Rationality and Resource Bounds in Logics for Intentional Attitudes. Formal philosophy is the discipline at the interface between traditional philosophy and modern mathematical logic. It has had a substantial impact in recent years and has benefited neighbouring disciplines, including computer science and artificial intelligence. It is a good example of how philosophical research can interact with more practical disciplines. This project will make substantial contributions to formal philosophy, ....Rationality and Resource Bounds in Logics for Intentional Attitudes. Formal philosophy is the discipline at the interface between traditional philosophy and modern mathematical logic. It has had a substantial impact in recent years and has benefited neighbouring disciplines, including computer science and artificial intelligence. It is a good example of how philosophical research can interact with more practical disciplines. This project will make substantial contributions to formal philosophy, which will in turn provide benefits in computer science and artificial intelligence, by providing a framework for logicians, computer scientists and researchers in artificial intelligence to discuss issues concerning knowledge, belief and rationality.Read moreRead less
Belief singular versus beliefs plural. Research on the brain and how it represents the environment has the potential to reconfigure our ordinary conceptions of belief and rationality. This project explores the impact of the changes and their implications.
Practicalism: Knowing and Agency. Australian philosophy has a deserved reputation for excellence, especially in topics of traditional centrality for analytic philosophers. But more still needs to be done within Australian epistemology. Most of the recent related work has occurred within the philosophies of mind, of language, and of science, and to some extent within ethics. That work needs to be complemented by good work in epistemology. I hope this project will help to achieve that, thereby inc ....Practicalism: Knowing and Agency. Australian philosophy has a deserved reputation for excellence, especially in topics of traditional centrality for analytic philosophers. But more still needs to be done within Australian epistemology. Most of the recent related work has occurred within the philosophies of mind, of language, and of science, and to some extent within ethics. That work needs to be complemented by good work in epistemology. I hope this project will help to achieve that, thereby increasing the national and international philosophical visibility of Australian epistemology.Read moreRead less
Mathematics, the science of real structure: an Australian realist philosophy of mathematics. The project will strengthen the already strong Australian philosophical tradition of realism, extending it into philosophy of mathematics. It will develop a robust alternative to the nominalism, Platonism and idealism that dominate northern-hemisphere philosophizing about mathematics, an alternative that is in tune with how mathematicians really apply mathematics. Australian philosophy will thus be stren ....Mathematics, the science of real structure: an Australian realist philosophy of mathematics. The project will strengthen the already strong Australian philosophical tradition of realism, extending it into philosophy of mathematics. It will develop a robust alternative to the nominalism, Platonism and idealism that dominate northern-hemisphere philosophizing about mathematics, an alternative that is in tune with how mathematicians really apply mathematics. Australian philosophy will thus be strengthened in general, giving it a greater attractiveness to the many overseas visitors and students who already appreciate its unique strengths. The nature of the project will also lead to closer ties and interdisciplinary work between philosophers and mathematicians.
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Singular Causation: A Conceptual Analysis. The concept of causation plays a central role in structuring our experience of the world. Bu how is the concept of causation itself to be understood? This project aims to answer this question by advancing a novel theory to explain the content and structure of the concept. A book monograph outlining the new theory will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also to natural and social scientists concerned to understand the application of the concept ....Singular Causation: A Conceptual Analysis. The concept of causation plays a central role in structuring our experience of the world. Bu how is the concept of causation itself to be understood? This project aims to answer this question by advancing a novel theory to explain the content and structure of the concept. A book monograph outlining the new theory will be of interest not only to philosophers, but also to natural and social scientists concerned to understand the application of the concept in their disciplines, and to cognitive psychologists and artificial intelligence experts concerned to understand its role in human cognition.
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Concepts and Conceptual Change. Aim: To develop a new theory of conceptual change that explains how a concept can change considerably, while still remaining in a crucial sense the very same concept.
Significance: All areas of philosophy need to solve this problem so as to distinguish between real and merely verbal disputes. There is no adequate solution to this long standing problem.
Outcomes: A general solution to the problem, with applications to areas including ethics, philosophy of con ....Concepts and Conceptual Change. Aim: To develop a new theory of conceptual change that explains how a concept can change considerably, while still remaining in a crucial sense the very same concept.
Significance: All areas of philosophy need to solve this problem so as to distinguish between real and merely verbal disputes. There is no adequate solution to this long standing problem.
Outcomes: A general solution to the problem, with applications to areas including ethics, philosophy of consciousness, metaphysics and political theory.
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Mental Causation in a Physical World. The issues concerning mental causation are not just philosophical issues. They are discussed in the fields of psychology, cognitive science, and psychiatry as questions about whether mental phenomena, eg mental illnesses, are best understood at the cognitive level or the neurophysiological level of causation. The project will result in a research monograph aimed at practitioners from these fields among others. By introducing these practitioners to recent ph ....Mental Causation in a Physical World. The issues concerning mental causation are not just philosophical issues. They are discussed in the fields of psychology, cognitive science, and psychiatry as questions about whether mental phenomena, eg mental illnesses, are best understood at the cognitive level or the neurophysiological level of causation. The project will result in a research monograph aimed at practitioners from these fields among others. By introducing these practitioners to recent philosophical thinking about causation and reduction, the present project may lead to more subtle ways of conceptualising and treating mental illnesses, and so contribute indirectly to the socio-economic benefits accruing from more reflective psychological and psychiatric practice.Read moreRead less