Pierrick Bourrat
SidneyHere we discover the career of Pierrick Bourrat, a specialist in the philosophy of evolution in Sydney...
Studies, readings, projects... Here's what he has to say!
Can you introduce yourself? What are you currently doing?
I am a research fellow in philosophy of science at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. I specialise in the philosophy of biology, specifically the philosophy of evolutionary biology.
After a bac S, I did a veterinary preparatory class (which no longer exists). Having failed the competitive entrance exam, I turned to a degree in biology at Blaise Pascal University in Clermont-Ferrand. I then went on to do a Masters in 'Biology and Evolutionary Ecology' at the University of Montpellier.
Having a passion for evolutionary psychology, I was lucky enough to do my Master's research placement at the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford on the evolution of religious beliefs, a subject I knew virtually nothing about, but which proved very intellectually stimulating. Having a strong taste for concepts, I gradually branched out into more fundamental questions such as "What is chance in biology?", "What is a gene?", "What is a level of selection?", "Is the biological evolution/cultural evolution analogy relevant?", and many others.
After returning from Oxford, I did a second Masters in philosophy of science in Paris under Philippe Huneman. Then, not having obtained a doctoral scholarship in France, I did my PhD at the University of Sydney, in Australia. I've been working on the same type of issues ever since.
What do you remember about your studies? Of your teachers?
Honestly, I don't have very positive memories of my studies in France. On the other hand I have a very positive one of my PhD in Sydney.
I consider the grandes écoles system, the 'royal' route in France, to be disastrous. This 'elitist' system selects a certain family and school environment rather than the most deserving individuals. Having spent my childhood in a rather modest, single-parent family in the suburbs of Saint-Étienne, I had only a vague idea of the French 'two-track' system. I didn't know, for example, what the École Normale Supérieure was, since no one had ever explained it to me, which is an understatement when one of our country's mottos is 'Equality': equality begins with equality of information given to individuals.
I then had a few failed attempts to get a doctoral grant in France, which led me to 'exile', first to the UK, then Australia. The reasons for these failures, I would later learn, had nothing to do with the quality of my work, but were rather political (different institutes fight each other to get PhD students), or because coming from biology I was not considered a 'real' philosopher by some professional philosophers. I'll skip the details, but I find these reasons deplorable and unworthy of the republican values that are taught at school and pompously displayed just about everywhere in French academic institutions, perhaps to hide a much less laudable reality...
Despite these rather difficult years of study, I have very fond memories of certain teachers and mentors. These include Jacques Valiergue, who teaches biology in preparatory classes at the Lycée agricole Louis Pasteur - Marmilhat near Clermont-Ferrand, Philippe Lachaume, teacher-researcher in evolutionary biology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, Guila Ganem, researcher in evolutionary biology at the University of Montpellier, and Nicolas Baumard, researcher in Cognitive Sciences at the Institut Jean Nicod. In Sydney, Paul Griffiths, my thesis supervisor and now collaborator, in addition to his quick wit and wise advice, has always been extremely kind to me and allowed me almost total freedom during my thesis.
Which philosophy book were you particularly passionate about? The author you fell in love with at first sight?
When I was studying biology, I tried my hand at the great philosophical thinkers. The result, on the whole, was frustration. Without context, it is very difficult to understand the thought of an author whose aim is very often to propose a new way of thinking in order to understand the world around us. This changed when I moved on to the so-called 'analytic' tradition, where the philosophical project is generally more modest (we are only interested in a well-defined question) but we try to answer it simply and clearly.
I must say, however, that the 'philosophical' book that struck me most was not written by a philosopher but by a biologist called Richard Dawkins. This book is The Selfish Gene in which the author sets out to show that living beings can be conceived of as being "vehicles" directed by their genes. Not being a science fiction book, since it is based on quite serious academic work, this book really turned my intellectual path upside down.
What are your projects, your research work?
I have several research projects in progress. One of them is aimed at understanding major transitions in evolution, for example, the transition from single-celled individuals like a bacterium or paramecium to multicellular individuals like us. My approach is based on mathematical equations used to describe evolutionary changes in a population. In another project my team, led by Paul Griffiths, is trying to propose an update of the 'etiological' notion of functions: a structure has a function X if X is the product of natural selection. For example, the function of the heart is to pump blood, because pumping blood is the product of natural selection (individuals with a heart that does not pump have no descendants). Although useful, this notion is only adequate for simple evolutionary dynamics and we are trying to refine it for more complex dynamics.
My other research work is published in academic papers (mostly in English) which can be found on my personal website.
Thank you Pierrick, for this testimonial!
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