Jonathan Birch (philosopher)
Career
Birch read for a BA (Hons) in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge from 2005-8, and then an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge from 2008-9.[1] He read for a PhD in the Philosophy of Science at Cambridge from 2009-13.[1] His thesis, which was supervised by Tim Lewens, was entitled Kin Selection: A Philosophical Analysis.[2] From 2012-14, Birch held a Junior Research Fellowship at Christ's College, Cambridge.[1] He was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2014.[3]
Birch took up an Assistant Professorship at the Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2014.[1][4] In 2017, he published his monograph The Philosophy of Social Evolution with Oxford University Press.[5] In 2018, he was promoted to Associate Professor.[1]
From 2020, Birch was the principle investigator for the five-year Foundations of Animal Sentience (ASENT) research project at LSE, which was funded by the European Research Council. Responding to controversies around the nature and attribution of animal sentience, the project seeks to develop "a conceptual framework for thinking about sentience as an evolved phenomenon that varies along several dimensions, a deeper understanding of how these dimensions of sentience relate to measurable aspects of animal behaviour and the nervous system, and a richer picture of the links between sentience, welfare and the ethical status of animals".[6]
Birch was the lead author of a report entitled Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, published in 2021.
References
- ^ a b c d e Birch, Jonathan (2022). "CV" (PDF). London School of Economics. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ Birch, Jonathan (2013). Kin Selection: A Philosophical Analysis (PDF) (Thesis). University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Philip Leverhulme Prizes 2014". Leverhulme Trust. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ "Dr Jonathan Birch". London School of Economics. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- ^ Reviews:
- Brusse, Carl; Sterelny, Kim. "The Philosophy of Social Evolution". BJPS Review of Books. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
- Rubin, Hannah (2019). "The Philosophy of Social Evolution". Economics & Philosophy. 35 (2): 354–60. doi:10.1017/S026626711900005.
- Ruse, Michael (2018). "The Philosophy of Social Evolution". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 93 (2): 152–3. doi:10.1086/698062.
- Shavit, Ayelet (2019). "Jonathan Birch, The Philosophy of Social Evolution". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences. 41 (1) 3. doi:10.1007/s40656-019-0240-7.
- Ågren, J. Arvid (2018). "The Hamiltonian view of social evolution". Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences. 68–69: 88–93. doi:10.1016/j.shpsc.2018.05.005.
- Thrasher, John (2018). "The price of sociality". Metascience. 28: 139–142. doi:10.1007/s11016-018-0355-6.
- ^ {{cite web|url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/cpnss/research/ASENT%7Ctitle=Foundations of Animal Sentience (ASENT)|publisher=London School of Economics|accessdate=22 July 2023]}