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
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
Making Better Decisions: An Investigation of Time-Biases. The aim of this project is to empirically and normatively evaluate two kinds of time-biases.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, this project will empirically investigate near-bias and future-bias in a unified manner, and use this data to inform theorising about the rationality of time-biased preferences. The project will yield a rich account of the conditions under which we display time-biases and the likely mechanisms that underlie th ....Making Better Decisions: An Investigation of Time-Biases. The aim of this project is to empirically and normatively evaluate two kinds of time-biases.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, this project will empirically investigate near-bias and future-bias in a unified manner, and use this data to inform theorising about the rationality of time-biased preferences. The project will yield a rich account of the conditions under which we display time-biases and the likely mechanisms that underlie them.
This project will determine whether, and when, time-biased preferences lead to sub-optimal outcomes, and lay the groundwork for determining which strategies mitigate these biases, leading to better decisions and outcomes.Read moreRead less
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
Mereological Composition and Material Constitution. This project embodies a number of advances in metaphysics, which is a field of research in which Australia enjoys a considerable international reputation. Our work on material constitution will also further Australia's reputation in the philosophy of mind; some of the most celebrated 20th Century contributions in the philosophy of mind have been written by Australian philosophers.
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
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.
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.
Genealogy and Topology: A Constellational Comparison of Nietzsche and Heidegger. This research is fundamental in character addressing basic questions about the nature and history of philosophy. It will have direct academic benefits in advancing disciplinary knowledge, in enhancing the reputation of Australian philosophy in Germany and internationally, and in promoting contact between Australian and German philosophers, but is also likely to have longer term benefits in furthering our understandi ....Genealogy and Topology: A Constellational Comparison of Nietzsche and Heidegger. This research is fundamental in character addressing basic questions about the nature and history of philosophy. It will have direct academic benefits in advancing disciplinary knowledge, in enhancing the reputation of Australian philosophy in Germany and internationally, and in promoting contact between Australian and German philosophers, but is also likely to have longer term benefits in furthering our understanding of the nature of concepts, and of conceptual creativity.Read moreRead less
Examining scientific, philosophical, and folk perspectives on time=. This project aims to consider three very different physical theories, each of which reconciles quantum mechanics and general and special relativity in a different way. While science is more accessible than ever, we are increasingly faced with a scientific world-view that is antithetical to the way we see the world and experience ourselves in it. This project will consider the tension between the scientific picture of the world ....Examining scientific, philosophical, and folk perspectives on time=. This project aims to consider three very different physical theories, each of which reconciles quantum mechanics and general and special relativity in a different way. While science is more accessible than ever, we are increasingly faced with a scientific world-view that is antithetical to the way we see the world and experience ourselves in it. This project will consider the tension between the scientific picture of the world and our experience of the world, and aims to reconcile the two by bridging the gap between lived experience and scientific findings. The project will provide a range of ways of bridging the tension between these physical theories with our lived experience.Read moreRead less