AAP News

Vale Brian Ellis 1929-2025

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 01:46:13 GMT

Brian worked in the History and Philosophy of Science Department (as it then was) at Melbourne University, before taking up the position of founding Professor of Philosophy at La Trobe University, where he is remembered particularly for his role in building an extremely successful department. He retired from La Trobe in the early 1990s, and returned to the Philosophy Department (now the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies) of Melbourne University. He worked and published mainly in the areas of philosophy of science, epistemology and metaphysics, and in later years he published books on ethics and social philosophy.

Obituary notice: https://tributes.theage.com.au/au/obituaries/theage-au/name/brian-ellis-obituary?id=60126525

Remembering Grant Tavinor

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 06:27:12 GMT

Tribute from Lincoln University

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Dr Grant Tavinor, Senior Lecturer in the
Department of Tourism, Sport and Society, on 13 August 2025. After 22 years of dedicated
service to Lincoln University, Grant leaves a memorable mark on our whānau and his field. A respected philosopher and a popular lecturer, he was also a thoughtful colleague known for his dry wit and a deep ethic of care for the people around him.

Grant joined the then-Department of Social Science, Parks, Recreation and Tourism
(SSPRT) as a Lecturer in Philosophy in February 2003. After completing his PhD at the
University of Auckland, he quickly established himself as a forward-thinking scholar. In 2014,
he was promoted to Senior Lecturer, a testament to his hard work and commitment.
Describing himself as a "philosopher of the arts”, Grant was a pioneer in the aesthetics of
digital technology. His seminal 2009 book, The Art of Videogames, is widely regarded as a
foundational text, arguing that video games are a new form of representational art. He
continued to shape this emerging field with his books, The Aesthetics of Videogames (2018)
and The Aesthetics of Virtual Reality (2021). His dedication to his work also led him to serve
as an Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in 2022.

Grant was deeply committed to the university community. He served on the Human Ethics
Committee for 14 years, holding the position of Chair from 2014 until his retirement from the
Committee in 2024. For this unwavering dedication, he was honoured with a Vice-
Chancellor's "Recognition of Service" award.

Described by his colleagues as a "quiet over-achiever" with a "deep ethic of care", Grant
was a popular teacher and a loyal member of the Faculty of Environment, Society and
Design. With a wonderful sense of humour and a thoughtful nature, he was a beloved
colleague whose intellect and interests touched many people across the university and
beyond.

Originally from Whangarei, Grant had a keen interest in music, particularly as an
accomplished drummer. He was also a devoted dog lover, mountain biker and cricket fan.

Our deepest sympathies are with Grant's family, friends, and all who knew him.

Vale Peter Roeper 1939-2025

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 03:44:16 GMT

The School of Philosophy at the Australian National University is saddened to learn of the death of Peter Roeper, who is warmly remembered as a scholar and colleague.

Campus Visitor at the Australian National University 02 Jan 2019 - 28 Feb 2027

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter-Roeper

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/tributes-funerals/death-notices/604923/roeper-peter-karl-mitchell-act/

Vale Max Creswell 1939-2024

Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:01:10 GMT

Max Cresswell, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington (Te Herenga Waka), was known for his work in logic (especially modal logic) and semantics.

Cresswell joined the faculty of Victoria University of Wellington in 1963, retiring in 2001. He earned his PhD from Victoria University of Manchester, and his MA and BA from the University of New Zealand.

Leiter Report In Memorium: https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2024/09/in-memoriam-max-cresswell-1939-2024.html

Daily Nous: https://dailynous.com/2024/09/24/max-cresswell-1939-2024/

Vale Keith Campbell 1938-2024

Sat, 12 Oct 2024 23:02:24 GMT

Last night Keith Campbell passed away. Keith was a member of the department at Sydney for many years, was the Challis professor from 1991 to 2002, taking over from David Armstrong and serving until Huw Price took over the position. Keith was a a leading figure in metaphysics, defending, inter alia, materialism and trope theory. Alongside David Armstrong and John Mackie, he put Australian philosophy on the map. He made a huge contribution to a wide range of areas, and in many ways changed the intellectual landscape that was metaphysics at the time. This is a very sad day for Australian philosophy in general, and for Sydney in particular. We extend our sympathies to Keith’s family.

Circulated on aphil by Kristie Miller, Philosophy Department, University of Sydney, 13 October.

Australian Academy of Humanities; https://humanities.org.au/our-community/vale-emeritus-professor-keith-campbell-1938-2024/

In Memoriam, Leiter Report: https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2024/10/in-memoriam-keith-campbell-1938-2024.html

Vale Patrick Alfred (Æ) Hutchings

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 03:06:52 GMT

Patrick Æ Hutchings (Oxon), was a longtime Editor-in-Chief (Australasia) of Sophia and a cherished member of both the journal’s philosophical community and the international philosophy community more broadly.

With a deep intellectual and academic history (with prior studies in the University of Wellington and Oxford University), Patrick was at the time of his passing an Honorary Research Associate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11841-023-00991-y

Vale Dr Marion Tapper

Sat, 22 Jul 2023 04:23:06 GMT

Dear Colleagues

You may have seen the recent messages from Arthur O'Neill, Maurita Harney
and Kim Sterelny about the death of Marion Tapper.

In these messages, Marion has been recognised for: her contribution to
Australian philosophical thought focussed on texts of German and French
origin; an academic career that 'helped to establish phenomenology, and
continental philosophy more broadly, as an important, strong, and respected
area of philosophical inquiry in Australia'; playing a foundational role in
setting up the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy (MSCP); and, as
an inspiring teacher and host of most memorable social occasions.

In addition to Marion's legacy in phenomenology and continental philosophy,
Marion contributed significantly to the AAP and the philosophy profession;
a contribution that was recently recognised at the AAP Conference and
Centenary exhibition of the Association. Marion was the AAP
Secretary (1998-2003) and Appointments Officer (1986-1987 and 1994-1998).
She co-authored seminal reports about women and the profession - 'Special
Problems Facing Women in Philosophy' (with San MacColl, Genevieve Lloyd and
Barbara Roxon) in 1982 and 'Women and Philosophy' (with Janna Thompson) in
1991.

