Our People

Dr Peter Kail

A headshot

Dr Peter Kail

  • Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy
  • Associate Professor of Philosophy
  • Tutor for Undergraduates

I am Official Fellow and Tutor in Philosophy, and Associate Professor in the History of Modern Philosophy. I have an MPhil and PhD in philosophy from Cambridge, and I was a JRF at St Edmunds and British Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge before teaching at Edinburgh and finally coming to Oxford in 2005. I was previously a Fellow and Honorary Head of Department at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, a Scholar in Residence at the Newberry Library, Chicago, and a Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.

Teaching

At St Peter’s, I endeavour to teach every philosophy student in their first year ‘General Philosophy’ (an introduction to Metaphysics and Epistemology). I also offer tutorials in a range of subjects, but mainly in the history of philosophy

Research

My research has been in the history of philosophy. I have written books on David Hume, George Berkeley, and Friedrich Nietzsche. I was the editor of the journal Hume Studies, and I am a founding member and member of the executive committee of the International Nietzsche Society.