Daisy Dixon

Hello! I am a philosopher and an artist. My day job is as a Lecturer (assistant professor) in Philosophy at Cardiff University.

My specialist area is philosophy of art. I'm interested in how artworks and other aesthetic practices have (im)moral properties, and how they mould and sustain social hierarchies. Specifically, I argue that visual art is a kind of communication, or speech, and I explore the moral and political implications of this. I argue that artworks can perform (oppressive) speech-acts, have propositional content, can tell lies, and their meanings are sensitive to curatorial dimensions. More broadly, I'm interested in the nature of 'aesthetic injustice' - how we might be wronged in a distinctively aesthetic way. 

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As a state-educated and 'first-gen' university student, I am passionate about public engagement and outreach - alongside my teaching, I endeavour to make philosophy accessible and exciting to all. I've presented my work on BBC radio, podcasts, YouTube, and I've worked with the Sutton Trust Summer School and guest-lecture for the London Drawing Group. In 2024 I was shortlisted for the BBC's New Generation Thinker scheme.

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Before Cardiff, I held a post-doctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (2018-2022), where I was also awarded my PhD (2019), and the MPhil in Philosophy for which I gained a Distinction (2014). Before Cambridge, I was awarded a First Class BA (joint honours) in Fine Art & Philosophy at the University of Reading.

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I also have an art practice in painting and sonic installation. 

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