Bob has worked extensively on Kant and on German idealism, particular Hegel. His main books in this area are a commentary on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, and two collections of papers, one on Hegel’s metaphysics and another on Kant’s ethics. He has also published on the Kantian approach of using transcendental arguments in philosophy, as applied to issues in epistemology, metaphysics and ethics. More recently, he has been focusing on the question of moral obligation. After publishing a book on this topic which compared Kant, Hegel and Kierkegaard, he became interested in the work of the rather obscure Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup, on whom he has just published a monograph with Oxford University Press.
The British Academy is a fellowship of around 1,300 leading national and international academics elected for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences.
Bob said: "It is obviously a great honour to be elected to this position, and I only hope I can live up to the high standards of the rest of the Fellowship. It will be invaluable to be able to interact with such an illustrious group of scholars, and I am sure it will hugely benefit my research in the future. I also look forward to learning more about how the British Academy plays its role as guardian of a range of key disciplines and doing what I can to help in its efforts towards this vital goal. And as this Fellowship comes in my thirtieth year at Sheffield, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for their support of my research throughout this period – for their encouragement and for their collegiality."