The Awakening of Faith and New Confucian Philosophy. This project aims to provide a new understanding of how New Confucian philosophy was constructed in modern China. It proposes to debunk the prevailing myth that modern Chinese philosophy owes its identity as a continuation of Confucianism, to the exclusion of the fundamentally ‘foreign’ influence of Buddhism. It is anticipated that this project will substantially advance the knowledge base of Chinese philosophy both in Australia and internatio ....The Awakening of Faith and New Confucian Philosophy. This project aims to provide a new understanding of how New Confucian philosophy was constructed in modern China. It proposes to debunk the prevailing myth that modern Chinese philosophy owes its identity as a continuation of Confucianism, to the exclusion of the fundamentally ‘foreign’ influence of Buddhism. It is anticipated that this project will substantially advance the knowledge base of Chinese philosophy both in Australia and internationally, and will also contribute to a more informed understanding of the philosophical and religious traditions our neighbours use to define national and cultural identity.Read moreRead less
Philosophical progress. Understanding the nature and possibility of progress in philosophy will shed light not only on philosophy as a funded research discipline within the university system in Australia, but also on the nature of research within the humanities and social sciences more generally.
A Buddhist Debate and Its Contemporary Relevance. The aim of this project is to engage with one of the central debates in Tibetan philosophy concerning truth, realism and epistemic justification. It plans to explore the implications of this debate for subsequent Tibetan thought and for contemporary Western analytic philosophy. The project plans to analyse previously unstudied texts and demonstrate the fecundity of a traditional method of collaborative cross-cultural philosophy today in which Tib ....A Buddhist Debate and Its Contemporary Relevance. The aim of this project is to engage with one of the central debates in Tibetan philosophy concerning truth, realism and epistemic justification. It plans to explore the implications of this debate for subsequent Tibetan thought and for contemporary Western analytic philosophy. The project plans to analyse previously unstudied texts and demonstrate the fecundity of a traditional method of collaborative cross-cultural philosophy today in which Tibetan and Western scholars work together to develop joint analyses. It may also demonstrate that the metaphysical and epistemological ideas and arguments developed in these debates can contribute to Western philosophy.Read moreRead less
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