Stephen Butterfill <[email protected]>

I research and teach on joint action, mindreading and other philosophical issues in cognitive science.
I also had a lot of fun in lockdown recording lectures on youtube
(If you were after furniture or flooring, you want my brother Matt.)

Book

The Developing Mind: A Philosophical Introduction (2020)
--- London: Routledge [publisher's page]
--- links: contents [pdf]; introduction [pdf]

Forthcoming

Towards a Mechanistically Neutral Account of Acting Jointly: The Notion of a Collective Goal (2022)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Corrado Sinigaglia, Mind fzab096(1), pp. 1-29
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1093/mind/fzab096]

Intuitions about Joint Commitment (2022)
--- by John Michael and Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Psychology 0(0), pp. 1-16
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2153659]

Published

Motor Representation in Acting Together (2022)
--- by Corrado Sinigaglia and Stephen A. Butterfill, Synthese 200(82), pp. 1-16
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/s11229-022-03539-8]

Taking Apart What Brings Us Together: The Role of Action Prediction, Perspective-Taking, and Theory of Mind in Joint Action (2022)
--- by Lucia Maria Sacheli, Elisa Arcangeli, Desiré Carioti, Stephen A. Butterfill and Manuela Berlingeri, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 75(7), pp. 1228-1243
--- links: external [doi: 10.1177/17470218211050198]

Goals and Targets: A Developmental Puzzle about Sensitivity to Others’ Actions (2021)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Synthese 198(17), pp. 3969–3990
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/s11229-019-02214-9]

Towards a Blueprint for a Social Animal (2020)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Elisabeth Pacherie in Anika Fiebich (eds.), Minimal Cooperation and Shared Agency , Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 111-125
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-29783-1_7]

Interpersonal Functioning in Borderline Personality Disorder Traits: A Social Media Perspective (2020)
--- by Jinnie Ooi, John Michael, Sakari Lemola, Stephen A. Butterfill, Cynthia S. Q. Siew & Lukasz Walasek, Scientific Reports 1068(1), pp. 1-9
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-58001-x]

Mindreading in the Balance: Adults’ Mediolateral Leaning and Anticipatory Looking Foretell Others’ Action Preparation in a False-Belief Interactive Task (2020)
--- by Giovanni Zani, Stephen A. Butterfill and Jason Low, Royal Society Open Science 7(1), pp. 1-14
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1098/rsos.191167]

Motor Representation and Action Experience in Joint Action (2020)
--- by Corrado Sinigaglia and Stephen A. Butterfill in Anika Fiebich (eds.), Minimal Cooperation and Shared Agency , Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 181–193
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-29783-1_11]

Motor Representation and Knowledge of Skilled Action (2020)
--- by Corrado Sinigaglia and Stephen A. Butterfill in Ellen Fridland and Carlotta Pavese (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Skill and Expertise , London: Routledge, pp. 292-305
--- links: [pdf] [publisher's page]

Visibly constraining an agent modulates observers’ automatic false-belief tracking (2020)
--- by Jason Low, Katheryn Edwards & Stephen A. Butterfill, Scientific Reports 10(1), pp. 1-12
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68240-7]

Joint Action Goals Reduce Visuomotor Interference Effects from a Partner’s Incongruent Actions (2019)
--- by Sam Clarke, Luke McEllin, Anna Francová, Marcell Székely, Stephen A. Butterfill and John Michael, Scientific Reports 9(1), pp. 1-9
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52124-6]

Seeing It Both Ways: Using a Double-Cuing Task to Investigate the Role of Spatial Cuing in Level-1 Visual Perspective-Taking (2018)
--- by John Michael, Thomas Wolf, Clément Letesson, Stephen A. Butterfill, Joshua Skewes Jakob Hohwy, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 44(5), pp. 693-702
--- links: external [doi: 10.1037/xhp0000486]

Coordinating Joint Action (2017)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Kirk Ludwig and Marija Jankovic (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Collective Intentionality , London: Routledge, pp. 68-82
--- links: [pdf]

