Lynn Chiu, Philosophy of Biology
I'm a philosopher affiliated with the ImmunoConcept Lab of University of Bordeaux/CNRS.
I work on problems of individuality in the biological and psychological sciences. Keyword: ecological individuality
- I argue for processual, contextual approaches to the nature of humans as holobionts (organisms situated within a microbial environment).
- I challenge individualist assumptions in evolutionary explanations by investigating the impact of niche construction.
- I'm interested in making sense of a type of embodied/embedded perception that involves our gut microbes.
My personal approach is conceptual and analytic but my work is generated from interdisciplinary collaborations with developmental biologists, physiologists, and perceptual scientists.
Employment & Fellowships:
- Affiliated Researcher. University of Bordeaux. 2018-
- Postdoc. University of Bordeaux/CNRS under Thomas Pradeu's ERC-IDEM. 2015 - 2018.
- Dissertation Writing-up Fellow. KLI Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research. 2013.
Education:
- Ph.D./M.A. Philosophy, University of Missouri. 2009 - 2015.
- Visiting Ph.D. Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna. 2014.
- M. S. Psychology, National Taiwan University. 2006 - 2009.
- B. S. Life Sciences, National Yang Ming University. 2002 - 2006.
Areas of Specialization:
- Philosophy of Biology
- Philosophy of Science
- Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Areas of Competence: Philosophy of Mind, Logic & Critical Thinking, Bioethics
Languages: English (native), Mandarin (native), French (beginner), German (beginner)
Other Languages: Python, Netlogo, Perl
Email: chiulynnc@gmail.com
Twitter: @drlynnchiu
Publications:
- Chiu & Gilbert (2015) The birth of the holobiont: Multi-species birthing through mutual scaffolding and niche construction. Biosemiotics 8: 191. (publisher link)
- Chiu & Eberl (2016) Microorganisms as scaffolds of host individuality: an eco-immunity account of the holobiont. Biol Philos 31: 819 (publisher link)
- Chiu et al. (2017) Protective Microbiota: From Localized to Long-Reaching Co-Immunity. Front. Immunol. (publisher link) [download pdf]
- Laurent, ... Chiu, ...,et al. (2017) Immune-mediated repair: A matter of plasticity. Front. Immunol. 8:454. (publisher link) [download pdf]
- Chiu (forthcoming) Decoupling, Commingling, and the Evolutionary Significance of Experiential Niche Construction in "Evolutionary Causation: Biological and Philosophical Reflections" eds Uller, T. and Laland, K. ( Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology, MIT Press)
- Chiu & Pradeu (under review) Extending Organisms