This episode features Professor Jonathan Birch of the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Jonathan is a philosopher of science who will be best known to an animal studies audience for his work on the science of sentience. This includes his 2021 report Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans, which led to cephalopods and decapods being recognized as sentient beings in UK law. He was also one of the lead signatories of the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness. In this episode, we talk about his 2024 Oxford University Press book The Edge of Sentience: Risk and Precaution in Humans, Other Animals, and AI. This is an open access book, meaning that all listeners can read and download it for free entirely legally.
This episode is brought to you by the Animal Politics book series, from Sydney University Press. This is a collection of scholarly books about animal studies. As well as recently changing names, the series also has new editors: Danielle Celermajer, Rick De Vos, Chloë Taylor, and Katie Woolaston. If you’re currently working on a book about animal studies, you should consider reaching out to them to see if the series would be a good fit – and we’ll get a chance to ask some of these new editors about the Animal Politics series in upcoming episodes of Knowing Animals.
Knowing Animals is a fortnightly podcast hosted by Dr Josh Milburn who discusses all things related to animals and ethics; animals and the law; animals and politics; and animal advocacy. The show features interviews with Animal Studies scholars and animal advocates.
Knowing Animals is back! This episode features Professor Samantha Vice, a distinguished professor of philosophy at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa. Samantha is probably best known for her work in the philosophy of race, including her paper ‘How Do …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 7 October 2024
Dr Walter Veit is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Reading in the UK. His research concerns the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mind, and applied ethics, and his books include Modelling Evolution and What Are Zoos …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 5 January 2026
Dr Dustin Crummet is an Affiliate Instructor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma and the Executive Director of the Insect Institute, a non-profit organization that critically explores insects in the food system. …continue
Proudly brought to you by: 1 December 2025
