J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central ....J. M. Coetzee and Making Sense in LIterature. Focusing on the work of Nobel Prize winning South African-Australian novelist J. M. Coetzee, this project examines how Coetzee’s fiction develops techniques that generate or produce meaning about the world and involves levels of ‘translatability’ that allow it to maintain relevance across cultures. A detailed analysis that focuses on how Coetzee makes us question the nature of meaning itself has not yet been undertaken, even though this is of central importance to his work.Read moreRead less
The Picturesque in Modernity: object image and architecture. The idea of the picturesque its emergence in the eighteenth century are relatively well known. However, the longer history of the picturesque, through to its use in the present, has not been studied. This Project proposes to describe the key concepts and techniques that constitute the latter history of the picturesque. Against claims that the eighteenth century picturesque was a generic and abstract art, this longer history will show t ....The Picturesque in Modernity: object image and architecture. The idea of the picturesque its emergence in the eighteenth century are relatively well known. However, the longer history of the picturesque, through to its use in the present, has not been studied. This Project proposes to describe the key concepts and techniques that constitute the latter history of the picturesque. Against claims that the eighteenth century picturesque was a generic and abstract art, this longer history will show that the picturesque is better understood as an intra-disciplinary relation of architecture and the visual arts. The Project will be of relevance to issues of the historical status of architecture as an art discipline. At a more general level, the Project will be of significance in present issues in the conceptualization of images and objects, including those that arise in virtual environments, issues which first arose in the picturesque.Read moreRead less
Improving decision-making processes in complex environments. This project will develop a new approach to understanding the factors involved in complex decision making. It will investigate the processes and mechanisms that individuals use to make decisions in complex environments. This project will also show that one way individuals deal with the problem of complexity is to frame their experiences aesthetically.
Cinematic Ethics: Exploring Ethical Experience through Film. This project develops a new interdisciplinary framework for understanding cinema’s unique power to evoke ethical experience via audiovisual means. Combining philosophy with film analysis, it moves beyond the prevalent view that cinema merely illustrates moral situations, and challenges the long-held suspicion toward film’s manipulative aesthetic power. This project proposes instead a model of cinematic ethics: an investigation of how c ....Cinematic Ethics: Exploring Ethical Experience through Film. This project develops a new interdisciplinary framework for understanding cinema’s unique power to evoke ethical experience via audiovisual means. Combining philosophy with film analysis, it moves beyond the prevalent view that cinema merely illustrates moral situations, and challenges the long-held suspicion toward film’s manipulative aesthetic power. This project proposes instead a model of cinematic ethics: an investigation of how cinema evokes ethical experience through emotional, cognitive, and aesthetic engagement. This project will advance the emerging interdisciplinary field of film-philosophy by highlighting film’s under-recognised potential to enhance ethical understanding, and thus to promote greater social awareness and intercultural communication.Read moreRead less
The cultural logic of Queensland architecture: place, taste and economy. The project seeks a better understanding of the cultural role of architecture in Queensland, interrogating notions of place, climate, and art, as they have been used to describe local architecture past and present. This will illuminate the strategies and effects of state support for architecture as a cultural activity and object of taste.
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
Persuasive Force: The Role of Aesthetic Experience in Moral Persuasion. This project will make a significant contribution to the pressing contemporary topic of moral motivation. Because of its innovative approach to the problem of moral motivation this proposal will have an international impact on debates over moral conduct and raise the international profile of Australia in this field. In addition to its academic benefits for research training and our national research reputation, this proposal ....Persuasive Force: The Role of Aesthetic Experience in Moral Persuasion. This project will make a significant contribution to the pressing contemporary topic of moral motivation. Because of its innovative approach to the problem of moral motivation this proposal will have an international impact on debates over moral conduct and raise the international profile of Australia in this field. In addition to its academic benefits for research training and our national research reputation, this proposal has implications for the way social policy is devised. In particular, the reconsideration of the sources of moral action proposed here has important implications for understanding the dynamics involved in religious fundamentalism and political violence.Read moreRead less
Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged p ....Aesthetic Education and Public Galleries. To study how galleries can enhance the quality of public engagement with the works of art on show. All galleries want to do this, but there is much uncertainty about how to understand 'quality of engagement' and about what galleries could and should do to enhance this. We shall provide conceptual analysis and a practical model for the provision of aesthetic education in public galleries. This will be a substantial contribution to a widely acknowledged problem. We hope to provide a workable model which can be used in gallery practice.Read moreRead less
M.C.Escher and his Contemporaries: the Genesis of the Impossible. The project aims to produce a conceptual history of the twentieth-century impossible pictures movement which developed around M.C.Escher, to classify kinds of impossible pictures, and particularly to establish priorities over who discovered what. This requires geometrical construction, and rigorous logical and mathematical analysis. The project will employ the novel techniques available within the theory of inconsistency. The sign ....M.C.Escher and his Contemporaries: the Genesis of the Impossible. The project aims to produce a conceptual history of the twentieth-century impossible pictures movement which developed around M.C.Escher, to classify kinds of impossible pictures, and particularly to establish priorities over who discovered what. This requires geometrical construction, and rigorous logical and mathematical analysis. The project will employ the novel techniques available within the theory of inconsistency. The significance of this work is that it demonstrates the rich conceptual resources available within inconsistent content. Expected outcomes are a book aimed at the general reader, technical articles in logic and mathematics journals, and a expanded understanding of our human ability to grasp inconsistent visual contents. Read moreRead less
Taste and community: the cultural origins of personal experience. This project explores how artistic value and meaning are attributed to artworks and how cultural artefacts and imaginative constructs may be seen to motivate ethical or socially oriented behaviour. It investigates this theme through an innovative new medium, involving a website and imagery, through which the expertise of philosophers and artists can be brought to bear on a social problem. Its outcomes will include new understandi ....Taste and community: the cultural origins of personal experience. This project explores how artistic value and meaning are attributed to artworks and how cultural artefacts and imaginative constructs may be seen to motivate ethical or socially oriented behaviour. It investigates this theme through an innovative new medium, involving a website and imagery, through which the expertise of philosophers and artists can be brought to bear on a social problem. Its outcomes will include new understanding of the process of perceiving meaning and value as a response to cultural artefacts.Read moreRead less