The ownership of minds. This project aims to research the awareness of a conscious state as the subject's own. This is at the heart of a perennial debate about consciousness: whether we are aware of our conscious states as our own, or are merely aware of their occurrence. The project will collaborate internationally and across disciplines and institutions to develop a conceptual distinction between two components of consciousness. It will also provide an analysis of the nature of three mental di ....The ownership of minds. This project aims to research the awareness of a conscious state as the subject's own. This is at the heart of a perennial debate about consciousness: whether we are aware of our conscious states as our own, or are merely aware of their occurrence. The project will collaborate internationally and across disciplines and institutions to develop a conceptual distinction between two components of consciousness. It will also provide an analysis of the nature of three mental disorders in which the two components seem to come apart. These outcomes are expected to constitute a significant innovation in the study of consciousness and, more generally, in the philosophy of mind.Read moreRead less
Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitt ....Ethics, responsibility and the carbon budget. This project aims to provide a rigorous ethical framework for dividing the world’s remaining ‘carbon budget’ (CB). In order to avoid climate change the world must drastically limit its emissions of greenhouse gases. The project will develop a new analysis of how our assumptions concerning risk and harm shape conception of the CB. It will also provide a new understanding of how future emission rights should be allocated given that countries have emitted vastly different quantities of greenhouse gases in the past. The project will analyse how the CB will impact the climate transition plans of countries such as Australia. The project will thus bring significant new research in philosophy to bear on a practical issue.Read moreRead less
Everything in its Place: Location, Persistence, and Change. This project aims to critically examine a number of accounts of how and if we may reconcile what we know about ordinary objects with the unexpected things science has taught us about space, time, and the fundamental building blocks of nature. The project anticipates generating new knowledge in metaphysics, exploiting the recent 'locative turn' to revitalise perennial questions about existence and change. Expected outcomes of this projec ....Everything in its Place: Location, Persistence, and Change. This project aims to critically examine a number of accounts of how and if we may reconcile what we know about ordinary objects with the unexpected things science has taught us about space, time, and the fundamental building blocks of nature. The project anticipates generating new knowledge in metaphysics, exploiting the recent 'locative turn' to revitalise perennial questions about existence and change. Expected outcomes of this project include publications and conference activities, the initiation of new international collaborations, and enhanced research capability in scientific metaphysics in Australia. Benefits include improved understanding of our place in the natural world and enhancing Australia's reputation and research skill base.Read moreRead less
Philosophical perspectives on psychedelic psychiatry. This project aims to develop a multi-level integrated theory of self-representation and self-awareness that explains the effects of psychedelic therapy in particular, and transformative experience in general. Psychedelic drugs can produce lasting psychotherapeutic benefits. The mechanism is a dramatic but temporary alteration to the ordinary sense of self, known as “ego dissolution”. However, fundamental questions about self-representation an ....Philosophical perspectives on psychedelic psychiatry. This project aims to develop a multi-level integrated theory of self-representation and self-awareness that explains the effects of psychedelic therapy in particular, and transformative experience in general. Psychedelic drugs can produce lasting psychotherapeutic benefits. The mechanism is a dramatic but temporary alteration to the ordinary sense of self, known as “ego dissolution”. However, fundamental questions about self-representation and its neural and cognitive implementation remain unresolved. In order to explain ego dissolution and its therapeutic effects, this project aims to integrate two theoretical approaches to self-representation situated at the intersection of philosophy and cognitive neuroscience, the predictive coding theory of brain function and the self-binding theory of self-representation. Such a framework has potential to anchor further interdisciplinary research and practical intervention in disorders of the self.Read moreRead less