A Practical Theory of Factual Information: Fundamentals and Applications in Philosophy and Physics. The project will provide answers to questions of fundamental significance to all Australians. By developing a new philosophical theory of factual information, it will yield new insights into one of the basic things that makes us human. By applying the new theory to central contemporary problems in philosophy and physics, it will provide a new understanding of the role and significance of causal re ....A Practical Theory of Factual Information: Fundamentals and Applications in Philosophy and Physics. The project will provide answers to questions of fundamental significance to all Australians. By developing a new philosophical theory of factual information, it will yield new insights into one of the basic things that makes us human. By applying the new theory to central contemporary problems in philosophy and physics, it will provide a new understanding of the role and significance of causal reasoning, and of the nature of the quantum world. The project will add greatly to the growth of Australia's research capital, attracting some of the world's best young researchers and students to work and study in this country, and adding further to Australia's international prominence, in a field in which we are already very strong.Read moreRead less
Personal Identity, Consciousness and Agency. If I lose my memory, am I the same person I used to be? If much of my body or brain is replaced, do I remain the same person? What if my beliefs and attitudes are altered: does this affect who I am? These are questions of personal identity, and they have enormous bearing on questions of public ethics, especially in the light of biomedical changes. Our inter-disciplinary solutions will add both nuance and insight to the difficult decisions the communit ....Personal Identity, Consciousness and Agency. If I lose my memory, am I the same person I used to be? If much of my body or brain is replaced, do I remain the same person? What if my beliefs and attitudes are altered: does this affect who I am? These are questions of personal identity, and they have enormous bearing on questions of public ethics, especially in the light of biomedical changes. Our inter-disciplinary solutions will add both nuance and insight to the difficult decisions the community will face in this area. The project brings to Australia two leading young researchers from the United States, thus substantially enhancing Australia's skill base and international profile.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100411
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$408,000.00
Summary
Social constructionism about race. This project aims to show that there are no races, only racialised groups. Race was once thought to be biologically real, a position which is increasingly rejected by specialists. Now race is commonly believed to be a social construct, which is often taken to mean that races are real social groups. This project aims to demonstrate that when race is defined socially it loses its conceptual and historical specificity, and that racial classification should be aban ....Social constructionism about race. This project aims to show that there are no races, only racialised groups. Race was once thought to be biologically real, a position which is increasingly rejected by specialists. Now race is commonly believed to be a social construct, which is often taken to mean that races are real social groups. This project aims to demonstrate that when race is defined socially it loses its conceptual and historical specificity, and that racial classification should be abandoned altogether. An expected outcome of the project is a scholarly and public shift away from racial classification. This project develops and defends the category of the racialised group as an alternative to one of history’s most misleading and dangerous ideas.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL130100141
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,996,807.00
Summary
The origins of inequality, hierarchy, and social complexity. Despite obvious failures, humans cooperate far more than other mammals. This project explains how we came to be so unlike other animals; how our cooperative practices transformed us; and how those practices changed, as human societies became increasingly complex after the invention of farming.
A theory of theory choice. Disagreements sometimes seem to be about the world, and sometimes seem to be about the right way to conceptualise or talk about the world. This project offers a new way to determine which disputes fall into which category, and offers an understanding of the importance of the latter kind of disagreements, and how to resolve them.
The invention of norms: how ethics, law, and the life sciences shape our social selves. This project aims to produce a new account of the emergence and role of the concept of norms. While norms have been the subject of significant academic attention, their history has never been recorded. This project aims to study the development of the conceptual vocabulary of norms, normality and normativity in the key areas of the life sciences, legal discourse, and ethics. Showing how these discourses link ....The invention of norms: how ethics, law, and the life sciences shape our social selves. This project aims to produce a new account of the emergence and role of the concept of norms. While norms have been the subject of significant academic attention, their history has never been recorded. This project aims to study the development of the conceptual vocabulary of norms, normality and normativity in the key areas of the life sciences, legal discourse, and ethics. Showing how these discourses link up to one another and to social institutions, it will produce new insights into the 'normalising' society. Its purpose is thus to understand how individuals and public policy can successfully navigate the proliferation of norms in various fields today, in a situation of increasing diversity of rules and cultural codes.Read moreRead less
A Computational Solution to the Problem of Reference. This project will attack the core problem of philosophy of language by developing and applying tools from the theory of algorithmic complexity. Groundbreaking pure research at the intersection of logic, language, information and computation is the lifeblood of commercial research and development in information technology and telecommunications. The project will foster a cross-fertilisation of ideas between philosophy, computer science, math ....A Computational Solution to the Problem of Reference. This project will attack the core problem of philosophy of language by developing and applying tools from the theory of algorithmic complexity. Groundbreaking pure research at the intersection of logic, language, information and computation is the lifeblood of commercial research and development in information technology and telecommunications. The project will foster a cross-fertilisation of ideas between philosophy, computer science, mathematics, linguistics and psychology, and will provide students with skills and analytic techniques that will be valuable in future pure and applied research.Read moreRead less
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.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100387
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
Life without Birth: The Ethics, Politics, and Law of Artificial Wombs. This project aims to assess the morality of ectogenesis, the process of gestating a foetus in an artificial womb. Recent technological advances in non-human ectogenesis raise the question of whether it is desirable to pursue research in human ectogenesis. This project expects to generate new knowledge in social philosophy by inquiring into the value of natural gestation, the foundations of parenthood, and the interests of foe ....Life without Birth: The Ethics, Politics, and Law of Artificial Wombs. This project aims to assess the morality of ectogenesis, the process of gestating a foetus in an artificial womb. Recent technological advances in non-human ectogenesis raise the question of whether it is desirable to pursue research in human ectogenesis. This project expects to generate new knowledge in social philosophy by inquiring into the value of natural gestation, the foundations of parenthood, and the interests of foetuses during gestation. Expected outcomes of this project include an improved understanding of the costs, risks, and benefits of ectogenesis. This should provide significant benefits, such as resources for ethical decision-making in light of technologies aimed at radically reshaping the process of human creation. Read moreRead less
Minds in skilled performance: Explanatory framework and comparative study. This project aims to develop an explanatory framework to characterise states of mind necessary for skilled performance, and show how intelligence and emotion affect performance. The theoretical grounding of skilled performance is controversial. This project will use and refine core ideas from enactivist approaches to embodied cognition to address philosophical challenges that block understanding of its basis. The project ....Minds in skilled performance: Explanatory framework and comparative study. This project aims to develop an explanatory framework to characterise states of mind necessary for skilled performance, and show how intelligence and emotion affect performance. The theoretical grounding of skilled performance is controversial. This project will use and refine core ideas from enactivist approaches to embodied cognition to address philosophical challenges that block understanding of its basis. The project will draw on Phenomenology, Pragmatism and Japanese "do". clarifying and recontextualising what they have to offer to contemporary thinking about skilled performance.Read moreRead less