Much loved sister of Linda, Jan (dec), Alan and Ross, she will be greatly
missed. A guest book has been set up where people may leave their
reflections here:
https://www.westannouncements.com.au/browse/obituaries/view/tapper-marion?fbclid=IwAR1MgbS542ljaL1_8RvMrQkFjDiIQAOJaLZzQ8kx5E1rRyKxB064xjQELHo

Vale Emeritus Professor Jennifer A. McMahon

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 08:11:45 GMT

The AAP is saddened to hear of the recent death of Professor Jennifer A.
McMahon, University of Adelaide. Following a cancer diagnosis in 2019,
Jenny passed away peacefully on Monday 5th June 2023.

Jenny's family have asked that we circulate this news and the details of
her funeral, which will be held in the Florey Chapel at Centennial Park
Cemetery (760 Goodwood Road, Pasadena, Adelaide, SA) on Monday 19th June
2023, at 12.45pm, followed by her burial at 2pm.

In addition to her academic work, Jenny was Secretary of the AAP from 2014
to 2017 and was the curator of the inaugural issue of the *Australasian
Philosophical Review* in 2017 on the topic of Aesthetic Pleasure.

She will be sorely missed by her family, as well as by her friends and
academic colleagues both around Australia and the world.

Vale Dr Janette Poulton 1953 - 2023

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 22:29:06 GMT

Eulogy provided by Jill Howells

I met Janette in 2000 when I taught at a Primary School in Melbourne. I enrolled in a Professional Learning Course – Introduction to a Community of Inquiry, which she was running through the Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools.

The level-one training I completed, Janette’s mentoring of me, and our friendship changed how I am an educator and influenced the schools I worked in. She ignited in me a passion to advocate for teaching critical and creative thinking through philosophical dialogue.

Janette reminded me of an intrepid explorer in education, always finding new ways to support and encourage adults and children to engage in Philosophical thinking. Her influence was immense across all sectors of education.

Some of Janette’s main achievements are:

1996

Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools

Education and Innovations Officer

2000

Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority

Casual assessment work

2002

Federation of Asia Pacific Philosophy in Schools Association

Victorian Council Member and Secretary

2003

Victorian Certificate of Education Philosophy teacher and examiner – casual

2011

Completed her Doctorate of Education in 2011 on developmental assessment at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Melbourne University, where she studied under the supervision of Professor Patrick Griffin. Her thesis was titled “Milestones in Philosophical Development in the Middle Years”.

2012 -2018

Melbourne Institute of Technology

Academic Coordinator and lecturer School of Education and Arts Academic

2014

Deputy Chair - Philosophy for Children and Youth, Asia-Pacific Network

2015- 2018

Victorian Association of Philosophy in School Northern Hub Coordinator for the Ethical Capability - Department of Education & Training

2017

International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children Conference – Madrid

Presenter

2020 -2022

University of Melbourne - Department of Education, Teacher training

2021.

Conference Coordinator Asia Pacific Conference On Philosophy for Children

2022

Federation of Asia- Pacific Philosophy in Schools

Planning Committee

Presenter

Facilitated a Peace Train workshop with Farzaneh Shahrtash from Iran, working with Japanese students.

Publications

• 2014

“Is there any future for p4c in Australia”?

• 2011

“Milestones in Philosophical Development in the Middle Years”

• 2019

Contributor to “Philosophical Inquiry with Children, The Development of an Inquiring Society in Australia”.

• 2022

“Community of inquiry, competitions, and capabilities: a cautionary response - about how competition is a challenge to the Community of Inquiry.”

Innovations

• Created the first primary philosophy in public spaces event at the National Gallery of Victoria circa 2012.

• Expanded these events to include Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks, Melbourne Zoo, and Immigration Museum.

• Ethics trails at Melbourne Museum, Melbourne Zoo, Holocaust Museum,

• Led VCE revision forums for Year 12 students with leading academics in philosophy.

Janette was a key proponent of the community of inquiry pedagogies, which, unlike many popular educational traditions, acknowledges the importance of allowing children a greater voice in the learning process. Janette believed in interactional classrooms and the importance of listening to children, never wavering from the belief that they, too, are philosophical creatures with important things to say about the world around them.

She has been a leading figure in communities of inquiry in Victoria, interstate and internationally. Education was her passion.

In 2023 Janette continued her work with The Victorian Association of Philosophy in Schools and the Federation of Asia- Pacific Philosophy in Schools.

At one of our last meetings, she was positive towards the planning we had started and excited about what the year would bring.

She will be missed by many across the world.

Jill Howells

Vale Emeritus Professor Robert Nola (1940-2022)

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 03:16:35 GMT

The AAP regrets to announce the death of Robert Nola at age 82 on Sunday 23 October 2022. One of the longest-serving members of the Philosophy Department of the University of Auckland, his influence on the Department, and, equally, outside of the Department through his many contacts in the Faculty of Science, was immense. Robert was a fierce advocate of standards in the teaching of Philosophy, as well as in science. Philosophically, he was perhaps best known for his defence of scientific realism and the importance of scientific method, his strong advocacy of the idea of analytic rigor and its importance to philosophical method, and his impatience with opposing ideas and trends, including much of continental philosophy (he liked to cite Frege as one of the few exceptions) and religion.

Robert was born in Auckland, New Zealand, 25 June 1940, his father a Croatian fisherman who emigrated to New Zealand. Robert was the first in his New Zealand family to go to University, and after completing an undergraduate science degree at what was then the University of New Zealand he obtained a Master of Science in Mathematics, and a Master of Arts in Philosophy, both from the University of Auckland. He completed his PhD at the Australian National University with a thesis on Theoretical change in the physical sciences: a study of theory reduction and theory replacement in science, under the supervision of John Passmore. Robert subsequently joined the Auckland Department as a lecturer in 1969 and retired an emeritus professor in 2016. Robert married Jan Crosthwaite, also a member of the Philosophy Department, in 1987.

During his long career Robert provided invaluable service to the university community, among his many other roles serving as chairman of the Board of the University of Auckland Press and as chair of the Sir Douglas Robb Lecture Committee. The latter role allowed him to play out his deep commitment to the intellectual importance of the sciences and their links to other fields of enquiry. He was instrumental in bringing a number of notable scientists and science commentators to deliver lectures at the university, including Richard Feynman, Stephen Jay Gould, and Richard Dawkins. His commitment to the intellectual importance of science also led him to introduce a successful interdisciplinary undergraduate programme in the history and philosophy of science and technology, which he convened for many years.

