Dr Judyth Sassoon

Overview of Research

My research falls at the intersection between palaeontology as a scientific practice and the philosophy of palaeontology. I am interested in how palaeontologists interpret and discover meaning in fossils. Specifically, I am aiming to demonstrate how the interpretive practices of semiotics, hermeneutics and phenomenology are intertwined with established scientific practices in palaeontology. For my case studies, I use examples from research on the marine reptile taxon, the Plesiosauria.

Palaeoscience and philosophy

Palaeontologists use well-established methods to study fossils. However, the fossil record is incomplete and therefore, palaeontologists are sensitive to the epistemological challenges of reconstructing the past. Research methods are continually being appraised, and their reliability and limits rigorously tested. Palaeontologists strive for consistency to ensure that inferences and conclusions align with theoretical and cross-disciplinary findings.

Complementing these approaches, philosophy of palaeontology also addresses the epistemological challenges of fossil reconstruction. While also appraising the established methods it also pays attention to broader questions, for example the tensions between scientific realism and constructivism. Philosophical approaches can also be very helpful when they reveal how inference and analogy are used in fossil reconstruction. Furthermore, philosophy reaches beyond the scope of science towards more metaphysical questions, such as the ontological status of long extinct creatures. Fossils embody a paradoxical tension, between being physically present objects while at the same time signifying an ontological absence (extinction) of the organisms they represent. This tension requires deeper consideration if a complete picture of research practices is to be established.

The critical reflection that philosophy demands can improve scientific interpretation by clarifying conceptual frameworks, highlighting potential biases, assumptions, and weaknesses in reasoning.

Both palaeo-science and palaeo-philosophy are active, developing, complementary disciplines. Their interaction can generate robust, well-rounded research practices and in-depth understanding of the complexities of knowing and reconstructing the past.

The triune of meaning-making: Semiotics, hermeneutics and phenomenology.

The goals of palaeontology are to understand the past and the goals of philosophy are, among other things, to enhance research by steering towards conceptual and methodological clarity. The novelty of my work lies in how it demonstrates that the triune of interpretation through phenomenology, hermeneutics and semiotics is already tacitly present in palaeontological practice.

Semiotics examines fossils as signs that convey meaning about the past; hermeneutics questions how fossils as material traces of the deep past are contextualised and given meaning and phenomenology explores how human lived experience and perception shape the study of the past. All three disciplines engage with meaning and interpretation in slightly different ways, and all take into the account the intertwined relationship between observing subjects (palaeontologists) and objects (fossils).

My case studies from historical and current plesiosaur research focus on:

• The changing meaning of the concept of “plesiosaur” from 1821 to the present.
• The role of errors in the conceptualisations and interpretations of specimens
• The historical tension between evolutionary taxonomy and cladistics, and how these different approaches lead to different conceptions of the animals in the groups being systematised.