Dr Matthew Burch
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Email
mburch@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872708
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Location
6.145, Colchester Campus
Profile
Biography
Matt Burch is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, the Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Centre, and the Deputy Director of the Essex Autonomy Project. He has published on diverse topics, e.g., deliberation, disability rights, objectivity, weakness of will, religious experience, and the phenomenology of illness. What brings unity to this diversity is his methodological approach of “applied phenomenology”, which he defines as a research program that brings the phenomenological method and the resources of other disciplines to bear on problems beyond the scope of any mono-disciplinary approach. He has worked on several projects with the Essex Autonomy Project, including an AHRC-funded project on the compliance of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Wellcome Trust-funded Mental Health and Justice project. From 2018-2019, he had an Early Career Research Fellowship from the Independent Social Research Foundation. His current research draws on the resources of risk studies, phenomenology, human rights discourse, mental capacity law, the philosophy of mind, and literary and cultural studies to develop a concept of risk suitable for singular risk decisions and a basic account of normative guidance for such decisions.
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Matt works on issues at the intersection of phenomenology
action theory
and research in the cognitive and social sciences.
Current research
The stance of objectivity in legal contexts
the question of risk in the care professions
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Interdisciplinary Research and Problem-Solving: An Introduction (CS111)
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Ways of Knowing (CS112)
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The World in Question: The Social, Cultural, Political & Environmental Legacies of the Enlightenment (CS201)
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Selected Issues in Human Rights (HU300)
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Introduction to Epistemology (PY109)
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Introduction to Philosophy (PY111)
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Philosophy Capstone Module (PY455)
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 13/3/2024
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 27/1/2021
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 5/7/2019
Publications
Journal articles (12)
Burch, M., (2025). On the Role of Expectations in Experiences of Alienation. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences
Burch, M. and Rautenberg, N., (2024). Ideology as modes of being-with: An existential-phenomenological contribution to ideology critique. Philosophy and Social Criticism
Burch, M., (2023). Phenomenology’s Place in the Philosophy of Medicine. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. 44 (3), 209-227
Burch, M., (2021). Make Applied Phenomenology What it Needs to Be: An Interdisciplinary Research Program. Continental Philosophy Review. 54 (2), 275-293
Burch, M. and Furman, K., (2019). Objectivity in Science and Law: A Shared Rescue Strategy. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 64, 60-70
Burch, M., (2018). Making Sense of Akrasia. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 17 (5), 939-971
Burch, M., (2017). Autonomy, Respect, and The Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Crisis. Journal of Applied Philosophy. 34 (3), 389-402
Burch, M., (2016). Religion and scientism: a shared cognitive conundrum. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion
Burch, M., (2013). The Existential Sources of Phenomenology: Heidegger on Formal Indication. European Journal of Philosophy. 21 (2), 258-278
Burch, M., (2010). Blurred vision: Marion on the ?possibility? of revelation. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. 67 (3), 157-171
Burch, M., (2010). Death and Deliberation: Overcoming the Decisionism Critique of Heidegger's Practical Philosophy. Inquiry. 53 (3), 211-234
Burch, M., (2009). The Twinkling of an Eye - Kierkegaard and Heidegger on the Possibility of Faith. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. 83 (2), 219-238
Books (2)
Burch, M. and McMullin, I., (2020). Transcending Reason: Heidegger’s Reconceptualization of Rationality. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-1-78660-958-8
McMullin, I., (2019). Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Routledge
Book chapters (3)
Burch, M., (2020). Giving a Damn About Getting it Right: Heideggerian Constitutivism and Our Reasons to be Authentic. In: Transcending Reason: Heidegger on Rationality. Editors: Burch, M. and McMullin, I., . Rowman & Littlefield. 978-1786609588
Burch, M., (2019). Against Our Better Judgment. In: Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Editors: Burch, M., Marsh, J. and McMullin, I., . Routledge. 9781138479913
Burch, M., Marsh, J. and McMullin, I., (2019). Introduction. In: Normativity, Meaning, and the Promise of Phenomenology. Routledge. 1- 6
Reports and Papers (1)
Martin, W., Michalowski, S., Jütten, T. and Burch, M., (2014). Achieving CRPD Compliance: Is the Mental Capacity Act of England and Wales compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability? If not, what next?
Grants and funding
2017
The Theory of Risk and the Practice of Care: Bridging the Gap
Independent Social Research Foundation
2016
Mental Health and Justice
Wellcome Trust
