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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Big-Picture Bioethics: policy-making and liberal democracy. We live an era of rapid growth in biotechnology generating new and difficult ethical questions that need to be tackled by bioethicists and politicians. This project goes beyond typical approaches in bioethics to explore the "big picture": how policies are generated in ethically-contentious domains. It is important to examine how the values of different stakeholders are reflected in such processes to ensure that they are in accordance wi ....Big-Picture Bioethics: policy-making and liberal democracy. We live an era of rapid growth in biotechnology generating new and difficult ethical questions that need to be tackled by bioethicists and politicians. This project goes beyond typical approaches in bioethics to explore the "big picture": how policies are generated in ethically-contentious domains. It is important to examine how the values of different stakeholders are reflected in such processes to ensure that they are in accordance with Australia's commitment to fostering a multicultural, pluralistic, democratic society. This project will produce practical recommendations for refining public consultation in healthcare policy-making through an examination of three relevant contentious case studies in Australia with comparison to Canada.Read moreRead less
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
Reassessing Egalitarianism. Ever since the French revolution the issues of equality and egalitarianism have had enormous significance for modern democracies. These topics are also particularly important in Australian life. Indeed, Australia is often described as an 'egalitarian society'. Clarifying contemporary accounts of egalitarianism and developing our own original account will be of major national significance. In addition, this project will focus on the important areas of health and unempl ....Reassessing Egalitarianism. Ever since the French revolution the issues of equality and egalitarianism have had enormous significance for modern democracies. These topics are also particularly important in Australian life. Indeed, Australia is often described as an 'egalitarian society'. Clarifying contemporary accounts of egalitarianism and developing our own original account will be of major national significance. In addition, this project will focus on the important areas of health and unemployment, with specific consideration given to the role of individual responsibility in determining eligibility for unemployment and health benefits. The project will also help maintain Australia's place as a leader in the areas of political and social philosophy.Read moreRead less
Constructivism and Conceptual Mobility in Political Philosophy. This analysis of the theory of political concepts is important in contemporary Australian debates over the meaning of justice, democracy and sovereignty. This project will enhance the increasing self-awareness and theoretical sophistication of Australian public culture. Case studies of justice, democracy and sovereignty will directly engage with issues at the forefront of international debates in political philosophy. They will cont ....Constructivism and Conceptual Mobility in Political Philosophy. This analysis of the theory of political concepts is important in contemporary Australian debates over the meaning of justice, democracy and sovereignty. This project will enhance the increasing self-awareness and theoretical sophistication of Australian public culture. Case studies of justice, democracy and sovereignty will directly engage with issues at the forefront of international debates in political philosophy. They will contribute to the international renown of Australian philosophical research and improve the quality of the local research environment for graduate students in philosophy and political theory.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
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