Annette Baier Prize

2017 Annette Baier Prize Winner

Miriam Bankovsky La Trobe University

'Excusing Economic Envy: On Injustice and Impotence'

Journal of Applied Philosophy - March 2016

Bankovsky’s paper provides a highly original analysis of an idea that has been with us since the Ancient Greeks – that envy is irrational, and as such, does not provide justification for economic redistribution. Bankovsky challenges this orthodoxy by recovering the overlooked concept from John Rawls of ‘excusable envy’, which she argues shows that envy can be rational, and does provide grounds for economic redistribution. Bankovsky’s analysis is both detailed and ambitious; it has the potential to re-orient philosophical analysis of economic envy, from the language of individual shame to that of collective social justice. In this, she links conceptual argumentation with contemporary political concerns, in an article that the committee judged to be of a high standard of scholarship, clarity and overall merit. Her article is a commendable achievement.

2017 Short List

Tracy Llanera Macquarie University

'Rethinking nihilism: Rorty vs Taylor, Dreyfus and Kelly', Philosophy and Social Criticism, 42.9 (2016), 937-950.

Talia Morag Deakin University

'Emotions as judgments or as modes of “seeing-as”: The explanatory challenges toward a causal account for emotional episodes', Emotion, Imagination, and the Limits of Reason, London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 21-57

Miriam Bankovsky La Trobe University

'Excusing Economic Envy: On Injustice and Impotence', Journal of Applied Philosophy, (March 2016), DOI: 10.1111/japp.12194

Dalia Nassar University of Sydney

'Analogical reflection as a source for the science of life: Kant and the possibility of the biological sciences', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 58 (2016), 57-66.

Anik Waldow University of Sydney

'Natural history and the formation of the human being: Kant on active forces', Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 56 (2016), 67-76.

2016 Annette Baier Prize Winner

Monima Chadha Monash University

 “Time-Series of Ephemeral Impressions: The Abhidharma-Buddhist View of Conscious Experience,” Phenomenology and Cognitive Sciences: 14 (3), pp. 543–560.

This paper defends the Buddhist Abhidharma theory of experience from phenomenological and metaphysical challenges due to the doctrine of momentariness, the view that ‘seemingly rich conscious experiences are made fully available in a moment’. (544) It is a very thorough paper, responding to recent criticisms by Dan Zahavi and others, and elegantly weaving together history of philosophy in the Buddhist tradition, contemporary analytic philosophy, empirical neuroscience and the phenomenology of Husserl to craft an intricate united view. The piece is incredibly rich, and correspondingly complex, due to the worlds of knowledge navigated. It carefully treads the line between textual fidelity to particular traditions and conceptual engagement across traditions. The committee judged the paper to be of a high standard of scholarship, clarity, and overall merit, and found that one could keep reading this piece and finding more insights in it. 

2016 Short List

Joanne Faulkner  University of New South Wales

‘Our own Hurricane Katrina: Aboriginal disadvantage and Australian national identity’, National Identities, 2015, 17(2),117-135.

Bronwyn Finnigan  Australian National University

‘Phronesis in Aristotle: Reconciling Deliberation with Spontaneity’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2015, Vol. XCI No. 3, 674-697.

Dalia Nassar University of Sydney

‘Analogy, Natural History and the Philosophy of Nature', Journal of the Philosophy of History, 2015, 9, 240-257.

Monima Chadha  Monash University

‘Time-Series of Ephemeral Impressions: The Abhidharma-Buddhist View of Conscious Experience’, Phenomenology and Cognitive Sciences, 2015, 14 (3), 543-560

 

 

Anik Waldow University of Sydney

‘Activating the Mind: Descartes’ Dreams and the Awakening of the Human Animal Machine’, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 2015, doi: 10.1111/phpr.12252

Criterion of evaluation

The sole criterion for the prize is philosophical merit.

The judging panel will consider and score entries on:

Overall impression of merit, Originality, Scholarship, Clarity of expression.

Papers must be nominated to be considered for the prize. Nominations may be made by the author or by someone else. 

Entries must appear in print (or in final form if the publication is online only) in the year previous to the prize award. 

The prize is open to published papers or book chapters (i.e. chapters in edited anthologies) in any area of philosophy.

The prize is open to female professional philosophers who are actively engaged in an Australasian higher education and/or

research institution.

Entries should be received in electronic copy and include:

• A completed nomination form 
• A PDF copy of the nominated piece in its published form
• Full citation details