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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Mereological Composition and Material Constitution. This project embodies a number of advances in metaphysics, which is a field of research in which Australia enjoys a considerable international reputation. Our work on material constitution will also further Australia's reputation in the philosophy of mind; some of the most celebrated 20th Century contributions in the philosophy of mind have been written by Australian philosophers.
Understanding phenomenal experience as a natural part of our world. The natural sciences?physics, chemistry and biology?provide compelling accounts of our world. They contain, however, no overt mention of mental states and in particular the mental states with a phenomenology: states like itches and colour experiences. The challenge for naturalists is locate these states within the naturalist picture. This project develops and draws on representationalist accounts of mind to explain how to locate ....Understanding phenomenal experience as a natural part of our world. The natural sciences?physics, chemistry and biology?provide compelling accounts of our world. They contain, however, no overt mention of mental states and in particular the mental states with a phenomenology: states like itches and colour experiences. The challenge for naturalists is locate these states within the naturalist picture. This project develops and draws on representationalist accounts of mind to explain how to locate mental states that have a phenomenology within the naturalist's picture. This will yield new perspectives on the mental lives of machines.Read moreRead less
Conscious Experience and the Hegemony of Representation. Many things make humans special but three stand out: the possession of a moral sense, rationality, and consciousness. This project aims to explain consciousness in a way fully comppatible with the aspirations of cognitive science to see humans as a natural part of the physical world.
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.
Philosophical progress. Understanding the nature and possibility of progress in philosophy will shed light not only on philosophy as a funded research discipline within the university system in Australia, but also on the nature of research within the humanities and social sciences more generally.
Knowledge of consciousness. This project explores and defends a new philosophical perspective on introspective knowledge and charts its connection to larger issues of human rationality and consciousness.
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.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220101158
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
Virtual Minds in the Real World: Mind-Uploading in the 21st Century . This project aims to investigate the potential and the consequences of mind-uploading (i.e. transitioning a person from a biological hardware to an artificial one). It will use the methods of analytical philosophy to contribute to, and integrate, three different fields: philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and artificial intelligence. Expected outcomes include a theoretical and normative framework for mind-uploading, and a much-im ....Virtual Minds in the Real World: Mind-Uploading in the 21st Century . This project aims to investigate the potential and the consequences of mind-uploading (i.e. transitioning a person from a biological hardware to an artificial one). It will use the methods of analytical philosophy to contribute to, and integrate, three different fields: philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and artificial intelligence. Expected outcomes include a theoretical and normative framework for mind-uploading, and a much-improved understanding of its implications. This should provide significant benefits, such as fostering exchange between philosophy and computer science, providing directions for scientific research and technological development, as well as informing legal guidelines for artificial intelligence development. Read moreRead less