{"title":"Jonathan Birch","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"edge-of-sentience-book-jonathan-birch-9780192870421","title":"The Edge of Sentience","description":"This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.  Can octopuses feel pain and pleasure? What about crabs, shrimps, insects or spiders? How do we tell whether a person unresponsive after severe brain injury might be suffering? When does a fetus in the womb start to have conscious experiences? Could there even be rudimentary feelings in miniature models of the human brain, grown from human stem cells? And what about AI?  These are questions about the edge of sentience, and they are subject to enormous, disorienting uncertainty. We desperately want certainty, but it is out of reach. The stakes are immense, and neglecting the risks can have terrible costs. We need to err on the side of caution, yet it's often far from clear what 'erring on the side of caution' should mean in practice. When are we going too far? When are we not doing enough?  The Edge of Sentience presents a comprehensive precautionary framework designed to help us reach ethically sound, evidence-based decisions despite our uncertainty. The book is packed with specific, detailed proposals intended to generate discussion and debate. At no point, however, does it offer any magic tricks to make our uncertainty go away. Uncertainty is with us for the long term. We must manage our uncertainty by taking precautions that are proportionate to the risks. It's time to start debating what those steps should be.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50100088439057,"sku":"NGR9780192870421","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50582816653585,"sku":"GOR014005909","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50929566417169,"sku":"GOR014128734","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50978990522641,"sku":"CIN0192870424G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999738761489,"sku":"NIN9780192870421","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52902445351185,"sku":"CIN0192870424LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0192870424.jpg?v=1750737595"},{"product_id":"philosophy-of-social-evolution-book-jonathan-birch-9780198851684","title":"The Philosophy of Social Evolution","description":"From mitochondria to meerkats, the natural world is full of spectacular examples of social behaviour. In the early 1960s Bill Hamilton changed the way we think about how such behaviour evolves. He introduced three key innovations - now known as Hamilton's rule, kin selection, and inclusive fitness - which have been enormously influential, but which remain the subject of fierce controversy.  Hamilton's pioneering work kick-started a research program now known as social evolution theory. This is a book about the philosophical foundations and future prospects of that program. Part I, \"Foundations\", is a careful exposition and defence of Hamilton's ideas, with a few modifications along the way. In Part II, \"Extensions\", Jonathan Birch shows how these ideas can be applied to phenomena including cooperation in micro-organisms, cooperation among the cells of a multicellular organism, and culturally evolved cooperation in the earliest human societies. Birch argues that real progress can be made in understanding microbial evolution, evolutionary transitions, and human evolution by viewing them through the lens of social evolution theory, provided the theory is interpreted with care and adapted where necessary.   The Philosophy of Social Evolution places social evolution theory on a firm philosophical footing and sets out exciting new directions for further work.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346422927633,"sku":"CIN0198851685G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52647311048977,"sku":"GOR014574966","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0198851685.jpg?v=1750876601"},{"product_id":"nibelungen-lied-or-lay-of-the-last-nibelungers-book-jonathan-birch-9781018920412","title":"The Nibelungen Lied; Or, Lay of the Last Nibelungers","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51101041885457,"sku":"NIN9781018920412","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1018920412.jpg?v=1750886097"},{"product_id":"fifty-one-original-fables-book-jonathan-birch-9781375110167","title":"Fifty-one Original Fables","description":"\u003cp\u003eNineteenth Century Collections Online: European Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection includes the full-text of more than 9,500 English, French and German titles. The collection is sourced from the remarkable library of Victor Amadeus, whose Castle Corvey collection was one of the most spectacular discoveries of the late 1970s. The Corvey Collection comprises one of the most important collections of Romantic era writing in existence anywhere -- including fiction, short prose, dramatic works, poetry, and more -- with a focus on especially difficult-to-find works by lesser-known, historically neglected writers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Corvey library was built during the last half of the 19th century by Victor and his wife Elise, both bibliophiles with varied interests. The collection thus contains everything from novels and short stories to belles lettres and more populist works, and includes many exceedingly rare works not available in any other collection from the period. These invaluable, sometimes previously unknown works are of particular interest to scholars and researchers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEuropean Literature, 1790-1840: The Corvey Collection includes: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e * Novels and Gothic Novels\u003cbr\u003e* Short Stories\u003cbr\u003e* Belles-Lettres\u003cbr\u003e* Short Prose Forms\u003cbr\u003e* Dramatic Works\u003cbr\u003e* Poetry\u003cbr\u003e* Anthologies\u003cbr\u003e* And more\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected with the guidance of an international team of expert advisors, these primary sources are invaluable for a wide range of academic disciplines and areas of study, providing never before possible research opportunities for one of the most studied historical periods.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdditional Metadata\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrimary Id: B0236300\u003cbr\u003ePSM Id: NCOF0063-C00000-B0236300\u003cbr\u003eDVI Collection Id: NCOC0062\u003cbr\u003eBibliographic Id: NCO003269\u003cbr\u003eReel: 1138\u003cbr\u003eMCODE: 4UVC\u003cbr\u003eOriginal Publisher: Printed for Hamilton, Adams, and Co.\u003cbr\u003eOriginal Publication Year: 1833\u003cbr\u003eOriginal Publication Place: London\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eVariant Titles\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFifty one original fables\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eSubjects\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFables, English -- 19th century\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51157099708689,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51157102690577,"sku":"NGR9781375110167","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1375110160.jpg?v=1751114246"},{"product_id":"divine-emblems-after-the-fashion-of-master-francis-quarles-by-johann-abricht-book-jonathan-birch-9781147055634","title":"Divine Emblems ... 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