Robert had research contacts with many philosophers and historians of science around the world, and was an academic visitor, in some cases multiple times, at institutions like the Centre for Philosophy of Science in Pittsburgh, the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and the Department of Philosophy at Boğaziçi University, Instanbul (the home department of Gürol Irzik with whom he had a very productive research collaboration). Although Robert’s primary research focus and teaching were in philosophy of science, he had wide interests in philosophy more generally, particularly in metaphysics and epistemology, as well as in science education. He authored about 80 journal articles and book chapters, and was the author of Rescuing Reason: A Critique of Anti-Rationalist Views of Science and Knowledge (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Springer 2003) and, with Gürol Irzik, of Philosophy, Science, Education and Culture (Dordrecht, Springer, 2005). He was also the co-author, with Howard Sankey, of Theories of Scientific Method (Acumen Press, 2007), and the co-editor, with David Braddon-Mitchell, of Naturalism and Analysis (MIT Press, 2009).

Robert’s insistence on the unique and universal rationality of science and its methods sometimes put him at odds with academic trends. For example, he pushed hard for what he saw as a more nuanced account of what indigenous knowledge could offer science than the account found in certain alternative models of science and knowledge popular in the academy. His stance attracted considerable criticism, but for many others it was testimony to a deep intellectual courage and integrity. He continues to be admired by many for the unusual breadth of his academic interests, uncommon in contemporary universities, and for the sheer doggedness he displayed in the pursuit of the ideals of rationality, knowledge and truth. He will be greatly missed by his family, and his numerous friends, collaborators and students.

Vale Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Brennan

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 02:04:07 GMT

With agreement to post from Nic Southwood, Head, School of Philosophy, RSSS, CASS, ANU, circulated on aphil mailing list on 02.08.22:

It is with profound shock and sadness that I share with you the news that our beloved friend and colleague, Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Brennan passed away on Friday morning after a brief battle with leukaemia.

As many of you will know, Geoff was an outstanding scholar, who did ground-breaking work in economics and philosophy and at their intersection and played a major role in the development of “PPE” as a global interdisciplinary research program.

Originally trained as an economist, his early work was focused on issues of public finance. From 1976-1983 he was Professor in the Public Choice Center at Virginia Tech, where he worked extensively with Nobel Laureate James Buchanan, co-authoring two important books (The Power to Tax (CUP 1980) and The Reason of Rules (CUP 1985)), and a dozen or so articles. He returned to the ANU in 1984 where he began to engage and collaborate increasingly with philosophers. In his work on democratic theory with Loren Lomasky, Democracy and Decision (CUP 1993), voters were depicted as motivated by “expressive" concerns rather than rent-seeking ones; and in his book with Philip Pettit, The Economy of Esteem (OUP 2004), as seeking the good opinion of others rather than their purses. That strand of his work continued in Explaining Norms (OUP 2013), with Lina Eriksson, Bob Goodin and Nic Southwood, which formed the basis for the account of social norms in the World Bank's 2015 World Development Report. He continued to work right up until his death on two books dealing with important themes at the intersection of philosophy and economics. In addition to the books already mentioned, Geoff was also a prolific contributor to journals across the three PPE disciplines: the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal, Econometrica, Oxford Economic Papers, Public Finance and Public Choice in economics; the British Journal of Political Science and Politics, Philosophy and Economics in politics; and Ethics, The Monist the Journal of Political Philosophy, the Journal of Applied Philosophy and Social Philosophy and Policy in philosophy.

Geoff received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career. He was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences in 1987 and received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of St Gallen in Switzerland in 2002. He received the 2013 Annual Distinguished Fellow Award from the Australian Economics Society and the 2014 annual Hayek medal awarded by the German Hayek Society. In 2016, he gave the Brian Barry Memorial Lecture (the LSE’s premier lecture in political science). He was President of the international Public Choice Society (the only non-American to hold that office) and an editor of several journals including Economics and Philosophy and the Economic Record.

Geoff described himself as “very much an ANU product.” He did both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at ANU, was a member of ANU academic staff for over forty years (from 1968 until 1978 and again from 1984 until his retirement in 2016), and served as RSSS Director from 1991-1996.

Geoff will be remembered by his numerous friends and colleagues throughout the world, not only for his outstanding scholarly contributions, but also as an inspiring and joyful collaborator and interlocutor, and as an extraordinarily warm, generous, outgoing, and kind person. We will all miss him greatly.

On behalf of the Australasian Philosophy community, I send my sincere condolences to his wife Margaret, children Susan, Michael, Robyn, and Philip, and his many grandchildren.

I will pass on details about funeral arrangements when I have them.

Vale Professor Janna Thompson FASSA, FAHA (1942-2022)

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 23:59:59 GMT

The AAP regrets to announce the death of Janna Thompson on Friday 24 June 2022. She was one of La Trobe University’s longest-serving philosophy academics and an influential contributor to the culture and ethos of the discipline at La Trobe. She served the AAP as President in 1991–92. Throughout her career, she was a powerful advocate for women in philosophy and for greater gender parity within the discipline. She, along with Marian Tapper, authored one of the early reports to AAP Council on the employment of women in the profession (1983–89).

Janna was born in Minnesota in 1942 and did her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota before completing a B.Phil at Oxford University in 1966. After graduating, she taught at the University of Manchester and then came to Australia to take up a role at Monash University. Janna joined La Trobe in January 1975 and was a Lecturer and Professor in Philosophy at La Trobe for almost 40 years until her retirement in 2011. She served as a Director of the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at the University of Melbourne after retirement, while retaining an Adjunct appointment at La Trobe.

Janna was an expert in political philosophy, although her philosophical competence was much wider. She authored five books on reparative justice and intergenerational justice, co-edited two collections, and published over 90 journal articles and book chapters on topics including environmental philosophy and ethics, feminism and labour, women and philosophy, and international justice. She remained an active researcher in retirement, and published her last academic paper on intergenerational justice in March this year. Her list of academic publications is testament to her extraordinary research output and breadth of interests, as well as her ability to recognise and address issues of justice and responsibility before they became more widely known. The quality of her teaching, which ranged over all her research interests and other fields, was valued by her students and much admired by her colleagues.

Janna was also dedicated to public scholarship and political engagement. She had long- standing associations with the labour and environmental movements, and contributed to debates on many issues facing our nation and the world, especially within the trade union movement. Janna’s ability to convey subtle philosophical points clearly to a general audience can be appreciated in her many articles for The Conversation.

Janna was a much-loved member of the La Trobe University community. She was renowned for being a thoughtful and constructive participant at weekly philosophy seminars for many years, and continued to attend seminars and colloquia on campus up until the COVID pandemic. Janna will be remembered for her fierce intelligence and her mission to use philosophy to develop practical tools that could be used to address problems in the world. She was also known for her honesty, directness, and intellectual rigour. Her generosity, acuity and practical orientation to philosophy made her an outstanding supervisor of graduate research students and a wonderful mentor for early career researchers.

