The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also co ....The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also consider how the normative and conceptual claims made by such theories, about what must be true of a moral judgment, are connected to descriptive claims about the psychology of the moral agents who make them.Read moreRead less
Spinoza, Kant and Deleuze on freedom and ethical difference: an immanent approach. Transcendent moral philosophies, such as those in the Kantian tradition, have significant disadvantages when it comes to developing ethical and political tools for multicultural communities such as Australia, as they lack the flexibility to negotiate between moral and religious groupings adhering to competing moral absolutes. In using Deleuze's thought to develop a non-transcendent or immanent approach to ethics, ....Spinoza, Kant and Deleuze on freedom and ethical difference: an immanent approach. Transcendent moral philosophies, such as those in the Kantian tradition, have significant disadvantages when it comes to developing ethical and political tools for multicultural communities such as Australia, as they lack the flexibility to negotiate between moral and religious groupings adhering to competing moral absolutes. In using Deleuze's thought to develop a non-transcendent or immanent approach to ethics, the project seeks to address this problem. It will provide a means of negotiating this plurality of beliefs without recourse to transcendent or universal values, or to any one dominant moral code. This approach aims to have a marked impact on national debate over the philosophical and practical possibilities of such an ethics.Read moreRead less
Philosophical Foundations of Architectural Discourse. Philosophy is involved with architectural theory and practice morally as well as aesthetically. This project examines 'integrity,' 'identity' and 'character' as concepts arising out of concerns with value and commitment in moral philosophy and architecture. Rather than ethics pasted on to a profession, it discusses ways in which moral philosophy and architecture inform one another by analysing ways in which moral concepts ramify architectural ....Philosophical Foundations of Architectural Discourse. Philosophy is involved with architectural theory and practice morally as well as aesthetically. This project examines 'integrity,' 'identity' and 'character' as concepts arising out of concerns with value and commitment in moral philosophy and architecture. Rather than ethics pasted on to a profession, it discusses ways in which moral philosophy and architecture inform one another by analysing ways in which moral concepts ramify architectural practice. This project seeks to establish the foundations of a new discipline. Research will explore how architectural language - references to coherency and enclosure, planning and the designed whole - is implicit in philosophical concerns for moral integrity. This project aims to construct new ways of thinking through design, that is, to consider norms of human habitation more critically.
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