The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) ....The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) in England and Europe from 1600 to 1750, against the backdrop of the rise of Cartesianism. The anticipated outcome is greater awareness of an enduring feminist tradition within the history of philosophy. The expected social benefits include a shift in public thinking about feminist history and women in philosophy.Read moreRead less
Conscience and conscientious objection in health care. Medical professionals sometimes decline to provide particular forms of safe, beneficial and legal health care, on the grounds that provision would go against their consciences. Bioethicists and policy makers have failed to identify legitimate limits to the scope of appeals to conscientious objection in health care. This is in large part because the underlying concept ''conscience" is unclear. This project aims to advance bioethical debate by ....Conscience and conscientious objection in health care. Medical professionals sometimes decline to provide particular forms of safe, beneficial and legal health care, on the grounds that provision would go against their consciences. Bioethicists and policy makers have failed to identify legitimate limits to the scope of appeals to conscientious objection in health care. This is in large part because the underlying concept ''conscience" is unclear. This project aims to advance bioethical debate by producing a philosophically and psychologically informed analysis of conscience, and by applying this to discussions about the legitimate limits to conscientious objection in health care. It is expected to result in academic and non-academic publications and enable improvements to Australian health care policy.Read moreRead less
The history of inebriation and reason from Plato to the Latin Middle Ages. This project aims to uncover the undetected but pervasive dichotomy between spiritual inebriation and physical drunkenness from antiquity to the Middle Ages. While Christian theologians, inspired by Plato, celebrated inebriation as a metaphor for a hyper-rational state in which the soul transcends the limitations of reason, Christian moralists, inspired by Stoic philosophy, condemned physical drunkenness as fall from reas ....The history of inebriation and reason from Plato to the Latin Middle Ages. This project aims to uncover the undetected but pervasive dichotomy between spiritual inebriation and physical drunkenness from antiquity to the Middle Ages. While Christian theologians, inspired by Plato, celebrated inebriation as a metaphor for a hyper-rational state in which the soul transcends the limitations of reason, Christian moralists, inspired by Stoic philosophy, condemned physical drunkenness as fall from reason. The project will analyse the cultural and intellectual history of inebriation with the aim of changing appreciation of how medieval thinkers inherited and transformed pagan classical ideas about drinking. Inebriation provides a hitherto unexplored path to rewriting the history of reason, urging us to consider our culturally-ingrained reactions to drinking.Read moreRead less
The culture of weeds: invasion biology, identity and aesthetics in Australia. Weeds are a significant threat to Australia’s biodiversity - but when does a plant become one? Defining plants and landscapes as weedy reflects not only ecological values, but also economics, aesthetics, and national identity. The question of how and why weeds spread reveals cultural values that inform the management of all invasive species.
Women on liberty: from the early modern period to the enlightenment (1650-1800). Our modern ideals about liberty were forged in the great political debates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but little is known about women’s participation in those debates. This project will be one of the first to examine early modern and enlightenment women’s writings on political, moral, and metaphysical concepts of liberty. It will do so by bringing together leading scholars in the field.
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.
Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life. The core aim of this project is to examine modern re-inventions of the classical ideal of philosophy as a way of life. It will investigate the reanimation of this idea in post-Kantian philosophy, including well-known figures such as Nietzsche but also neglected figures such as Jean-Marie Guyau. The research will be highly significant in providing the first sustained study of how 19th and 20th century European philosophy transformed ancient philosophical s ....Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life. The core aim of this project is to examine modern re-inventions of the classical ideal of philosophy as a way of life. It will investigate the reanimation of this idea in post-Kantian philosophy, including well-known figures such as Nietzsche but also neglected figures such as Jean-Marie Guyau. The research will be highly significant in providing the first sustained study of how 19th and 20th century European philosophy transformed ancient philosophical schools, such as Epicureanism and Stoicism. Read moreRead less