Janna was an inspirational philosopher and human being. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Her body of work is a striking record of the value of academic philosophy in resolving societal problems, a legacy of which we can all be very proud. Her colleagues and friends also knew her as an impressive athlete. She frequently engaged in demanding cycling events, both in Australia and overseas, and continued to cycle to campus well after her retirement.

Brian Francis Scarlett 1941 - 2022

Mon, 30 May 2022 00:17:53 GMT

Funeral notice for Brian Francis Scarlett

The Funeral Mass for Brian will be celebrated at Sts Peter & Paul's Catholic Church - 377 Dorcas Street, South Melbourne on Tuesday 31st May, 2022 commencing at 2.00pm.

https://tobinbrothers.com.au/tribute/details/24650/Brian-Scarlett/obituary.html#tribute-start

Graham Nerlich (1929-2022)

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 02:16:09 GMT

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our friend and former colleague, Hughes Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Graham Nerlich.

Graham Nerlich took his first degrees at Adelaide (BA 1954, MA 1955), before heading to Oxford and taking the BPhil (1958) under the supervision of JL Austin. In 1961, after several years as lecturer at Leicester, he took up a position at Sydney. He was promoted to full professor in 1972. Graham returned to Adelaide in 1974, succeeding his former teacher Jack Smart as the Hughes Professor, a position he held until his retirement in 1994. He was editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy (1968-1972) and president of the AAP (1992-93). Among his many honours, Graham was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1978.

Graham’s research and publication during his two decades in the Hughes Chair was divided mainly between studies in the ontology of space, time and spacetime, and work in ethics. In the former and larger output, he defended realism toward spacetime and especially a unique role for it in ontology as providing geometrical, non-causal explanation in General Relativity. Graham’s interest in the philosophy of physics had been stimulated early by Smart, and he enjoyed good relations with the physics department. In ethics, Graham pursued a form of naturalism that sees the development of ethical practices arising, analogously to the universal yet diverse flourishing of language, in the natural life of human populations.

After his retirement, Graham remained active in the department and in research, publishing until well into his eighties. He continued his long running discussion group in philosophy of physics until quite recently.

Graham died in hospital on Thursday 31^st March with his wife Margaret at his side. He never recovered consciousness after suffering a stroke at home the night before.

His funeral will be held at 4pm, Monday April 11^th at Charles Berry & Son (200 Magill Road, Norwood). There will be food and drink afterwards. All warmly welcome.

Dr Jon Opie

Rembering Jerry Gaus

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 02:33:04 GMT

Remembering Jerry Gaus

We at ANU were saddened to learn of the sudden death of our former
colleague Jerry Gaus, while still in his philosophical prime. Like so
many of his cohort who began careers in philosophy at RSSS in the
early 1980s – Fred D'Agostino, Peter Forrest, Michael McRobbie, Peter
Menzies, Huw Price – he went on to greatness later and elsewhere. But
we have always taken pride when hearing, in his distinguished
subsequent work, echoes of the young Jerry who took up his first job
post PhD here at ANU.

Jerry Gaus came to work with Stanley Benn on an internally-funded
interdisciplinary RSSS project on 'The Public and the Private'. The
capstone of that project was a book they coedited, Public and Private
in Social Life (1983), containing chapters by anthropologists,
historians of ideas, lawyers, philosophers and political scientists.
That rampant interdisciplinarity returned to characterize Jerry's late
work, particularly The Tyranny of the Ideal: Justice in a Diverse
Society (2019) and his sadly now posthumous The Open Society and Its
Complexities (2021). And it lies at the heart of the Department of
Political Economy and Moral Science that he founded at the University
of Arizona in 2018.

In between, Jerry devoted himself largely to the problem of public
justification in liberal societies, an extended enterprise bookended
by Justificatory Liberalism (1996) on one end and The Order of Public
Reason (2010) on the other. There the influence of his ANU mentor and
collaborator, Stanley Benn, is much in evidence. Jerry transformed
Stanley's 'Alan and Betty' into his own recurring interlocutors 'Alf
and Betty'. Still, Jerry's conception of practical reason and dialogic
justification is very much continuous with that in Stanley Benn's A
Theory of Freedom (1988), which Jerry saw through press after
Stanley's own premature demise.

Jerry's Pittsburgh PhD was in political science, under John Chapman of
Nomos editorial fame. Jerry said that it was at ANU that 'Stanley
taught me how to be a philosopher'. The preface to Stanley's book
reports that they had a philosophical lunch literally every day
Stanley came into the office. That would have been a bit too much of a
good thing for some. But not for Jerry, whose appetite for philosophy,
once whetted, was insatiable.

We are proud to have played an early role in his career, and we are
proud of all that he accomplished over its course.

Bob Goodin, Geoff Brennan, Philip Pettit, Kim Sterelny

Submission to the public consultation on the Job-ready Graduates Exposure Draft Legislation.

Fri, 21 Aug 2020 01:43:39 GMT

The AAP's submission to the public consultation on the Job-ready Graduates Exposure Draft Legislation can be found here: submission

PHILOSOPHY IN THE TIME OF CORONA

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 05:10:50 GMT

How Philosophers Have Been Helping Australasians Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The humanities have a vital role to play in any time of crisis and transition, and COVID-19 is certainly no exception. Throughout this extraordinary time, Australasian philosophers have been doing our part to make sense of where we are and how we should respond. aap.org.au/PHILOSOPHY-IN-THE-TIME-OF-CORONA/

Vale David Hugh Mellor FBA, FAHA, 1938 - 2020

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 04:45:49 GMT

It is with deep regret that the Australian Academy of the Humanities informs you of the recent passing of David Hugh Mellor (‘Hugh’ to his friends and colleagues, ‘D. H. Mellor’ to his readers), a world-leading philosopher, former Professor of Philosophy and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at Cambridge University, and a passionate advocate for the arts and humanities. Professor Mellor died peacefully in Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge on the morning of June 21 of complications arising from lymphoma. He was elected to the Academy as an Honorary Fellow in 2003.

Hugh Mellor was born in London on 10 July 1938 and was educated at Manchester Grammar School. He studied chemical engineering at Pembroke College, Cambridge, obtaining his BA in 1960. His first formal study of philosophy was at the University of Minnesota where he took a minor in Philosophy of Science under Austrian philosopher and member of the Vienna circle Herbert Feigl. From Minnesota he obtained an MSc in 1962. He obtained his PhD in philosophy, with a thesis written under the supervision of British philosopher Mary Hesse, at Pembroke in 1968.

