Changing your mind by changing your brain: An interventionist perspective on cognitive neuroscience. Functional neuroimaging provides a tremendous amount of information about the brain, but what it shows about the mind is less clear. Addressing this fundamental philosophical question requires developing a detailed account of theory-testing in cognitive neuroscience. This project aims to connect neuroimaging to theories of explanation that focus on the way one variable can make a difference to an ....Changing your mind by changing your brain: An interventionist perspective on cognitive neuroscience. Functional neuroimaging provides a tremendous amount of information about the brain, but what it shows about the mind is less clear. Addressing this fundamental philosophical question requires developing a detailed account of theory-testing in cognitive neuroscience. This project aims to connect neuroimaging to theories of explanation that focus on the way one variable can make a difference to another. By linking neuroimaging to facts about manipulable relationships between the brain and the mind, it will also provide a bridge between neuroimaging and complementary technologies for directly intervening on the brain. This, in turn, will provide a platform from which to explore the theoretical and ethical consequences of direct brain manipulation.Read moreRead less
Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The a ....Nature and Nation: Science, Environment and National Identity in Australia. Nature and Nation combines interviews and archival research to explore the intersection of three worlds in Australia:
· the natural world
· the scientific world that speaks for nature in settler society, and
· the cultural world that fosters and constrains science and other ways of knowing about nature.
The primary focus is the workings of science in northern Australia, where the frontier has never closed. The aim is to elucidate the past, present and future roles of environment and science in Australia's nation-building. Outcomes will include public lectures, journal articles and a major book for a general audience.
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Perception, interpretation, and the explanation of delusional beliefs. The occurrence of bizarrely false beliefs, called delusions, presents challenges, not only for clinical psychiatric practice, but also for psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. The aim of this project is to make a distinctively philosophical contribution to our understanding of delusional beliefs by addressing three philosophical questions raised by the study of delusions, questions about perception, interpretation, and e ....Perception, interpretation, and the explanation of delusional beliefs. The occurrence of bizarrely false beliefs, called delusions, presents challenges, not only for clinical psychiatric practice, but also for psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. The aim of this project is to make a distinctively philosophical contribution to our understanding of delusional beliefs by addressing three philosophical questions raised by the study of delusions, questions about perception, interpretation, and explanation. Answers to these questions will constitute substantial contributions to three central areas of philosophy, but their significance also extends beyond philosophy. They will impact on the scientific investigation of delusions and will contribute indirectly to the treatment and rehabilitation of sufferers.
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Beyond Scenarios: Testable Models of the Evolution of Norms. The aim of this project is to investigate the evolution of social norms, and their causal role in social life and its breakdown. It expects to generate new knowledge in this area through the application of new formal techniques to existing hypotheses; especially causal analysis, evolutionary game theory, and phylogenetic cross-cultural testing for empirically plausibility. Expected outcomes include theory development, improved research ....Beyond Scenarios: Testable Models of the Evolution of Norms. The aim of this project is to investigate the evolution of social norms, and their causal role in social life and its breakdown. It expects to generate new knowledge in this area through the application of new formal techniques to existing hypotheses; especially causal analysis, evolutionary game theory, and phylogenetic cross-cultural testing for empirically plausibility. Expected outcomes include theory development, improved research infrastructure and training in collaboration with international partners, and theoretical recommendations for policy intervention. This should allow greater insight and control over the levers of peaceful social life, both in traditional societies, and in large, open, multi-cultural nations like Australia. Read moreRead less
Naming Oceania: geography, raciology and local knowledge in the 'fifth part of the world', 1511-1920. A history of the marriage of space and race in our region restores Australia to regional histories and wider Oceania to global histories. It offers a grounded basis to grasp how regional, national and local nomenclatures and identities mutated over 400 years, in contexts of European exploration, imperialism, colonisation, emergence of the science of race and intensifying face-to-face encounters. ....Naming Oceania: geography, raciology and local knowledge in the 'fifth part of the world', 1511-1920. A history of the marriage of space and race in our region restores Australia to regional histories and wider Oceania to global histories. It offers a grounded basis to grasp how regional, national and local nomenclatures and identities mutated over 400 years, in contexts of European exploration, imperialism, colonisation, emergence of the science of race and intensifying face-to-face encounters. By uncovering traces of past naming systems, Indigenous and foreign, the research will show how present names and boundaries of states, places and people are constructs rather than eternal truths. It will cast light on the antecedents to modern Australian regional interventions, neighbourly relations and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences.Read moreRead less
European Naturalists and the Constitution of Human Difference in Oceania: Crosscultural Encounters and the Science of Race, 1768-1888. This research will promote better understanding of the historical antecedents to contemporary Australian regional interventions, relations with our neighbours and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences. It thus directly addresses current debates on the politics of history. The assumptions about regional differences which underpin current Australian attitudes ....European Naturalists and the Constitution of Human Difference in Oceania: Crosscultural Encounters and the Science of Race, 1768-1888. This research will promote better understanding of the historical antecedents to contemporary Australian regional interventions, relations with our neighbours and conceptions of racial or ethnic differences. It thus directly addresses current debates on the politics of history. The assumptions about regional differences which underpin current Australian attitudes and policies stem from much earlier debates on the racial histories and collective physical variations of Oceanian people and from beliefs about natural European dominance over indigenous populations. This project will produce an accessible history of the genesis of such ideas and demonstrate the historical embeddedness of Australia within the wider context of Oceania.Read moreRead less
Fundamentality. Australia is a world leader in metaphysical research. This project aims to strengthen the tradition of Australian metaphysics, by studying fundamentality, or the notion of being fundamental. It revives the classical monistic worldview on which we are interdependent and interrelated fragments of a greater whole. It thus connects the philosophical tradition of Plotinus, Spinoza, and Hegel to the physical picture of the cosmos as a single entangled quantum system, and so promises to ....Fundamentality. Australia is a world leader in metaphysical research. This project aims to strengthen the tradition of Australian metaphysics, by studying fundamentality, or the notion of being fundamental. It revives the classical monistic worldview on which we are interdependent and interrelated fragments of a greater whole. It thus connects the philosophical tradition of Plotinus, Spinoza, and Hegel to the physical picture of the cosmos as a single entangled quantum system, and so promises to deepen our understanding of our place in nature—while strengthening Australian leadership in the field.Read moreRead less
Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and in ....Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and integrate these various conditions using empirical examples and simple models. The resulting work from this project will provide a clearer general understanding of what biological complexity is, and how science has compelling candidates for understanding how it evolves.Read moreRead less
Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contempo ....Producing Biodiversity: A History of Science in Australia's Desert Lands. Biodiversity conservation is regarded by most people as desirable, but its historical and cultural aspects are poorly understood. It is not just about scientific understanding of animals and plants, but also a matter of practice and negotiation. People and places are changed through conservation and these changes in turn shape the ways nature is imagined and managed. Producing Biodiversity documents historical and contemporary initiatives in biodiversity management on six very different pastoral properties on the margins of the Australian desert. We provide a long-term perspective on national and local conservation imperatives in different eras, and explore how they affect pastoral, Aboriginal and scientific communities.Read moreRead less
Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distin ....Understanding Australia in The Age of Humans: Localising the Anthropocene. The project aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of Australia as a distinctive locality within the global idea of the new epoch of humanity known as the Anthropocene. It aims to analyse and narrate how human interventions have come to transform Australian environments in fundamental and enduring ways, showing the history, impact and implications of human-influenced biophysical planetary change within our distinctive and vulnerable continental and ocean environments. It also plans to use both print and museum environments to develop new understandings of the cultural dimensions of the ‘Age of Humans’.Read moreRead less