Justin Garson, PhD, Institute Fellow

Justin Garson received his PhD in Philosophy and the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science at The University of Texas at Austin in 2006. His areas of specialization are the Philosophy of Biology, with an emphasis on neuroscience and psychiatry; and Environmental Philosophy. His research has been on the relationship between neuroscience and psychiatry, the concepts of function and information in neuroscience, and on the limits of mechanistic explanation in biology. He has also published scientific research in conservation biology and works with the Biodiversity and Biocultural Conservation Laboratory at the University of Texas. In 2008, he and his family lived in Gulu, Northern Uganda, and worked with organizations such as Child Voice International and St. Jude’s Children’s Home to provide capacity training and medical assistance for people affected by war. Justin recently co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Biodiversity. This collection includes contributions from scientists, philosophers, and lawyers, and explores questions such as, what isbiodiversity, why should we protect it, and how can we protect it while respecting the demands of social and global justice? He also writes about how advances in biology can help us understand traditional problems of human nature.