Professor Mellor’s primary work was in metaphysics: his philosophical interests included the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, probability, time and causation, laws of nature and properties, and decision theory. In 1971 he published The Matter of Chance, a ground-breaking text which offered a revolutionary new theory of objective single case probability. Professor Mellor then went on to become the premier spokesperson for accounts of causation that challenged the orthodoxy that causation is a relation between events, an orthodoxy dating back to 18^th century philosopher David Hume. He was also a leading figure on the philosophy of time, publishing several monographs on the topic and other areas of metaphysics including Real Time (1981), Matters of Metaphysics (1991), The Facts of Causation (1995), Real Time II (1998), Probability: A Philosophical Introduction (2005) and Mind, Meaning, and Reality (2012). A festschrift, Real Metaphysics, edited by Hallvard Lillehammer and Gonzalo Rodriguez-Pereyra, was published in 2003.

Professor Mellor was a Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge from 1964 to 1970 and a Fellow of Darwin College from 1971 to 2005. He became a University Assistant Lecturer in Philosophy in 1965, a Lecturer in 1970, a Reader in Metaphysics in 1983 and Professor of Philosophy from 1986 to 1999. He was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor from 2000 to 2001. During his time as Professor, and subsequently as PVC, Mellor raised substantial funding for the humanities at Cambridge, was instrumental in securing funds needed for the preservation and refurbishment of the Cambridge Arts Theatre, and forcefully represented the School of Arts and Humanities on the General Board. An actor in his own right, Mellor retained a love of theatre and performance throughout his life and career.

In addition to his Honorary Fellowship with the Academy, Mellor was a Fellow of the British Academy from 1983 to 2008, President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science from 1985 to 1987, President of the Aristotelian Society from 1992 to 1993, and Chairman of the Analysis Trust from 2000 to 2008. He served as editor of The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science and was Founding Editor of the Cambridge University Press series Cambridge Studies in Philosophy. From 1978 to 1989 he served on the Editorial Board of Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

Professor Mellor retained strong connections to Australia throughout his career, first as a visiting Fellow to ANU in 1975, and regularly since then, most recently in 2002 and 2003. He played a major role in encouraging and assisting Australians to spend time in the UK and Cambridge and was a stalwart supporter of Australian philosophy and universities.

We extend our deepest sympathies to Professor Mellor’s family, friends and colleagues.

David Hugh Mellor's full Obituary can be read here.

This Obituary appears by kind permission of The Australian Academy of the Humanities. It will appear in their 2019–2020 Annual Report.

Lloyd Reinhardt - 22 September 1933 – 17 May 2020

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 03:33:35 GMT

It is with great sadness that the AAP notes the passing of the former philosopher and friend of the AAP, Lloyd Reinhardt. Lloyd taught at the University of Sydney for many years (as well as Keele University, Birkbeck College, the University of London and the University of California, Santa Barbara). He was a senior lecturer in philosophy at Sydney from 1979 until his retirement in 2001, and published several important articles in the philosophy of language, aesthetics and metaphysics.

Lloyd was born in Deer Creek Minnesota, USA in 1933. After completing his army service, stationed in Germany, he returned to the USA to study philosophy at Berkeley. While there, he studied with Stanley Cavell, Paul Grice and John Searle. Lloyd, like many others of that generation, does not hold a PhD in philosophy. But he went on to complete the prestigious BPhil at Oxford under Gilbert Ryle, during which time he came in regular contact with J.L Austin as well.

Lloyd was a big-hearted man with an unforgettable bass baritone voice and a strong appetite for jokes, good food and wine and, above all, philosophy. Lloyd was an enthusiastic philosophical conversationalist and there are a many of us in the Australasian Philosophical community who owe him a great debt, having benefitted enormously from his generosity in giving up his time to talk philosophy with a seriousness and passion second to none.

Lloyd’s wife Janet writes: “Lloyd never lost his love of philosophy. On the day before he died he was reading Jonathon Lear’s Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation.”

Karen Neander (1954 - 2020)

Mon, 18 May 2020 01:29:44 GMT

Those in the Australasian philosophical community who knew Karen Neander will be greatly saddened by the news of her death. She died on 6 May 2020, after a long battle with cancer.

Karen completed a BA (honours) at La Trobe in 1975, followed by the award of her PhD in 1984. In the 1980s she held positions in Philosophy at the Universities of Sydney, Wollongong, and Adelaide before becoming a postdoctoral and then a research fellow in the Philosophy Program of the Research School of Social Sciences at the ANU. In 1996 Karen moved to a position at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. She took up a senior appointment in Philosophy at the University of California at Davis in 2002, and in 2006 became Professor of Philosophy and Linguistics at Duke University in North Carolina.

Karen maintained strong links with Australasian philosophy, serving as a member of the AJP Editorial Board, attending the AAP conference when she could, and keeping in touch with former colleagues. Many philosophers here regarded Karen as a long-term friend as well as an academic colleague and her death is felt as a personal as well as a professional loss.

Karen was a first-rate philosopher and internationally well-known for her contributions to philosophy of mind, biology, and cognitive science. Prior to her important book, A Mark of the Mental (MIT Press, 2017), there was an impressive list of publications in journals, edited collections, and major reference works. As David Papineau has recently written of Karen: "All her work was powerful, insightful, influential."

Karen is remembered by many with great respect and with great affection.

Stephanie (Steffi) Lewis 1944-2019

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 22:09:39 GMT

Stephanie (Steffi) Lewis died at her home in Princeton on the 7^th of November this year. Steffi had a long association with the Australasian philosophical community and has been a longtime member of the AAP, attending most conferences since the early 1970s. She visited Australia or New Zealand almost annually since 1970 with her husband David, and continued to regularly and frequently attend the annual conference after David’s death in 2001. It is with great sadness that we note her passing.

STUART BROCK

CEO | Australasian Association of Philosophy

Andre Norman Gallois Obituary

(Past member) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 03:15:51 GMT

The AAP would like to recognise the passing of Andre Norman Gallois. Andre spent many of his career years in Australia starting at Monash and then moving to UQ where he served as Chair of the Philosophy Department for 17 years. Andre also served as a member of the editorial board of the AJP. Obituary HERE

John Williams Obituary

(Past member) — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 04:42:46 GMT

The AAP would like to recognise the passing of John Williams. John was a prominent, prolific, and much-loved member of the Singapore philosophy community. John was a mentor to many in Singapore, as well as a regular attendee at the AAP conference. http://michaelpelczar.com/?page_id=255

AAP Statement re 2019 AAP Conference

Fri, 05 Jul 2019 13:24:02 GMT

We at the AAP would like to acknowledge the serious concerns raised regarding one of the talks scheduled at our upcoming conference at the University of Wollongong.