Drawn Together: When Motor Representations Ground Joint Actions (2017)
--- by Francesco della Gatta, Francesca Garbarini, Marco Rabuffetti, Luca Viganò, Stephen A. Butterfill and Corrado Sinigaglia, Cognition 165, pp. 53--60
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.04.008]

Are There Signature Limits in Early Theory of Mind? (2017)
--- by Ella Fizke, Stephen A. Butterfill, Lea van de Loo, Eva Reindl, and Rakoczy, Hannes, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 162(Supplement C), pp. 209--224
--- links: external [doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.05.005]

Review of Joint Commitment by Margaret Gilbert (2017)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Journal of Moral Philosophy 14(4)
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1163/17455243-01404004]

Tracking and Representing Others’ Mental States (2017)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Andrews, K. and Beck, J. (eds.), Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Animal Minds , London: Routledge, pp. 269–279
--- links: [pdf]

Cognitive Architecture of Belief Reasoning in Children and Adults: A Two-Systems Account Primer (2016)
--- by Jason Low, Ian Apperly, Stephen A. Butterfill and Hannes Rakoczy, Child Development Perspectives 10(3), pp. 184-189
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1111/cdep.12183]

Joint Action: A Minimalist Approach (2016)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Julian Kiverstein (eds.), Routledge Handbook on the Social Mind , London: Routledge, pp. 357–369
--- links: [pdf]

Motor Representation in Goal Ascription (2016)
--- by Corrado Sinigaglia and Stephen A. Butterfill in Yann Coello and Martin Fischer (eds.), Foundations of embodied cognition 2: Conceptual and Interactive Embodiment Psychology Press, pp. 150-164
--- links: [pdf]

Planning for Collective Agency (2016)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Catrin Misselhorn (eds.), Collective Agency and Cooperation in Natural and Artificial Systems Synthese Library, vol 122, pp. 149--168
--- links: [pdf]

Is Goal Ascription Possible in Minimal Mindreading? [Reply to Michael and Christensen] (2016)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Ian A. Apperly, Psychological Review 123(2), pp. 228-233
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1037/rev0000022]

Perceiving Expressions of Emotion: What evidence could bear on questions about perceptual experience of mental states? (2015)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Consciousness and Cognition 36, pp. 438--451
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.03.008]

From foraging to autonoetic consciousness: The primal self as a consequence of embodied prospective foraging (2015)
--- by Thomas T. Hills and Stephen A. Butterfill, Current Zoology 61(2), pp. 368--381
--- links: [pdf] [publisher's page]

On a Puzzle about Relations between Thought, Experience and the Motoric (2015)
--- by Corrado Sinigaglia and Stephen A. Butterfill, Synthese 192(6), pp. 1923-1936
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/s11229-015-0672-x]

Intention and Motor Representation in Purposive Action (2014)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Corrado Sinigaglia, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 88(1), pp. 119-145
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1111/j.1933-1592.2012.00604.x]

How to Construct a Minimal Theory of Mind (2013)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Ian A. Apperly, Mind and Language 28(5), pp. 606-637
--- links: [pdf]

Introduction: Symposium on ‘How to Constuct a Minimal Theory of Mind’ (2013)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill & Ian A. Apperly in John Schwenkler (eds.), Brains (philosophyofbrains.com)
--- links: [pdf]

Replies to Three Commentaries on ‘How to Construct a Minimal Theory of Mind’ (2013)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill & Ian A. Apperly in John Schwenkler (eds.), Brains (philosophyofbrains.com)
--- links: [pdf]

What Does Knowledge Explain? Commentary on Jennifer Nagel (2013)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Tamar Szabó Gendler and John Hawthorne (eds.), Oxford Studies in Epistemology Volume 4, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 309-320
--- links: [pdf]

Interacting Mindreaders (2012)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Studies 165(3), pp. 841-863
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1007/s11098-012-9980-x]

Direct and indirect measures of Level-2 perspective-taking in children and adults (2012)
--- by Andrew Surtees, Stephen A. Butterfill and Ian Apperly, British Journal of Developmental Psychology 30(1), pp. 75-86
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02063.x]

