The Mathematical and Philosophical Foundations of Probability. We find probability wherever we find uncertainty: virtually everywhere in our lives. Probability is essential to almost every technology. High-stakes decisions are routinely made on the basis of probability judgments and risk assessment-for example, in engineering, medicine, agriculture, environmental management, urban planning, public policy, public health, the law, and in our national defence. And some of those decisions have been ....The Mathematical and Philosophical Foundations of Probability. We find probability wherever we find uncertainty: virtually everywhere in our lives. Probability is essential to almost every technology. High-stakes decisions are routinely made on the basis of probability judgments and risk assessment-for example, in engineering, medicine, agriculture, environmental management, urban planning, public policy, public health, the law, and in our national defence. And some of those decisions have been made badly because of poor probability estimates-witness the 1986 space shuttle disaster. Our current methodologies for using probability are inadequate. This project will make an important contribution to the collective enterprise of enhancing our understanding of probability and its myriad applications.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
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
From signs to symbols: language, mind and niche. Humans use language but our closest relatives - the great apes - do not. Language is immensely valuable to us, so there is a deep puzzle about our evolution. This project investigates how and why humans alone acquired language, in the light of new ideas about human evolution.
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.
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
The Buddhist roots of neo-Confucian philosophy. This project will: show for the first time how Buddhist philosophy shaped the intellectual construction of neo-Confucian philosophy; demonstrate that Chinese philosophy owes far more to its engagement with other philosophical traditions than has hitherto been demonstrated; and enable us to view Chinese philosophy as part of a global enterprise.
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
Discretionary Time: A New Method of Cross-National Welfare Comparison Focusing on Freedom. Cross-national comparisons of welfare regimes and their gender divisions explore issues of income and employment. Those bring liberation of a sort, but they do not exhaust people's freedom and autonomy. This Project will explore how paid and unpaid labour responsibilities interact, impinging on people's discretionary time and thus autonomy. A new measure of 'discretionary time' will be developed and its ....Discretionary Time: A New Method of Cross-National Welfare Comparison Focusing on Freedom. Cross-national comparisons of welfare regimes and their gender divisions explore issues of income and employment. Those bring liberation of a sort, but they do not exhaust people's freedom and autonomy. This Project will explore how paid and unpaid labour responsibilities interact, impinging on people's discretionary time and thus autonomy. A new measure of 'discretionary time' will be developed and its usefulness for cross-national comparisons illustrated through analysis of time use data from Australia, Finland, Canada and Sweden. Different ways of targeting social assistance to the most time-pressured groups in society will be examined for policy lessons from abroad.
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British Empire and the Natural World: the Environmental History of the British Empire and Commonwealth 1600-2000. Australia faces multiplying environmental crises in climate change, including soil erosion, salinisation, deforestation. Most of these crises originate in faulty land use management. An understanding of the causes of this predicament require deep insights into the global impact of European colonisation and an understanding of the environmental history of the British empire and the id ....British Empire and the Natural World: the Environmental History of the British Empire and Commonwealth 1600-2000. Australia faces multiplying environmental crises in climate change, including soil erosion, salinisation, deforestation. Most of these crises originate in faulty land use management. An understanding of the causes of this predicament require deep insights into the global impact of European colonisation and an understanding of the environmental history of the British empire and the ideas and intellectual networks that underpinned the expansion of the geographical and resource frontier. Read moreRead less