By tradition and by policy, the AAP conference accepts all contributions received from academic philosophers in Australasia. Aside from the Presidential address and our keynote speakers, the contributors to the conference are not invited speakers, and as an organisation we do not endorse the content of any paper presented at the conference. Indeed, we encourage respectful but critical responses towards all papers presented at the conference, especially if they defend views that conflict with our commitment to support diversity in philosophy.

The statement of aims on the conference website expresses our expectations for the conduct for all participants: “We aim to encourage a relaxed, professional, and safe atmosphere for the exchange of ideas and presentation of arguments. We ask all participants - whether they be speakers, chairs, or attendees - to take responsibility for creating a space where all feel accepted, respected, and heard.” We recognise that the aim of encouraging the discussion of arguments and ideas can conflict with the aim of creating a space where everyone is able to participate. We take this seriously, both in terms of the need to engage with arguments and in terms of the need for awareness of the impact those arguments can have. We value all members of the philosophy community, and we expect all participants in the conference to share these commitments.

Professor Susan Dodds, Chair

Professor Graham Oppy, Chief Executive Officer

APA Statement on Philosophy in Brazil

Sat, 04 May 2019 05:20:06 GMT

The American Philosophical Association and the American Sociological Association issued an open letter in response to President Bolsonaro’s proposal to defund philosophy and sociology programs in Brazil. The AAP is a signatory.

https://www.apaonline.org/news/449877/APA--ASA-Issue-Open-Letter-on-Brazils-Plans-to-Cut-Philosophy--Sociology-Programs-in-Brazil-.htm

Emeritus Professor Lauchlan Chipman of Bond University - obituary

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 05:21:30 GMT

The AAP would like to recognise the passing of Emeritus Professor Lauchlan Chipman: https://bond.edu.au/news/61111/emeritus-professor-lauchlan-chipman-bond-university-dies-aged-78

Newly Elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of Humanities

Mon, 19 Nov 2018 00:07:13 GMT

Congratulations to Jeff Malpas and Jacqui Broad on their election to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Humanities. Congratulations also to Pamela Tate on her election to the Honorary Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Humanities.

AAP response to revelations of Ministerial Interference with Humanities Research

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 02:10:57 GMT

MEDIA RELEASE

Australasian Association of Philosophy response to revelations of Ministerial Interference with Humanities Research

The Australasian Association of Philosophy is gravely concerned by the political interference with Australian Research Council (ARC) recommendations uncovered during Senate Estimates by Senator Kim Carr. 11 Humanities and Social Sciences research proposals, which had been recommended by the Australian Research Council for funding, were rejected by Minister Birmingham in 2017 and 2018.

The proposals – 6 Discovery Projects, 3 Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards and 2 Future Fellowships – were rigorously reviewed by expert peer reviewers, including international experts, and were deemed to be both eligible under the ARC funding rules and of outstanding quality before being recommended for funding. No reasons for the rejection of the recommendations were given. On what basis would the Minister be able to determine that these 11 proposals did not merit funding? It is unthinkable that the Minister would intervene in a similar way with proposals assessed by experts in physics or chemistry. Why would a Minister claim to be better able to assess the merits of humanities and social sciences proposals than the peer reviewers and panel experts in these fields?

This interference with the ARC’s independence and its robust processes is a direct threat to Australian higher education, to research, to intellectual freedom and to our community, given that the outcomes from research inform public policy and our understanding of ourselves as a nation and our place in the world. Researchers accept that governments shape the funding priorities of funding bodies, like the ARC and NHMRC. Nonetheless, they rightfully expect that political interests should not impede the robust and independent peer review process. Such interference threatens the core of academic research, independent peer review.

The impact of such interference on the careers of researchers whose proposals have been rejected after recommendation for funding from the ARC significant. DECRA and Future Fellowships support career-establishing and -sustaining projects undertaken by Australia’s brightest researchers. At least one of the DECRA applicants whose proposal was rejected has left Australia; a direct loss of research capacity for what was once hailed as a Knowledge Nation.

The Australasian Association of Philosophy is dismayed by the arbitrary and unjust actions of the Minister.

Professor Graham Oppy

Chief Executive Officer, Australasian Association of Philosophy

pdf to download

World Congress of Philosophy 2023

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 23:16:23 GMT

The 25th World Congress of Philosophy will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in July 2023. It will be hosted by the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

The decision to bring the World Congress to Melbourne was made at the General Assembly of FISP (the International Federation of Philosophy Associations), during the 24th. World Congress of Philosophy, held in Beijing in August 2018.

The AAP wishes to express its appreciation to the Melbourne Convention Bureau -- and, in particular, to Marko Sanovic -- for support for the Melbourne bid. It also acknowledges the hard work of the members of the Local Organising Committee: Alan Hajek, Stuart Brock, Tan Sor Hoon, Karyn Lai, and Monima Chadha.

More details about WCP25 will be made available in the coming months, including the precise dates. Please do put this into your calendar.

AAP Postgraduate Fund

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 01:16:29 GMT

Applications for the AAP Postgraduate Fund will open in September.

The AAP Postgraduate Conference Fund is created to support conferences,
workshops, seminars, and other similar events on philosophical topics that
are organised by postgraduate members of the Association. Such events can
be directed at an audience of philosophers or at a wider public.

Applicants must submit a proposal to the Association which includes a
description of the proposed conference, a draft budget, Department
declaration of support and nomination by a Faculty sponsor. In addition,
Faculty sponsors should provide a brief confidential evaluation of the
proposed conference. A Faculty sponsor will often be the applicant’s
supervisor, but need not be.

Applications will be evaluated and ranked by an Evaluation Panel on their
philosophical merits, and funding from the Fund will be distributed in line
with these rankings. The total fund in 2018 is AUD4000 - no successful
proposal will be allocated more than 50% of the Fund.

