The philosophical influences on anthropology. This project aims to undertake a comprehensive account of Kant’s impact on the early history of anthropology, offering a new framework for understanding philosophy’s role as a cultural force in society. The project will investigate the importance of Kant’s twin narratives of progressive human development and racial difference for understanding the course taken by anthropology when determining government policies regarding race relations. The benefit ....The philosophical influences on anthropology. This project aims to undertake a comprehensive account of Kant’s impact on the early history of anthropology, offering a new framework for understanding philosophy’s role as a cultural force in society. The project will investigate the importance of Kant’s twin narratives of progressive human development and racial difference for understanding the course taken by anthropology when determining government policies regarding race relations. The benefit of this reconstruction will be the identification of contemporary examples of Kant’s continued legacy, especially in the context of legacies of racial bias, and to the nature of claimed racial and ethnic identities.Read moreRead less
The experimental self in early modern philosophy. This project aims to analyse an unrecognised connection between the emergence of experience-grounded theories of the self and the rise of early modern experimentalism. These are two developments in early modern philosophy which paved the way for today’s conception of science. By studying the influence of Cartesian physiology on early modern accounts of embodied cognition, the project seeks to correct some of the misconceptions of the period. The ....The experimental self in early modern philosophy. This project aims to analyse an unrecognised connection between the emergence of experience-grounded theories of the self and the rise of early modern experimentalism. These are two developments in early modern philosophy which paved the way for today’s conception of science. By studying the influence of Cartesian physiology on early modern accounts of embodied cognition, the project seeks to correct some of the misconceptions of the period. The project aims to clarify the role of human agency in advancement of knowledge, and develop a conceptual framework that allows a more nuanced and complex understanding of the relationship between the humanities and sciences.Read moreRead less
The Buddhist roots of neo-Confucian philosophy. This project will: show for the first time how Buddhist philosophy shaped the intellectual construction of neo-Confucian philosophy; demonstrate that Chinese philosophy owes far more to its engagement with other philosophical traditions than has hitherto been demonstrated; and enable us to view Chinese philosophy as part of a global enterprise.
The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) ....The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) in England and Europe from 1600 to 1750, against the backdrop of the rise of Cartesianism. The anticipated outcome is greater awareness of an enduring feminist tradition within the history of philosophy. The expected social benefits include a shift in public thinking about feminist history and women in philosophy.Read moreRead less
Women on liberty: from the early modern period to the enlightenment (1650-1800). Our modern ideals about liberty were forged in the great political debates of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but little is known about women’s participation in those debates. This project will be one of the first to examine early modern and enlightenment women’s writings on political, moral, and metaphysical concepts of liberty. It will do so by bringing together leading scholars in the field.
Passionate Knowledge: The Ethics and Politics of the Scientific Revoution. Modern science and the modern state came to the world together. They emerged from the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, which changed not only the way people understood the world, but how they understood themselves as individuals and communities. By analysing scientific, philosophical and political documents, some canonical and some rarely read, this project aims to reveal the ethical and political implications o ....Passionate Knowledge: The Ethics and Politics of the Scientific Revoution. Modern science and the modern state came to the world together. They emerged from the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, which changed not only the way people understood the world, but how they understood themselves as individuals and communities. By analysing scientific, philosophical and political documents, some canonical and some rarely read, this project aims to reveal the ethical and political implications of the rise of modern science. It is expected to be the first comprehensive study of the co-formation of science and the state in their era of origin, shedding crucial and surprising light on the place of science in culture and politics ever since.Read moreRead less
Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life. The core aim of this project is to examine modern re-inventions of the classical ideal of philosophy as a way of life. It will investigate the reanimation of this idea in post-Kantian philosophy, including well-known figures such as Nietzsche but also neglected figures such as Jean-Marie Guyau. The research will be highly significant in providing the first sustained study of how 19th and 20th century European philosophy transformed ancient philosophical s ....Reinventing Philosophy as a Way of Life. The core aim of this project is to examine modern re-inventions of the classical ideal of philosophy as a way of life. It will investigate the reanimation of this idea in post-Kantian philosophy, including well-known figures such as Nietzsche but also neglected figures such as Jean-Marie Guyau. The research will be highly significant in providing the first sustained study of how 19th and 20th century European philosophy transformed ancient philosophical schools, such as Epicureanism and Stoicism. Read moreRead less
The Huxleys and global science, 1825–1975. This project aims to deepen our understanding of how life and earth sciences contributed to global modernity over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The project will focus on two major biologists and communicators of evolutionary theory, Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) and his grandson Julian Huxley (1887–1975). It will interrogate the questions that the Huxleys raised about the changing nature of time, the deep past and the distant future of human ....The Huxleys and global science, 1825–1975. This project aims to deepen our understanding of how life and earth sciences contributed to global modernity over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The project will focus on two major biologists and communicators of evolutionary theory, Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) and his grandson Julian Huxley (1887–1975). It will interrogate the questions that the Huxleys raised about the changing nature of time, the deep past and the distant future of humankind, shifting ideas about difference between and within species. By doing so, the project aims to better understand developments from pre- to high- to post-Darwinian eras, and the major institutional and intellectual shifts from imperial to international sciences.Read moreRead less
Negotiating modernity: Buddhism between Tibet and China. This project will shed light on a significant aspect of modern Asian intellectual history: the appropriation of Yogacara Buddhism in Tibet and how this relates to simultaneous movements in China. The project will open up new perspectives on the distinct trajectories of modernist thought in Tibetan and Chinese cultures.
Conscience and conscientious objection in health care. Medical professionals sometimes decline to provide particular forms of safe, beneficial and legal health care, on the grounds that provision would go against their consciences. Bioethicists and policy makers have failed to identify legitimate limits to the scope of appeals to conscientious objection in health care. This is in large part because the underlying concept ''conscience" is unclear. This project aims to advance bioethical debate by ....Conscience and conscientious objection in health care. Medical professionals sometimes decline to provide particular forms of safe, beneficial and legal health care, on the grounds that provision would go against their consciences. Bioethicists and policy makers have failed to identify legitimate limits to the scope of appeals to conscientious objection in health care. This is in large part because the underlying concept ''conscience" is unclear. This project aims to advance bioethical debate by producing a philosophically and psychologically informed analysis of conscience, and by applying this to discussions about the legitimate limits to conscientious objection in health care. It is expected to result in academic and non-academic publications and enable improvements to Australian health care policy.Read moreRead less