Tool Use and Causal Cognition (2012)
--- by Teresa McCormack, Christoph Hoerl and Stephen A. Butterfill (eds), Oxford: Oxford University Press; ISBN: 9780199571154
--- links: external [doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571154.001.0001] [publisher's page]

Gaining Knowledge via Other Minds: Children's Flexible Trust in Others as Sources of Information (2011)
--- by Elizabeth J. Robinson, Stephen A. Butterfill and Erika Nurmsoo, British Journal of Developmental Psychology 29(4), pp. 961-980
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02036.x]

Infants' Representations of Causation (Commentary on Susan Carey, The Origin of Concepts) (2011)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34(3), pp. 126-127
--- links: external [doi: 10.1017/S0140525X10002426]

Joint Action: What Is Shared? (2011)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Natalie Sebanz (eds.), Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2(2)
--- links: [publisher's page]

Joint Action: What Is Shared? Introduction to the special issue (2011)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill and Natalie Sebanz, Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2(2), pp. 137-146
--- links: external [doi: 10.1007/s13164-011-0062-3]

Joint Action and Development (2011)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Quarterly 62(246), pp. 23-47
--- links: [pdf] external [doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9213.2011.00005.x]

Psychological Research on Joint Action (2011)
--- by Guenther Knoblich, Stephen A. Butterfill and Natalie Sebanz in B. Ross (eds.), Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 51) , Burlington: Academic Press, pp. 59-101; ISBN: 978-0-12-385527-5
--- links: external [doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-385527-5.00003-6]

Children's Selective Learning from Others (2010)
--- by Erika Nurmsoo, Elizabeth Robinson, and Stephen A. Butterfill, Review of Philosophy and Psychology 1(4), pp. 551-561
--- links: external [doi: 10.1007/s13164-010-0043-y]

A Minimal Architecture for Joint Action (2010)
--- by Cordula Vesper, Stephen A. Butterfill, Guenther Knoblich and Natalie Sebanz, Neural Networks 23(8-9), pp. 998-1003
--- links: external [doi: 10.1016/j.neunet.2010.06.002]

Cue Competition Effects and Young Children's Causal and Counterfactual Inferences (2009)
--- by Teresa McCormack, Stephen A. Butterfill, Christoph Hoerl and Patrick Burns, Developmental Psychology 45(6), pp. 1563-1575
--- links: external [doi: 10.1037/a0017408]

Review of Self-Knowing Agents by Lucy O'Brien (2009)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Review 118(3), pp. 413-5
--- links: external [doi: 10.1215/00318108-2009-013]

Seeing Causes and Hearing Gestures (2009)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Quarterly 59(236), pp. 405-428
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9213.2008.585.x]

Do Humans Have Two Systems to Track Beliefs and Belief-like States? (2009)
--- by Ian A. Apperly and Stephen A. Butterfill, Psychological Review 116(4), pp. 953-970
--- links: external [doi: 10.1037/a0016923]

Review of The Rational Imagination by Ruth Byrne (2008)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Mind 117(468), pp. 1065-1069
--- links: external [doi: 10.1093/mind/fzn127]

What are Modules and What Is Their Role in Development? (2007)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Mind and Language 22(4), pp. 450-73
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2007.00316.x]

Review of Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives. Edited by Quentin Smith and Aleksander Jokic (2005)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Philosophical Quarterly 55(219), pp. 373-375
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/j.0031-8094.2005.00405.x]

Review of Thinking without Words by Jose Luis Bermudez (2004)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, Mind 113(452), pp. 733-736
--- links: external [doi: 10.1093/mind/113.452.733]

Awareness of Belief (2001)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill in Beckermann, Ansgar and Nimtz, Christian (eds.), Argument & Analyse, vol. 2 , Bielefeld: Mentis
--- links: [pdf]

Two Kinds of Purposive Action (2001)
--- by Stephen A. Butterfill, European Journal of Philosophy 9(2), pp. 141-165
--- links: external [doi: 10.1111/1468-0378.00133]

How to Distinguish Two (Or More) Systems for Social Cognition
--- at The Nature and Origins of Human Cognition, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany, 31 March 2016
--- slides [html]