Full details and Eligibility here: https://aap.org.au/conference-fund

A seperate call for proposals will go out when applications open in
September.
Deadline for applications: Tuesday 16th October 2018

AJP Best Paper Award 2017

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 09:09:50 GMT

Congratulations to Jennifer M. Morton, Winner of AJP Best Paper 2017

“Reasoning under Scarcity”, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 95(3): 543-559

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00048402.2016.1236139

Winner of the 2018 Annette Baier Prize!

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 08:20:25 GMT

Congratulations to Jennifer Windt, Monash University,
Winner of the 2018 Annette Baier Prize!

View citation

"Predictive brains, dreaming selves, sleeping bodies: how the analysis of dream movement can inform a theory of self-and world-simulation in dreams"

Synthese 195.6 (2018): 2577-2625.

2018 Annette Baier Prize Commendation

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 08:18:18 GMT

Congratulations to Helen Ngo Deakin University, of Deakin University.
2018 Annette Baier Prize Commendation.
"Simulating the Lived Experience of Racism and Islamophobia: On ‘Embodied Empathy’ and Political Tourism"
Australian Feminist Law Journal (2017) 43:1, 107-123, DOI: 10.1080/13200968.2017.1321090

2018 Annette Baier Prize Commendation

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 08:13:22 GMT

Congratulations to Talia Morag, of Deakin University.
2018 Annette Baier Prize Commendation.
"The Tracking Dogma in the Philosophy of Emotion"
Argumenta 2, 2 (2017) 343-363

AAP Monthly Newsletter May 2018

Fri, 25 May 2018 04:11:04 GMT

Read our newsletter here:

aap.org.au/newsletters2018

2018 AUSTRALASIAN POSTGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

Wed, 06 Dec 2017 05:59:40 GMT

CALL FOR TENDERS TO HOST THE 2018 AUSTRALASIAN POSTGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

The Postgraduate Committee to the AAP is welcoming proposals from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, or Singapore with a postgraduate philosophy programme to organise and host the 2018 Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference (APPC).

ABOUT THE APPC

The APPC is an annual conference that provides an opportunity for postgraduate students from Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback from peers and form collaborations across institutions. The conference is usually three days and includes a variety of sessions including standard talks, pre-read paper discussions, career and publishing workshops, and more. The conference environment is laid back and can be a great introduction to conferences for new graduate students. Recent conferences have been held in Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland.

WHY HOST AN APPC?

Hosting the conference provides the opportunity to gain valuable experience in conference organisation and committee management, both of which are important skills for successful academic philosophers. Hosting the APPC is also a great way of promoting your university's philosophy program (including to prospective graduate students). Last, but not least, organising a conference can be a lot of fun and is a great way to give service back to the profession while making contacts and friends, both within your institution and within the broader Australasian philosophy community.

ABOUT BIDS

A successful bid will justify a selection for the conference dates and contain a budget with an indication of expected funding sources, a conference planning timeline, and brief details of why your university would make a good site for the conference. Bidders are encouraged to be both realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC Hosting Guide can sent on request, and we are happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have. Bids for the 2018 APPC close January 31st 2018. Bidders are not restricted to groups from a single university and may be interdisciplinary. It may be helpful in terms of funding and organising resources to join forces with another institution in your local area or discipline/department at your university.

CONTACTS

If you are interested in hosting the 2018 APPC, or would like any further information about hosting an APPC or a copy of the hosting guide, please contact Toby Solomon (toby.solomon@anu.edu.au).

APR

Fri, 30 Jun 2017 05:12:47 GMT

The Australasian Philosophical Review (APR) , a journal of the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP), is a new and exciting journal in Open Peer Commentary format. It publishes significant and controversial invited lead articles by authors from all areas of philosophy, together with invited and open peer commentaries on those invited lead articles, and authors' responses to those commentaries. Each issue has a different curator, chosen by a committee of the AAP; the curator is responsible for the choice of the authors of the invited lead article and the invited commentaries.

The first issue, March 2017, was recently released. The theme of 1.1 is Aesthetic Pleasure curated by Jennifer McMahon, with lead article, 'The Pleasure of Art', by Mohan Matthen, invited commentaries from Cynthia A. Freeland, Paul Guyer, & Robert Sinnerbrink and seven open peer commentaries.

To view the APR, visit: AustralasianPhilosophicalReview.org

World Congress 2018

Fri, 23 Jun 2017 01:26:09 GMT

Hi Everyone!

I pass on the following message from Luca Scarntino, the Secretary-General of FISP:

Cheers,

Graham

********************

Dear Colleagues,

As you are aware of, the 24th World Congress of Philosophy will take place in Beijing, RP China, on August 13-20, 2018. As the preparation of the Congress is entering its last stretch, I would like to provide you with some relevant and -- hopefully -- useful information.

1. Registration is open. Registration to the Congress is now open and available through the website of the Congress, at the address http://wcp2018.pku.edu.cn/yw/index.htm. Online submission of contributed papers is also possible through the website. Please note that anyone can submit a paper to one of the 99 sections of the Congress; instructions about the modalities of online submission can be found on the website.
Useful information concerning logistic arrangements, accommodation, and local information is being posted online on a regular basis as well. Please feel free to write to the Secretariat of the Congress (secretariat@wcp2018.pku.edu.cn) or to directly to me for any particular query.

2. Plenary sessions. The programme of plenary sessions, symposia, and endowed lectures of the Congress is available online. May I thank all members of Fisp who nominated panelists for these sessions; it was not possible for the Steering Committee to retain all of them, but each proposal was deeply appreciated. Thank you.

3. Round tables. Proposals for round tables are welcome. Please send your proposal either to me or to Professor Stelios Virvidakis, University of Athens (svirvid@phs.uoa.gr), who is in charge of centralizing all information concerning round tables. Please note that, according to WCP rules, round tables panelists should proceed from three different nationalities at least; standard duration for round tables is 1h50; and there is no limit to the number of round tables that can be proposed. On the other hand, a special commemoration of Fisp 70 years will take place during the Congress; it will be managed by Professor Evandro Agazzi, Hon President of Fisp (evandro.agazzi@gmail.com).

4. Student sessions. The Executive Committee of the Congress is wishing to enhance the presence of students sessions in the programme. These sessions should bring together mainly, but not exclusively, PhD students from different countries, who would discuss their ongoing researches in 2-hours debates with prominent international scholars. Assistance to provide on campus accommodation for students is being considered by the local Organizing committee. For queries, proposals, and requests about these sessions, please write to Prof. Ernest Lepore from Rutgers (lepore@ruccs.rutgers.edu), Prof. Riccardo Pozzo from Rome (riccardo.pozzo@cnr.it), and Prof. Wu Tianyue on behalf of the Chinese organizing committee (wutianyue@pku.edu.cn). May I encourage all members of Fisp network to promote and support a large participation of students.

