A unified theory of the individual - a central problem in analytical philosophy. This project will further increase Australia's already high profile in analytic philosophy. This will foster an intellectual environment within Australia that will attract highly skilled overseas academics who bring knowledge and funding to Australia, benefiting both Australian researchers and students. This will in turn attract overseas fee-paying students who bring economic and cultural benefits to Australia.
The logical and metaphysical challenge of vague language. Where do we draw the line between life and death, tall and short, right and wrong? The vagueness or indeterminacy of such concepts prohibits easy answers. This projects aims to provide a philosophical analysis of such concepts which abound in natural language with a view to showing that orthodox views in logic and metaphysics are challenged by their presence. This analysis is to be published as a monograph whose significance lies in the f ....The logical and metaphysical challenge of vague language. Where do we draw the line between life and death, tall and short, right and wrong? The vagueness or indeterminacy of such concepts prohibits easy answers. This projects aims to provide a philosophical analysis of such concepts which abound in natural language with a view to showing that orthodox views in logic and metaphysics are challenged by their presence. This analysis is to be published as a monograph whose significance lies in the fact that it provides one of only four book-length treatments of the matter and does so from an entirely novel perspective.Read moreRead less
Using empirical materials to inform normative thinking about the organization of groups for the production of knowledge. It is increasingly apparent that knowledge is produced by organized groups-e.g. research or management teams. The idea of heroic individual creators is still presented in popular media, but has little credence in hard-headed organizational contexts, where, e.g., Wenger's idea of the community of practice plays an important role in steering policy and institutional development. ....Using empirical materials to inform normative thinking about the organization of groups for the production of knowledge. It is increasingly apparent that knowledge is produced by organized groups-e.g. research or management teams. The idea of heroic individual creators is still presented in popular media, but has little credence in hard-headed organizational contexts, where, e.g., Wenger's idea of the community of practice plays an important role in steering policy and institutional development. Finding out how we can organize collectives so that they can function WELL as producers of knowledge is the aim of this project in social epistemology. Its success will contribute directly to theoretical discourse about innovation in organizations and promises to contribute indirectly to the improvement of the institutional bases of our cultural and economic capital.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100329
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$416,000.00
Summary
No place like home? A phenomenology of racialised non-belonging. Racism is a persistent problem in Australian society, yet its existential effects remain inadequately understood. This project aims to develop a new understanding of racism’s deep impact on one’s sense of self, and sense of place. The project seeks to use the emerging framework of critical phenomenology to illuminate different experiences of racialised non-belonging. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the ontolo ....No place like home? A phenomenology of racialised non-belonging. Racism is a persistent problem in Australian society, yet its existential effects remain inadequately understood. This project aims to develop a new understanding of racism’s deep impact on one’s sense of self, and sense of place. The project seeks to use the emerging framework of critical phenomenology to illuminate different experiences of racialised non-belonging. Expected outcomes include an improved understanding of the ontological significance of feeling not at home in one’s environs, or in one’s own body. This expanded understanding will provide significant benefits by helping to motivate and guide more robust models of anti-racism in public life, leading to a more racially just society.Read moreRead less
Ethical restoration after oppressive violence: a philosophical account. Contemporary political ethics has to face the question of how to repair relations that have broken down after crimes, oppression and political violence. Using the work of European and feminist philosophers to examine historical and recent cases including post-liberation France, post-genocide Rwanda and post-colonial Australasia and neighbouring countries, this project aims to develop a philosophical account of ethical restor ....Ethical restoration after oppressive violence: a philosophical account. Contemporary political ethics has to face the question of how to repair relations that have broken down after crimes, oppression and political violence. Using the work of European and feminist philosophers to examine historical and recent cases including post-liberation France, post-genocide Rwanda and post-colonial Australasia and neighbouring countries, this project aims to develop a philosophical account of ethical restoration, focusing on just punishment, forgiveness, reconciliation, building trust and atonement.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100544
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$356,000.00
Summary
Fuzzy logics for graded reasoning in applied contexts. Many things we care about, such as friendship or safety, come in degrees, but our current systems for tracking information are not built to handle this. This project aims to enhance many-valued logic as a tool to manage graded information. It expects to generate new knowledge in the area of logical languages for fuzzy databases and finite domains using an interdisciplinary approach between philosophers, mathematicians and computer scientists ....Fuzzy logics for graded reasoning in applied contexts. Many things we care about, such as friendship or safety, come in degrees, but our current systems for tracking information are not built to handle this. This project aims to enhance many-valued logic as a tool to manage graded information. It expects to generate new knowledge in the area of logical languages for fuzzy databases and finite domains using an interdisciplinary approach between philosophers, mathematicians and computer scientists. Expected outcomes include new logical methods and modelling techniques for many-valued logics. This will provide significant benefits, such as the enhancement of fuzzy logic as a tool in artificial intelligence to handle reasoning with imprecise concepts, giving meaning to complex real-life data.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101413
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,216.00
Summary
Organisations' Wrongdoing: from Metaphysics to Practice. This project aims to explain how organisations can do wrong and apply this explanation to the Banking Royal Commission and Paris Climate Agreement. The project expects to use the methods of analytic philosophy and law to contribute to, and integrate, three increasingly isolated fields: metaphysics, moral philosophy, and law. Expected outcomes include a much-improved scholarly, legal, and public understanding of how organisations exist, per ....Organisations' Wrongdoing: from Metaphysics to Practice. This project aims to explain how organisations can do wrong and apply this explanation to the Banking Royal Commission and Paris Climate Agreement. The project expects to use the methods of analytic philosophy and law to contribute to, and integrate, three increasingly isolated fields: metaphysics, moral philosophy, and law. Expected outcomes include a much-improved scholarly, legal, and public understanding of how organisations exist, persist, act, have characters, and can be punished—as distinct from the individuals on whom they depend, and despite the fact that we cannot see or touch organisations. This should provide significant benefits, such as guiding commercial, legislative, and regulatory responses to organisational wrongdoing.Read moreRead less
Theories of time and closed timelike curves. Do our views about time allow for time to be looped? Einstein's theories of relativity allow for warped and twisted structures of space and time, including some that permit time travel. This project shows how both commonsense, traditional and contemporary scientifically-based theories of time can be made consistent with these structures.
Towards Closure on the Animal Pain Debate. This project aims to address the question about which animals feel pain by framing multiple current debates into a single narrative focused on the fundamental principle in evolutionary biology that structure determines function. This project is significant because the question as to whether or not an animal (such as a fish or octopus) feels pain is highly contentious across both science and philosophy and arguments are plagued by simplistic anecdotes an ....Towards Closure on the Animal Pain Debate. This project aims to address the question about which animals feel pain by framing multiple current debates into a single narrative focused on the fundamental principle in evolutionary biology that structure determines function. This project is significant because the question as to whether or not an animal (such as a fish or octopus) feels pain is highly contentious across both science and philosophy and arguments are plagued by simplistic anecdotes and poor analogies. The ramifications of this confusion for animal welfare and food security are considerable. Expected outcomes include the development of shared principles of reasoning and structural constraints on the attribution of pain that promise to move the debate towards consensus.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