Core Knowledge, Phenomenal Expectations and Thought
--- at New Directions in Philosophical Psychlogy, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy, 18 February 2016
--- slides [html]

Perceiving Mental States
--- University of Tuebingen, Germany, 16-24 December 2015
--- slides [html]

Purposive Action from Motor Representation to Intention
--- at How much mind do we need for responsibility?, Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University, Germany, 12 November 2015
--- slides [html]

Acting Together: Motor Representation and Cooperation
--- at Kolloquium des Instituts für Philosophie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, 11 November 2015
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Acting Together & Acting as One
--- at Desire and Action, University of Antwerp, 23 September 2015
--- slides [html]

How Do Mindreaders Model Minds?
--- at Mindreading, an invited symposium at the European Soceity for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP), University of Tartu, Estonia, 15 July 2015
--- slides [html]

Only Phenomenal Expectations Connect Core Knowledge of Objects to Thought
--- at The Nature and Origins of Human Cognition, Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany, 18 June 2015
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Introduction to the Workshop on Practical Reasoning and Motor Representation
--- at Practical Reasoning and Motor Representation, University of Warwick, UK, 1 June 2015
--- slides [pdf]

Acting Together and Acting As One
--- at Empathy, Group Membership and We-Intentionality, Center for Subjectivity Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 22 May 2015
--- slides [html]

Commentary on Wolfgang Prinz and Michael Graziano
--- at Modelling Self on Other, Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, 19 May 2015
--- slides [html]

Systems, Models and Signature Limits
--- at Signature limits in implicit theory of mind: Evidence for two systems of mindreading? Workshop at the Society for Research in Child Development, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, 20 March 2015
--- slides [html]

Naturalising Joint Actions
--- at Naturalising Action, University of Tuebingen, Germany, 13 December 2014
--- slides [html]

Minimal Models of the Physical and of the Mental: Processes, Representations and Signature Limits
--- at Minimal Mindreading, University of Magdeburg, Germany, 7 November 2014
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Joint Action without Mindreading
--- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany, 23 April 2014
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Joint Action
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick, 28 February 2014
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Shared Agency Involves Changing Perspective
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Manchester, 19 February 2014
--- slides [html], handout [pdf]

Collective Intentionality and Social Intelligence
--- University of Vienna, Austria, 12 December 2013

Varieties of Joint Action
--- at Varieties of Shared Intentionality, Institute of Philosophy, London, 2-03 December 2013

Motor Representation in Joint Action
--- at Vision, Action and Concepts, University of Lille, France, 28-30 October 2013
--- slides [html]

Perceiving Anger and Sharing Smiles: The Roles of Perception and Social Interaction in Acquiring Knowledge of Others’ Mental States
--- at Emotion and Social Cognition, University of Manchester, 13 September 2013

Not Just Wide but Shared: Joint Action Is a Core Form of Social Intelligence
--- at Wide Cognition and Social Intelligence, Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, 19-23 August 2013

Collective Agency and Knowledge of Others’ Minds
--- at Aristotelian and Contemporary Perspectives on the Mind, University of Oxford, 6-7 August 2013

Planning for Collective Agency
--- University of Tuebingen, Germany, 24-24 July 2013

Planning for Collective Agency
--- at Collective Agency and Cooperation in Natural and Artificial Systems, University of Stuttgart, Germany, 22-24 July 2013

Joint Action and the Emergence of Mindreading
--- at Origins of Social Cognition Lecture Series, University of Antwerp, 2 May 2013

Minimal Theory of Mind: How to Measure Mental States
--- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, 30 April 2013

How to Construct Cooperative Agents
--- at Cooperation: Why, How and With Whom?, University of Aarhus, 8-9 April 2013

Shared Agency with Parallel Planning
--- at Collective Intentionality, Center for interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University, 2-4 April 2013

Two Systems and Two Theories of Mind
--- at Theory of Mind, Simulation and Meta-Cognition: Laureate's Colloquium with Josef Perner, Center for interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), Bielefeld University, 29 January 2013
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Monitoring and Controlling the Mental States of Others
--- at All Souls Metacognition Seminars, University of Oxford, 24 January 2013
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Shared Agency and Motor Representation
--- Department of Philosophy, Central European University, Budapest, 20 November 2012
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Interacting Mindreaders
--- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, 5 September 2012

