Ann-Sophie Barwich, PhD

I am a cognitive scientist and empirical philosopher & historian of science, technology, and the senses.

I am Assistant Professor at Indiana University Bloomington. I divide my brain-time between the Department of History & Philosophy of Science and the Cognitive Science Program. Estimated begin of lab (EEG/Olfactometry) in early 2021. 

My book Smellosophy: What the Brain tells the Mind highlights the importance of thinking about the sense of smell as a model for neuroscience and the senses, and is forthcoming 2020 with Harvard University Press.

My research in the Philosophy of Olfaction investigates:
  • How does the brain make sense of scents?
  • What are the perceptual dimensions of smell?
  • What are the epistemic, empirical, and social factors that define ongoing science (in comparison with the philosophical study of historical episodes)?

Previously, I was a Presidential Scholar in Society and Neuroscience at The Center for Science & Society, Columbia University (2015-2018). There, I was the resident philosopher in the laboratory of the neuroscientist Stuart Firestein.

Further, I have held a Research Fellowship at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Vienna (2013-15). I received my PhD in Philosophy at the Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences, University of Exeter (2013), for my thesis titled, “Making Sense of Smell: Classifications and Model Thinking in Olfaction Theory;" and I hold an MA in Philosophy and Literature Theory from the Humboldt-University, Berlin (2009), with a thesis on causality in Leibniz and its relevance for theories of biological classification. 

I am also fascinated by (the history of) magic for its implications in understanding the effects that conjuring tricks play on our minds. ​

Contact: as.barwich_at_gmail.com                 Twitter: @smellosopher
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