Colin Allen

Colin Allen was born in England in 1960 and had a transatlantic upbringing between Britain and the Caribbean, leading to undergraduate studies at the University of London and a PhD at UCLA. Trained in logic and philosophy of language, he nevertheless believes that good philosophy comes from good science, and to separate the two is artificial. While a student at UCLA he got involved with scientists who were studying meaningful communication between monkeys, and since then he has written extensively about the science of animal minds. While at UCLA, he also studied artificial intelligence, and in the last 10 years has become intrigued with the issue of new technologies that are increasingly involved in making moral decisions. Whenever he's not writing he's riding his bike wherever in the world he can, but most often around Bloomington, Indiana, where he is professor of cognitive science and professor of history & philosophy of science.