Motor Representation and Shared Intention
--- at Collective Intentionality VII, University of Manchester, 28-31 August 2012
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Intention and Motor Representation in Action Explanation
--- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, 16 April 2012

Intention and Motor Representation in Explaining Action
--- at Reconceptions of Action, Ecole Normale Superieure, Lyon, 23-24 March 2012

Intention and Motor Representation in Joint Action
--- at Pre-Reflective and Reflective Processing in Social Interaction, University of Cambridge, 12-14 March 2012
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Intention and Motor Representation in Joint Action
--- Institut Jean-Nicod, Ecole Normale Sup&eacute;rieure, Paris, 9 March 2012

Minimal Theory of Mind and Joint Action
--- University of Stirling, 17 November 2011

Joint Action and the Emergence of Mindreading
--- at Developmental Aspects of Joint Intentions and Actions, Institut Jean-Nicod, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, 3 November 2011
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

How to Construct a Minimal Theory of Mind
--- CUNY Graduate Center, New York, 13 October 2011

The Problem of Other Minds
--- at The British Science Festival, Bradford, 12 September 2011

Which Joint Actions Ground Social Cognition
--- at Rational Agency, Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tuebingen, 6 June 2011
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Mindreading and Joint Action
--- at Das Gehirn - ein Beziehungsorgan, University of Heidelberg, 19 May 2011
--- slides [pdf], handout [pdf]

Talking About and Seeing Blue
--- at Colour and Sensory Knowledge, IUC Philosophy of Science Conference, Dubrovnik, 11-15 April 2011
--- slides [pdf]

Joint Action: Conceptual Tools for Scientific Research
--- Department of Philosophy, Universit&agrave; degli Studi di Milano, 15 February 2011

Joint Action and Knowing Others' Minds
--- at Mindreading, Radbound University Nijmegen, 28-29 January 2011

Moral Psychology: the Science of Good and Evil?
--- youtube lectures, slides and handouts
--- week-by-week guide with assessment details (2020-21)

Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action
--- youtube lectures, slides and handouts
--- week-by-week guide with assessment details (2021-22)

Are Two Systems Better Than One? (2021-2)
--- with Corrado Sinigaglia at the University of Milan, Italy

Mind and Reality (2020-21)
--- includes youtube lectures, slides and handouts

Origins of Mind
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick (2019-20)
--- Umeå Version University of Umeå, Sweden, November 2018
--- Tuebingen Version University of Tuebingen, Germany, December 2015
--- Milan Version Department of Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, September 2014

Central Themes in Philosophy (2019-20)

Words and Things (2019-20)

Philosophical Psychology: A Partial Survey of Puzzling Questions about Minds in Action (2018-9)
--- Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, April 2019

Descartes (2018-19)

Social Cognition (2017-8)

Joint Action
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick (2017-8)
--- Bochum Version Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany, April 2018

Mindreading and Joint Action: Philosophical Tools (2011-2)
--- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest

Joint Action and the Emergence of Mindreading (2011-2)
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick

Logic 1 (2015-6)
--- Department of Philosophy, University of Warwick

Engaging lecture delivery and materials

‘Lecturer was very engaging and delivered content in a precise, clear way.’ (Words and Things, 2018-9)

‘Dr Butterfill’s setup and body language as well as his attitude in both pre-recorded and live lectures makes the experience enjoyable and the material easier to absorb’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Lectures are engaging, watchable but also thought-provoking.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Steve was the single greatest thing about this module. Best lecturer I’ve had.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘He tries to make the lectures super engaging, e.g. fun video examples and backgrounds, which helps!’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘The slides were amazing.’ (Central Themes in Philosophy, 2019-20)

‘Amazing lecturer 10/10 I would Butterfill again.’ (Central Themes in Philosophy, 2019-20)

‘Absolutely love the enthusiastic manner with which Stephen engages the content’ (Central Themes in Philosophy, 2019-20)

