Reasons and Rationality. The project explains how we assess the truth and falsehood of everyday claims about what people have reason to do. It also explains what legitimizes our practice of praising and blaming people for their success and failure at doing what we think they have reason to do. In so doing it provides a foundation for both our ordinary practice of holding people responsible, and for the more institutionalised counterpart of this ordinary practice in the law.
The Morality of Cooperation and Concern. The ethical issues of the greatest ongoing importance to the Australian community concern the conflicts between the interests of individuals and those of society. This project tackles those issues at a fundamental level. Its practical applications are of pressing importance to policy and public debate. It offers guidance to the many Australians whose work involves reflection on ethical principles - such as ethics committee members. It will contribute to t ....The Morality of Cooperation and Concern. The ethical issues of the greatest ongoing importance to the Australian community concern the conflicts between the interests of individuals and those of society. This project tackles those issues at a fundamental level. Its practical applications are of pressing importance to policy and public debate. It offers guidance to the many Australians whose work involves reflection on ethical principles - such as ethics committee members. It will contribute to the international profile of Australian moral philosophy, while broadening the knowledge base of the discipline in this country. And it will add to Australia's reputation as a country that takes ethics seriously.Read moreRead less
Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct ....Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct medical, legal, sociological and political discourses that occupy the field in discussions of what to do about dangerous and unhealthy behaviour, and deliver more control and responsibility, where appropriate, back to the actors who must have primary care of the problem, those who will or will not act badly.Read moreRead less
The Morality of Assistance. Other people's needs and interests give us reasons to help them - reasons that ground moral requirements. But how extensive are those requirements? How should our actions to assist other people be motivated? And what obligations does the receipt of assistance create? These questions are of foundational importance to moral philosophy, and underlie a range of practical issues of public policy, professional practice and moral education. In this project, the standard trea ....The Morality of Assistance. Other people's needs and interests give us reasons to help them - reasons that ground moral requirements. But how extensive are those requirements? How should our actions to assist other people be motivated? And what obligations does the receipt of assistance create? These questions are of foundational importance to moral philosophy, and underlie a range of practical issues of public policy, professional practice and moral education. In this project, the standard treatment of these questions is rejected. It shows how recent innovative work in theoretical ethics can be used to answer some of the most important questions of applied ethics.Read moreRead less
Idealism and the objectivity of norms and values: a neglected path from the eighteenth century. The problem of understanding how norms and values can be objective within the modern, secular scientific worldview became a focus of European philosophical concern in the early modern period - it is now of vital practical concern for the community as a whole. From the perspective of modern culture, both high and low, individuals are often portrayed as facing a choice between individual gratification a ....Idealism and the objectivity of norms and values: a neglected path from the eighteenth century. The problem of understanding how norms and values can be objective within the modern, secular scientific worldview became a focus of European philosophical concern in the early modern period - it is now of vital practical concern for the community as a whole. From the perspective of modern culture, both high and low, individuals are often portrayed as facing a choice between individual gratification and a self-less commitment to values or norms which cannot be rationally justified. By showing this to be a false dichotomy, this project promises a way beyond this impasse.Read moreRead less
Addiction, moral identity and moral agency: Integrating theoretical and empirical approaches. By clarifying and evaluating scientific claims about the moral impacts of addiction on the judgment and practices of drug addicted persons and by investigating the perspectives of users and treatment professionals, our project will contribute to the development of ethical and effective public policy, treatment and education programs in the addictions area, thus helping to address the causes and reduce t ....Addiction, moral identity and moral agency: Integrating theoretical and empirical approaches. By clarifying and evaluating scientific claims about the moral impacts of addiction on the judgment and practices of drug addicted persons and by investigating the perspectives of users and treatment professionals, our project will contribute to the development of ethical and effective public policy, treatment and education programs in the addictions area, thus helping to address the causes and reduce the impact of biological, social and environmental factors which diminish life potential in drug addicted persons. The innovative features of this project will enhance Australia's international reputation in bioethics and moral psychology, extend the reach of experimental philosophy, and facilitate future interdisciplinary work.Read moreRead less
Vulnerability, autonomy and justice. Vulnerable people require assistance and care. But what are our responsibilities in relation to the vulnerable? And how can we provide assistance and care while avoiding stereotyping or paternalism? This research will advance ethical theory and be useful in solving practical problems in health research and policy.
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
Structured Moral Pluralism. The Australian intellectual scene is characterized by intensely lively ethical debate, and a very high international reputation for the quality of its moral philosophy. This project will add significantly to the breadth of theoretical ethics in this country, by developing in detail an approach that has not previously been strongly represented. It offers a new approach to thinking about the foundations of ethics and reasoning from those foundations. Its practical appli ....Structured Moral Pluralism. The Australian intellectual scene is characterized by intensely lively ethical debate, and a very high international reputation for the quality of its moral philosophy. This project will add significantly to the breadth of theoretical ethics in this country, by developing in detail an approach that has not previously been strongly represented. It offers a new approach to thinking about the foundations of ethics and reasoning from those foundations. Its practical applications are of pressing importance to policy and public debate. It also offers guidance to the many Australians whose work involves applying ethical principles, such as ethics committee members. Read moreRead less
A new ethics for the development and application of genetic technologies in a pluralist society. New technologies for prenatal testing and preimplantation genetic diagnosis will soon grant us an unprecedented power to choose our children's genes. This project will develop an ethical framework to govern the development and use of these technologies and thus help ensure that future Australians enjoy a healthy start to life.