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Prof Robert Northcott

Positions held:
  • Professor of Philosophy, School of Historical Studies
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    I began at Birkbeck in the summer of 2011. From 2017 to 2020 I was Head of the Department of Philosophy as was, and since 2024 I have been Subject Lead for Philosophy. Before Birkbeck, I taught for six years at the University of Missouri-St Louis. I received my PhD from the London School of Economics. Before switching to philosophy, I did graduate work in economics, receiving an MSc, and undergraduate work in mathematics and history.

    Away from academia, I have won money at tournaments in poker, pool, and foosball/table football. In my LSE days, I was captain of the University Challenge TV quiz team, reaching the grand final. More recently, I made my first ever hole-in-one in golf and also at last began to break 80.

    Web profiles

    ORCID

    0000-0001-8791-8364
  • Research

    Research

    Research overview

    I have recently completed a book, 'Science for a Fragile World', about how to investigate a world in which laws and causal relations hold intermittently and unpredictably. This book is the culmination of a longstanding interest in how knowledge is produced in such messy cases. In the book, I argue that:

    1) Much of our world is like this, especially once we venture outside the confines of laboratories and engineered artefacts. It includes many of the issues that we care most about: war, environmental damage, pandemics, elections, and more.

    2) These issues need to be investigated by, roughly, a case worker rather than theorist approach.

    3) This has a big impact on how scientific theories should be both developed and applied.

    Although my research is mainly in philosophy of science, I have also written extensively on related themes in metaphysics, especially the notions of causation and causal explanation. I have also applied some of this causal training to debates around several other philosophical issues, including scientific progress, harm, innateness, and free will.

    I have recently begun new work in the philosophy of history. Roughly, I analyse the study of history using tools from philosophy of science, including many of the tools developed in 'Science for a Fragile World'.

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within Birkbeck:
    2

    Current doctoral researchers

    • MATTIAS AHLGREN
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor, onwards
    • RICHARD URWIN
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor, onwards

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Research in Theoretical Philosophy (SSPL157S7)
    • Research in Practical Philosophy (SSPL158S7)
    • Knowledge and Reality (SSPL234S4)
    • Evolution, Science and Morality (Level 5) (SSPL247S5)
    • Evolution, Science and Morality (Level 7) (SSPL249S7)
    • Philosophy of Science (Level 5) (SSPL285S5)
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    Book Section

    • Northcott, Robert (2023) Prediction, history, and political science. In: Kincaid, H. and Van Bouwel, J. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Political Science. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780197519806. (In Press)
    • Northcott, Robert (2021) Economic theory and empirical science. In: Heilmann, C. and Reiss, J. (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy of Economics. Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy. Routledge. ISBN 9781138824201. (In Press)
    • Northcott, Robert and Alexandrova, A. (2015) Prisoner's dilemma doesn't explain much. In: Peterson, M. (ed.) The Prisoner's Dilemma. Classic Philosophical Arguments. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 64-84. ISBN 9781107621473.
    • Northcott, Robert (2012) Genetic traits and causal explanation. In: Plaisance, K.S. and Reydon, T.A.C. (eds.) Philosophy of Behavioral Biology. Boston Studies in Philosophy of Science. London, UK: Springer. pp. 65-82. ISBN 9789400719507.
    • Northcott, Robert (2012) How necessary are randomized controlled trials?. In: Munson, R. (ed.) Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Bioethics (9th Edition). Independence, U.S.: Cengage. pp. 187-191. ISBN 9781133587149.
    • Northcott, Robert (2012) Partial explanations in social science. In: Kincaid, H. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science. Oxford Handbooks in Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 130-153. ISBN 9780195392753.
    • Northcott, Robert (2010) Bad luck or the ref's fault?. In: Richards, T. (ed.) Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game. Popular Culture and Philosophy. Chicago, USA: Open Court. pp. 319-326. ISBN 9780812696769.
    • Northcott, Robert and Alexandrova, A. (2009) Progress in economics. In: Kincaid, H. and Ross, D. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 306-337. ISBN 9780195189254.
    • Northcott, Robert (2006) The irrational game: why there's no perfect system. In: Bronson, E. (ed.) Poker and Philosophy: Pocket Rockets and Philosopher Kings. Chicago, USA: Open Court Publishing Company. pp. 105-115. ISBN 9780812695941.