‘Steve is very passionate about what he teaches and it shows.’ (Descartes, 2018-19)

‘Great lecturer, clearly passionate about what he teaches.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘The form of teaching is unique and brilliant.’ (Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action, 2021-22)

‘Fantastic lectures, Stephen Butterfill is a truly remarkable lecturer!’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

Care for students and availability to them

‘Stephen is very approachable and always happy to meet with you to discuss your development throughout the course and offer good help/advice whenever you need it.’ (Words and Things, 2018-9)

‘Stephen appears to have a genuine interest and care in the module which is obvious in all aspects in this course.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘He’s super friendly so easy to approach with questions/concerns!’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Amazing Butterfill’ (Central Themes in Philosophy, 2019-20)

‘It’s hard to name one thing, because everything about Steve’s teaching is just amazing. If I was pressed on it, I’d probably say the combination (that’s one right?) of his intellectually challenging style and his extreme patience, interest and generosity in lectures, seminars and not least office hours.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Love how happy Steve is to respond to what we want to lean about and really appreciate that this is a new and exciting field of research.’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

‘Throughout my three years at this University, I have never had a teacher so committed to his students and so keen in helping each one of us to succeed.’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

Online and blended teaching

‘The pre-recorded lectures are always fun to watch.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘As engaged as you could be with online learning, it’s as good as it gets I think’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Online/blended learning for the most part has worked great for this module.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Steves approach to online has been fantastic and the quality of his videos has been astronomically better than every other lecturer (possibly in the whole uni).’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

‘Definitely one of the best for making the lectures easier and more agreeable to watch.’ (Mind and Reality, 2020-21)

Enthusiastic small-group teaching

‘He treats his students as equals and works through the arguments with us, rather than just telling us about them.’ (Central Themes in Philosophy, 2019-20)

‘Very good at maintaining discussions and getting everyone involved in learning. Does this well by making the effort to learn everyones names which is really nice and makes you engage with him more. Fantastic tutor.’ (Descartes, 2018-19)

‘I engaged a lot; it was hard not to with Steve’s contagious enthusiasm.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Steve is a passionate seminar tutor who really contributes to my understanding of the topic and the discussions involved.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Seminars are A* tier.’ (Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action, 2021-22)

‘Really appreciated the opportunity to get essay plans peer reviewed in seminars.’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

Challenging assessments on unique content supported by useful feedback

‘All the topics delivered throughout this module engaged me in every way as the topics are thought provoking and extremely fascinating. The readings are very engaging too and easy to find.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Dr Butterfill’s weekly formative assignments. They may not seem like it, but they really help and make bigger assignments less daunting as he gives feedback and chance to peer review others’ essays, which gives guidance and support in what’s expected of you.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Would definitely recommend this module to students from all kinds of departments.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘Steve’s lectures are just unparalleled in any respect.’ (Moral Psychology, 2019-20)

‘it is hard work - if you’re doing a Stephen Butterfill module, you know your workload (and consequently, working hours) are going to increase significantly.’ (Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action, 2021-22)

‘The feedback was always constructive, fair, and consistent.’ (Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action, 2021-22)

‘It is HARD WORK - the workload is heavy, the contents are difficult, and the seminars are stressful (you’ll be put on the spotlight, a lot). Still, it is one of the best modules the department has to offer’ (Philosophical Issues in Behavioural Science: from Individual to Collaborative Action, 2021-22)

‘Steve’s modules are my favourite modules I’ve studied at undergrad. So engaging.’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

‘unorthodox ... quite challenging’ (Social Cognition, 2017-8)

Research

I research philosophical issues in cognitive and developmental psychology.

Most of my current research is on two topics, joint action and mindreading.

As well as writing alone on philosophical topics, I have some theoretical and experimental projects with scientific collaborators.

Position

I am currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

Qualifications

I have a DPhil and BPhil in Philosophy and a BA in Mathematics and Philosophy, all from the University of Oxford.

Personal

I live in Southampton, UK with my wife Elisabeth Schroeder-Butterfill and four kids. (I'm not related to a politician; I'm also neither Jeremy Butterfield nor David Buttelmann.)