Personal Identity, Consciousness and Agency. If I lose my memory, am I the same person I used to be? If much of my body or brain is replaced, do I remain the same person? What if my beliefs and attitudes are altered: does this affect who I am? These are questions of personal identity, and they have enormous bearing on questions of public ethics, especially in the light of biomedical changes. Our inter-disciplinary solutions will add both nuance and insight to the difficult decisions the communit ....Personal Identity, Consciousness and Agency. If I lose my memory, am I the same person I used to be? If much of my body or brain is replaced, do I remain the same person? What if my beliefs and attitudes are altered: does this affect who I am? These are questions of personal identity, and they have enormous bearing on questions of public ethics, especially in the light of biomedical changes. Our inter-disciplinary solutions will add both nuance and insight to the difficult decisions the community will face in this area. The project brings to Australia two leading young researchers from the United States, thus substantially enhancing Australia's skill base and international profile.Read moreRead less
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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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.
A theory of theory choice. Disagreements sometimes seem to be about the world, and sometimes seem to be about the right way to conceptualise or talk about the world. This project offers a new way to determine which disputes fall into which category, and offers an understanding of the importance of the latter kind of disagreements, and how to resolve them.
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
Examining scientific, philosophical, and folk perspectives on time=. This project aims to consider three very different physical theories, each of which reconciles quantum mechanics and general and special relativity in a different way. While science is more accessible than ever, we are increasingly faced with a scientific world-view that is antithetical to the way we see the world and experience ourselves in it. This project will consider the tension between the scientific picture of the world ....Examining scientific, philosophical, and folk perspectives on time=. This project aims to consider three very different physical theories, each of which reconciles quantum mechanics and general and special relativity in a different way. While science is more accessible than ever, we are increasingly faced with a scientific world-view that is antithetical to the way we see the world and experience ourselves in it. This project will consider the tension between the scientific picture of the world and our experience of the world, and aims to reconcile the two by bridging the gap between lived experience and scientific findings. The project will provide a range of ways of bridging the tension between these physical theories with our lived experience.Read moreRead less