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Dr Sophia M. Connell

Positions held:
  • Reader in Philosophy, School of Historical Studies
  • Undergraduate Lead, School of Historical Studies
Address

Room 313, 30 Russell Square

Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Sophia M. Connell is Reader in the Philosophy. Before coming to Birkbeck in 2017, Sophia taught philosophy at the University of Cambridge for 15 years. She has been a Fellow and Arts Admissions Tutor at Selwyn College (2015-17), a Philosophy Lecturer at Newnham College (2002-17), a Teaching Associate (2010-11) and Lecturer (2008-9) in the Faculty of Philosophy and was a Research Fellow at both Churchill and St John’s Colleges (1997-2001).

    Highlights

    • Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics on happiness and how to live well (2023) and Aristotle's method of biological investigation and the first systematic and thorough study of animals, which was unequalled for almost 2,000 years (2019). 

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001rylh

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002cfd

    • Sophia Connell discusses the Lost Women of Early Analytic Philosophy

      https://blog.apaonline.org/2022/09/07/the-lost-women-of-early-analytic-philosophy/

    Qualifications

    • MPhil, University of Cambridge, 1994
    • PhD, University of Cambridge, 1997

    Web profiles

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Undergraduate Lead

    Visiting posts

    Professional activities

    Associate Editor (Ancient Philosophy), British Journal for the History of Philosophy.

    Editorial Board Member, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Springer

    Advisory Board, Aristotle Beyond the Academy, Durham University

    Advisory Board, Aristoteles Pezographos: Investigating The Style and Language of Aristotle, Dept of Classics and Ancient History, Durham

    Advisory Board, Animals in Islamic Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (2018-23)

    Professional memberships

    • Committee member, British Society for the History of Philosophy

    • Member, London Centre for Ancient Philosophy

    Honours and awards

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Ancient Greek Philosophy
    • Aristotle's Biology
    • Aristotle's Ethics
    • Aristotle's Psychology and Philosophy of Mind
    • Plato's Political Philosophy
    • Animal Cognition (especially in Aristotle)
    • History of Analytic Philosophy (especially female figures)
    • Mary Midgley
    • Alice Ambrose
    • Women in Ancient Science, Medicine and Philosophy

    Research overview

    Sophia works broadly to consolidate and improve philosophical engagement with Aristotle’s biological corpus, particularly the Generation of Animals, Parts of Animals and Historia Animalium. Her work shows how serious engagement with these relatively neglected texts throws new light on many aspects of Aristotle’s philosophy.  She is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle's Biology (2021). In 2016, her book Aristotle on Female Animals was also published with Cambridge University Press.

    Sophia has published work on nutritive soul, the role of nous in embryology and the bodily basis for intellect in Aristotle’s philosophy.  Another strand of her research reveals connections between Aristotle’s biology and his ethical and political works.  For Aristotle each animal has a way of life that accords with its kind, and makes that animal able to live well.  Although humans are also animals, limited by their embodied and mortal condition, they must fulfil their nature through thoughtful and rational engagement in the decisions that will shape their lives.  For Aristotle humans are social animals, which means they cannot do well unless they interact successfully with others. Although uniquely placed in the natural world, humans share many features with other animals including sociality, sentience, emotional responsiveness and even certain ways of thinking. These facts impact our responsibilities towards non-human animals. Sophia has published several papers exploring these themes in Aristotle and contemporary Aristotelianism; she is now working on Aristotelian environmental ethics. Sophia is developing research on the female body in ancient philosophical and medico-philosophical texts. Along with this, she has recent research which traces the work of women ancient philosophers and scientists.

    Sophia is known for her historiographic work on women in early analytic philosophy. Female figures who worked on philosophical topics in the early part of the last century, have been unfairly marginalised. Archival research reveals the impact of their thought in this period.  She has published work on G.E.M. Anscombe, Mary Midgley and Alice Ambrose and co-editing a Special Issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy on ‘Lost Voices: Women in Philosophy 1880-1970’ with Frederique Janssen-Lauret (2021). Her current research includes the philosophy of Sophie Bryant, Grace De Laguna and Alice Ambrose.

