Improving decision-making processes in complex environments. This project will develop a new approach to understanding the factors involved in complex decision making. It will investigate the processes and mechanisms that individuals use to make decisions in complex environments. This project will also show that one way individuals deal with the problem of complexity is to frame their experiences aesthetically.
Ethics of Historical Relationships: Evaluating Ethical Claims Based on History. Demands based on history, ideas about historical obligations, concerns about historical identity, what it is means and what duties it might require, are common causes of dispute within and among nations. This project, by developing an ethical theory that can make well-founded judgments about the legitimacy of a wide range of historical claims, and by showing how the theory can be applied to particular cases, will pro ....Ethics of Historical Relationships: Evaluating Ethical Claims Based on History. Demands based on history, ideas about historical obligations, concerns about historical identity, what it is means and what duties it might require, are common causes of dispute within and among nations. This project, by developing an ethical theory that can make well-founded judgments about the legitimacy of a wide range of historical claims, and by showing how the theory can be applied to particular cases, will provide a better understanding of the nature of these disputes and how they might be resolved. Read moreRead less
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
Intergenerational Justice. The project aims to overcome a major deficiency in philosophical approaches to justice by developing a comprehensive theory about our rights and responsibilities in respect to people who are differently situated in time or in their stage of life. The theory will explain a) why we have responsibilities in respect to future and past people and what these duties are; b) how people in different age groups ought to treat each other; c) what responsibilities belong to genera ....Intergenerational Justice. The project aims to overcome a major deficiency in philosophical approaches to justice by developing a comprehensive theory about our rights and responsibilities in respect to people who are differently situated in time or in their stage of life. The theory will explain a) why we have responsibilities in respect to future and past people and what these duties are; b) how people in different age groups ought to treat each other; c) what responsibilities belong to generational roles (such as ?parent? or ?child?); and d) how all of these duties fit into a more general theory of justice.Read moreRead less
Time and Politics: A Rapprochement of Analytic Political Philosophy and Post-structuralism. The most obvious benefits of this project will be academic, in that it will enrich contemporary political philosophy and advance theoretical work on the post-structuralism of Derrida and Deleuze. I will also be consulting with philosophers across Australia of both analytic and 'European' persuasion, and encouraging such a dialogue contributes to what is an emerging movement to break down the oppositional ....Time and Politics: A Rapprochement of Analytic Political Philosophy and Post-structuralism. The most obvious benefits of this project will be academic, in that it will enrich contemporary political philosophy and advance theoretical work on the post-structuralism of Derrida and Deleuze. I will also be consulting with philosophers across Australia of both analytic and 'European' persuasion, and encouraging such a dialogue contributes to what is an emerging movement to break down the oppositional thinking that has pervaded the Australian philosophical community. Finally, the findings of this project will also be used to instigate new ways of thinking regarding political issues afflicting Australians and the world, particularly in regard to refugees and reconciliation.
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A new understanding of responsibility in the ethics of human reproduction. New developments in reproductive medicine and prenatal testing technologies are transforming pregnancy and generating difficult moral and policy questions for parents and the Australian community. This project will provide a new framework for reproductive responsibility that helps to ensure a healthy start to life for all Australians.
An analysis of foetal imaging and the ethics of the selective termination of pregnancy. This project examines the impacts of routine obstetric ultrasound on the experience of pregnancy, focusing on the ethics of selective termination following diagnosis of abnormalities. The project contributes to the national research priority goal of a healthy start to life, by examining the ethical aspects of ensuring foetal health in Australia.
The many moral rationalisms. This project addresses the foundations of morality. It contributes to our self-understanding by generating new insights into the objectivity of morality and into the role of reason and emotion in moral judgment.
Agency, Rationality, and Emotion. This project addresses the puzzling and multiple connections between emotion and reason. Emotion, long viewed as an impediment to rationality, actually helps us reason well. Our image of good public deliberation as unemotional needs to be challenged and our understanding of the place of reason and emotion in human life needs to be revised. The project engages and contributes to new international research on emotion and rationality thereby contributing to Austral ....Agency, Rationality, and Emotion. This project addresses the puzzling and multiple connections between emotion and reason. Emotion, long viewed as an impediment to rationality, actually helps us reason well. Our image of good public deliberation as unemotional needs to be challenged and our understanding of the place of reason and emotion in human life needs to be revised. The project engages and contributes to new international research on emotion and rationality thereby contributing to Australia's international reputation for excellence in philosophy.
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The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also co ....The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence from Psychopathology and Neuroscience. What can moral philosophers hope to learn from the sciences of the mind? Recent work on the disorders of autism and psychopathy, has promised to reshape a longstanding philosophical debate between Kantians and Humeans on the role of empathy (sympathy) in moral thinking. This project will draw out the implications of a range of neuroscientific findings for key questions in moral theory and also consider how the normative and conceptual claims made by such theories, about what must be true of a moral judgment, are connected to descriptive claims about the psychology of the moral agents who make them.Read moreRead less