978-0415302111 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : London

Laying the Foundation for a Legal and Political Framework to Protect Cultural Heritage at Risk in Zones of Armed Conflict (2020-09-20)
Matravers, Derek
In : Cultural Heritage Under Siege (18 to 19 May 2019, Getty Villa, Los Angeles) (pp. 54-64)

Conflict and Cultural heritage: A Moral Analysis of the Challenges of Heritage Protection (2019)
Frowe, Helen and Matravers, Derek
J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy, No.3, Getty Publications, Los Angeles.