Addiction, moral identity and moral agency: Integrating theoretical and empirical approaches. By clarifying and evaluating scientific claims about the moral impacts of addiction on the judgment and practices of drug addicted persons and by investigating the perspectives of users and treatment professionals, our project will contribute to the development of ethical and effective public policy, treatment and education programs in the addictions area, thus helping to address the causes and reduce t ....Addiction, moral identity and moral agency: Integrating theoretical and empirical approaches. By clarifying and evaluating scientific claims about the moral impacts of addiction on the judgment and practices of drug addicted persons and by investigating the perspectives of users and treatment professionals, our project will contribute to the development of ethical and effective public policy, treatment and education programs in the addictions area, thus helping to address the causes and reduce the impact of biological, social and environmental factors which diminish life potential in drug addicted persons. The innovative features of this project will enhance Australia's international reputation in bioethics and moral psychology, extend the reach of experimental philosophy, and facilitate future interdisciplinary work.Read moreRead less
An Integrity System for Victoria Police. Through a critical examination of current integrity systems and sub-systems across a range of police forces, in depth empirical explorations at the primary research site (VicPol)and analyses of practical ethical problems, a high performance integrity system will be designed and tested. The significance of this project is its comprehensiveness, its use of a reliable theory of organisational ethical health, and of a methodology that allows for the full inc ....An Integrity System for Victoria Police. Through a critical examination of current integrity systems and sub-systems across a range of police forces, in depth empirical explorations at the primary research site (VicPol)and analyses of practical ethical problems, a high performance integrity system will be designed and tested. The significance of this project is its comprehensiveness, its use of a reliable theory of organisational ethical health, and of a methodology that allows for the full incorporation of practitioner views. Outcomes of the project will include data generating arrangements that provide evidence of achieved levels of compliance, integrity and performance.Read moreRead less
Collective Obligations and Partial Compliance. The research I would conduct is likely to have considerable impact at both the national and international level. Despite the lack of systematic work on the issues my projects tackles, the importance of those issues is now widely recognized, and so work on them is likely to be widely noted and discussed. In addition, the research will have important implications for a number of the most prominent issues in contemporary life in Australia, such as issu ....Collective Obligations and Partial Compliance. The research I would conduct is likely to have considerable impact at both the national and international level. Despite the lack of systematic work on the issues my projects tackles, the importance of those issues is now widely recognized, and so work on them is likely to be widely noted and discussed. In addition, the research will have important implications for a number of the most prominent issues in contemporary life in Australia, such as issues concerning refugees, relations with the aboriginal community, and international aid.Read moreRead less
An analysis of research ethics and the ethical review process as culture and cultural process. This project explores research ethics and the ethical review process as culture and cultural process. It includes analyses of international ethics review-related documents, literature, and processes, case studies, key informant interviews, and observation of ethics committees in the process of deliberation. It focuses primarily on work associated with the paradigms and methods used or borrowed from t ....An analysis of research ethics and the ethical review process as culture and cultural process. This project explores research ethics and the ethical review process as culture and cultural process. It includes analyses of international ethics review-related documents, literature, and processes, case studies, key informant interviews, and observation of ethics committees in the process of deliberation. It focuses primarily on work associated with the paradigms and methods used or borrowed from the social sciences and topics and populations that seem to be the most problematic. This understanding might help us better address the issues involved and allow the development of policies and applications that are less problematic for all concerned.Read moreRead less
Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct ....Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct medical, legal, sociological and political discourses that occupy the field in discussions of what to do about dangerous and unhealthy behaviour, and deliver more control and responsibility, where appropriate, back to the actors who must have primary care of the problem, those who will or will not act badly.Read moreRead less
The Normative Value of Unified Agency. We aim to provide a philosophical account of the normative value of agency by showing (1) how those interpersonal relations which are a central source of value structures our agency, and (2) how our morally valuable engagement in social institutions enables agency. Through reflection on cases of psychopathology, we will present an analysis of the essential normativity of agency by examining what happens when agency breaks down. Our findings will have implic ....The Normative Value of Unified Agency. We aim to provide a philosophical account of the normative value of agency by showing (1) how those interpersonal relations which are a central source of value structures our agency, and (2) how our morally valuable engagement in social institutions enables agency. Through reflection on cases of psychopathology, we will present an analysis of the essential normativity of agency by examining what happens when agency breaks down. Our findings will have implications for standard theoretical accounts in moral psychology and for social and legal policy relating to the treatment of those with psychiatric disorders.Read moreRead less
Ethical Excellence in the Public Sector in New South Wales. The benefits are to the public sector, and to the public at large in dealing with public sector organisations. Ethical performance is commonly identified as a deliverable from the public service; and the public trust in this aspect of public service performance is critical. The project will help to establish and identify ethical best practice, allowing those organisations and the public to be aware of and to refer to indicators and tr ....Ethical Excellence in the Public Sector in New South Wales. The benefits are to the public sector, and to the public at large in dealing with public sector organisations. Ethical performance is commonly identified as a deliverable from the public service; and the public trust in this aspect of public service performance is critical. The project will help to establish and identify ethical best practice, allowing those organisations and the public to be aware of and to refer to indicators and transparent performance. It will produce rigorous analysis, and offer recommendations which will have practical implementations.Read moreRead less
Moral Responsibility and Cognitive Science: Agency, Empathy and Theory of Mind. Moral responsibility has two components: being responsible for one's actions (moral agency), and holding others responsible for their actions (moral ascription). The aim of this project is to develop empirically informed and philosophically sophisticated models of moral agency and moral ascription. We will do this by drawing on recent research on agency and moral cognition within cognitive science. An adequate model ....Moral Responsibility and Cognitive Science: Agency, Empathy and Theory of Mind. Moral responsibility has two components: being responsible for one's actions (moral agency), and holding others responsible for their actions (moral ascription). The aim of this project is to develop empirically informed and philosophically sophisticated models of moral agency and moral ascription. We will do this by drawing on recent research on agency and moral cognition within cognitive science. An adequate model of moral responsibility has significant intellectual value and may lead to new methods for treating anti-social behavior. Read moreRead less
Spinoza, Kant and Deleuze on freedom and ethical difference: an immanent approach. Transcendent moral philosophies, such as those in the Kantian tradition, have significant disadvantages when it comes to developing ethical and political tools for multicultural communities such as Australia, as they lack the flexibility to negotiate between moral and religious groupings adhering to competing moral absolutes. In using Deleuze's thought to develop a non-transcendent or immanent approach to ethics, ....Spinoza, Kant and Deleuze on freedom and ethical difference: an immanent approach. Transcendent moral philosophies, such as those in the Kantian tradition, have significant disadvantages when it comes to developing ethical and political tools for multicultural communities such as Australia, as they lack the flexibility to negotiate between moral and religious groupings adhering to competing moral absolutes. In using Deleuze's thought to develop a non-transcendent or immanent approach to ethics, the project seeks to address this problem. It will provide a means of negotiating this plurality of beliefs without recourse to transcendent or universal values, or to any one dominant moral code. This approach aims to have a marked impact on national debate over the philosophical and practical possibilities of such an ethics.Read moreRead less