    Research Centres and Institutes

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within Birkbeck:
    4

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest

    Current doctoral researchers

    • GLENDA HALL
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor, onwards
    • MARYAM JAFAR AGHDAMI KHAMENEH
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor, onwards
      Title of thesis:
      Does ignorance of privilege lead to epistemic oppression?
      Description:

      In a world marked by pandemics and driven by multicultural engagement, where people with multifaceted identities interact with each other online and offline, harms such as silencing, language policing and epistemic oppression occur frequently. ‘Epistemic oppression’ refers to a persistent exclusion that prevents certain communities from contributing to social knowledge (Dotson, 2014). Much research has been devoted to how racist or sexist people silence marginalised groups. However, little attention has been given to epistemic oppressions committed by well-meaning anti-racists and anti-sexists who are nevertheless ignorant of their privileges. My PhD research offers an original contribution to social epistemology by examining such ignored cases of epistemic oppression and providing recommendations towards a more equal community of knowers. The increased attention to racism and sexism alongside movements like #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo make this a timely and relevant project.

    • SAILEE KHURJEKAR
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor, onwards
      Title of thesis:
      The Worst Race Scenario: Racial Minorities and Obscene Art
      Description:

      Nature of Supervision: Principal Supervisor, October 2023 Onwards

      Title of Thesis: The Worst Race Scenario: Racial Minorities and Obscene Art

      Description: My research is situated between two often opposing commitments: The first is our commitment to art, autonomy, and the freedom of expression; and the second is our commitment to protecting minorities from harms, e.g., racism and oppression. I provide the first scholarly examination of obscenity, specifically obscene art, that aims to reconcile these commitments. Between total freedom for art and total censorship of the obscene, I argue that there is need for regulation depending on harms to groups meriting protection. I focus on how people may be empowered or marginalised by certain artistic representations in light of their racial background. This matters. Pre-pandemic, popular art institutions such as the Tate Modern welcomed over 6 million visitors from different societies and cultures per year. My project centres around social power and inequality, specifically how social hierarchy can influence and change the way we view artworks.

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • ELEANOR ROBSON
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Mary Midgley’s Neo-Aristotelian Naturalism
      Awarded:
      2023

    Teaching

    I regularly teach the following courses:

    Philosophy as the Art of Living: Ancient Views

    Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

    Women in Philosophy

    Ethical Traditions

    Aristotle's Biology and Ethics

    Teaching modules

    • The Ethics of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (Level 7) (SC03017S7)
    • Research in Practical Philosophy (SSPL158S7)
    • Philosophy as the Art of Living: Ancient and Modern Views (SSPL235S4)
    • Ethical Traditions (Level 5) (SSPL244S5)
    • The Ethics of Life and Death: Humans, Animals and the Environment (Level 5) (SSPL262S5)
    • Women in Philosophy (Level 5) (SSPL274S5)
    • Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Level 5) (SSPL281S5)
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    Book

    Book Section

    Conference Item

    Other

    • Connell, Sophia (2023) Women in philosophy. Oxford Classical Dictionary online: Oxford University Press.
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Media

    I am happy to receive enquiries from the media on the following topics:

    • Aristotle's Philosophy
    • Alice Ambrose
    • History of Analytic Philosophy
    • Women in Ancient Greek Science, Medicine and Philosophy

      Outreach

      Speaker on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg on ‘Aristotle’s Biology’ 7th February 2019 

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002cfd

      Guest Speaker at the Forum for Philosophy, L.S.E., November 2019 on theme of ‘Aristotle Now’ 

      https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/theforum/aristotle_now/

      'Aristotle on Female Animals Etc.' Interviewed by Richard Marshall at 3.16 a.m.

      https://www.3-16am.co.uk/articles/aristotle-and-female-animals-etc?c=end-times-series

      Keynote Address, 'Women Intellectuals in Antiquity' Conference, Keble College, Oxford: February 2020.

      https://historyofphilosophy.net/sophia-connell-women%E2%80%99s-medical-knowledge-antiquity-beyond-midwifery