aap > media > find an expert > Mark Colyvan
Mark Colyvan
Areas of public interest: (examples of areas of public interest this person is qualified to comment on):
Racial profiling; The use of statistics in the courtroom; Environmental ethics and environmental decision making; The problems and pitfalls of group decision making; Philosophy of Science
Contact Details:
Ph: (+61 2) 9036 6175
email: mcolyvan AT usyd.edu.au
Address: Department of Philosophy
Room S205, A14 Main Quadrangle
University of Sydney
Sydney, NSW, 2006
Title & Institutional Affiliations:
Professor of Philosophy, University of Sydney
Director of the Sydney Centre for the Foundations of Science
Chief Investigator and Project Leader, Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis
Chief Investigator and Project Leader, Research Hub for Applied Environmental Decision Analysis
Selected Media appearances and public comments:
11 June 2008: 'Proven ... It Pays Off to Be Faithful' by Jill Rowbotham (and photograph by Venessa Hunter) in The Australian. (Article about Mark Colyvan's work on the mathematics of dating and mate selection.)
18 March 2007: 'What Is and What Is Not', public lecture in the Edge of Reason public lecture series at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
3 March 2007: 'Let's Get Metaphysical', interview for the ABC Radio National Program The Philosopher's Zone
3 December 2006: Interview about Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon appeared on the ABC Television program My Favourite Album (and repeated on 7 January 2007)
19 August 2005: 'Of Demons, Gods and Mathematicians' published in The Australian Financial Review, Friday 19 August 2005, p. Review 3.
From 1988-1990 Mark was a radio announcer for the weekly radio program "The Fabulous Sixties", on community radio station 2ARM-FM.
General Areas of Academic Expertise:
Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Logic, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Ecology and Conservation Biology, Decision Theory, Metaphysics
Selected Publications:
'Right Decisions or Happy Decision Makers?', Social Epistemology, forthcoming. (Coauthors: Katie Steele, Helen M. Regan and Mark A. Burgman.), 2007
This paper discusses the issue of whether the aim of environmental decision making is to arrive at the objectively correct decision or to satisfy those involved in the decision-making process.
'Is it a Crime to Belong to a Reference Class?', The Journal of Political Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 2 June 2001, pp. 161-81. Reprinted in H.E. Kyburg and M. Thalos (eds.), Probability is the Very Guide of Life, Open Court, Chicago, 2003, pp. 331-47. (Coauthors Helen M. Regan and Scott Ferson)
This paper discusses the use of statistical methods, such as racial profiling, in criminal trials.
Ecological Orbits: How Planets Move and Populations Grow, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004. (Coauthor: Lev R. Ginzburg.)
This book defends a novel theory of population dynamics and, along the way, explores some of the many interesting philosophical issues involved in the modern science of ecology.

Further information about Mark and his research, including a list of publications

For information about the AAP's list of philosophical experts or enquiries about philosophers for media comment please contact the AAP's Media Officer: Caroline West, caroline.west AT arts.usyd.edu.au, wk) 02 9036 9349 or mob) 0412 702 433 or Executive Officer: Eliza Goddard, wk) 03 62946319 or mob) 0409 169837