5. Society sessions. Member societies, associations, and institutes of Fisp can hold their own sessions during the Congress. Society sessions may include scholarly symposia, administrative meetings, assemblies, and any other format that a society might choose to adopt; they are an essential part of the Congress, and appropriate venues will be available for them. For all proposals or clarifications, please contact me directly: I will be happy to assist you with any such request. May I underline, especially for newly admitted members of Fisp, that no additional costs will be incurred by societies, associations, and institutes holding their sessions during the Congress. Deadline to request society sessions is April 1, 2018; as the number of available rooms will not be unlimited, though, I recommend that requests be submitted as early as possible.

6. Fisp website. Finally, let me invite you to visit the website of Fisp (fisp.org), and check if the information concerning your society, association, or institute is correctly updated. In case you find any wrong, missing, or outdated information, please let me know.

2017 Postgraduate Presentation Prize - Shortlist announced

Tue, 13 Jun 2017 01:01:54 GMT

The AAP is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2017 AAP Postgraduate Presentation Prize more>>

AAP conference 2017: new stream - Remembering Josh Parsons

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 01:52:51 GMT

An additional stream is now available for abstract submissions to the 2017
AAP Conference (hosted by the University of Adelaide, 2-6 July).

*Remembering Josh Parsons*

Convenors: Dan Marshall (Lingnan) and Antony Eagle (Adelaide)

This stream will be dedicated to remembering Josh Parsons and his
philosophical work. The organisers welcome submissions on any topics that
Josh worked on, including but not limited to: persistence, time, location,
truthmaking, mereology, imperatives, contextualism, and relativism.

Registration, abstract submission and further information about the
conference is available via the conference website:

aap.org.au/conference-2017

Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference 2017 - CFP

Sun, 16 Apr 2017 22:40:58 GMT

The Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference 2017 will be held at the University of Queensland in Brisbane from Friday 24th until Sunday 26th November 2017, with a public plenary on the Friday.

The University of Queensland APPC Committee invites postgraduate students from all Australasian Universities to submit abstracts on any philosophical topic up to a maximum of 200 words.

The call for papers can be found here
https://hapi.uq.edu.au/2017-australasian-postgraduate-philosophy-conference-call-papers

Regards
University of Queensland APPC committee

AAP 2017 Conference

Wed, 01 Mar 2017 01:58:07 GMT

Registrations & Abstract Submissions for the AAP 2017 Conference are now open.

AAP Annette Baier Prize

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:19:31 GMT

The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) offers an annual prize of $500 for an outstanding philosophical paper or book chapter published by an Australasian woman during the previous calendar year.

The prize is open to female professional philosophers who are actively engaged in an Australasian higher education and/or research institution. The prize was first awarded in 2016 to Monima Chadha (Monash University).

Entries/nominations for pieces published in 2016 should be in electronic copy and must be received by the Executive Officer no later than 28th February 2017.

For further information about the AAP Annette Baier Paper Prize, including a nomination form, see: http://aap.org.au/prizes/annettebaierprize

AAP Innovation in Inclusive Curricula Prize - call for entries

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:18:24 GMT

The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) awards an annual prize of $500 for the development of innovative approaches to teaching philosophy. First awarded in 2014, the prize is offered with a view to exploring ways in which undergraduate courses in philosophy can build the understanding and practise of an inclusive discipline, concerned to foster equal participation in the profession. The aims of the prize are to encourage professionals developing and improving their teaching portfolios to consider critically how philosophy is presented, and to be innovative in implementing practices of teaching that off-set well-known disparities of participation in the discipline, for instance along race and gender lines.

Entries/nominations for the prize close on 28 February 2017. For further information see: http://www.aap.org.au/prizes/inclusivecurricula

AAP Media Prize & AAP Media Professionals' Award - call for entries

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 03:17:04 GMT

AAP Media Prize

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers in Australasia (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2016. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The closing date for entries is 28th February 2017.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/AAPmediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals based in Australasia published in 2016. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. The closing date for entries is 28th February 2017.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/mediaprofessionalsaward

AAP 2017 conference announcement

Fri, 09 Dec 2016 03:38:50 GMT

The 2017 conference of the Australasian Association of Philosophy will be held at the University of Adelaide between 2-6 July 2017. The conference commences on the afternoon of Sunday 2 July with a reception followed by the Presidential Address delivered by Professor Daniel Stoljar. It concludes with a conference dinner on the evening of Thursday 6 July.

Keynote speakers will be Professors Karen Bennett (Cornell), Paul Guyer (Brown), Nancy Sherman (Georgetown) and Barry Smith (London). Nancy Sherman will also deliver the 2017 Alan Saunders Lecture on the evening of Tuesday 4 July.

Registration and abstract submission will open in late February 2017 through the conference website.

Proposals for conference streams may be made until the end of January 2017, by contacting the conference organizers.

Garrett Cullity
Antony Eagle
Jordi Fernandez
Denise Gamble
Philip Gerrans
Jenny McMahon
Gerard O'Brien
Jon Opie

Call for Tenders APPC 2017

Tue, 18 Oct 2016 21:37:26 GMT

CALL FOR TENDERS TO HOST THE 2017 AUSTRALASIAN POSTGRADUATE PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

The Postgraduate Committee to the AAP is welcoming proposals from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organise and host the 2017 Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference (APPC).

ABOUT THE APPC

The APPC is usually a three-day conference and provides the opportunity for postgraduate students from Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback from peers and form collaborations across institutions. Hosting the conference provides the opportunity to gain valuable experience in conference organisation and committee management as well as promoting your university's philosophy program. For over two decades, APPCs have included discussions with other graduates, meetings with successful philosophers, career seminars and/or publishing workshops (e.g. with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). Recent conferences have been held in Canberra, Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland.

ABOUT BIDS

A successful bid will justify their selection of the conference dates and will likely contain a budget with an indication of expected funding sources, a conference planning timeline, and brief details of local facilities (including accommodation options). Bidders are encouraged to be both realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC Hosting Guide can be sent upon request, and we are happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have. Bids for the 2017 APPC close December 31st. Bidders are not restricted to groups from a single university and it may be helpful in terms of funding sources and organising resources to link up with others from local institutions.

CONTACTS

If you are interested in hosting the 2017 APPC, or would like any further information about hosting an APPC, including the APPC Hosting Guide, please contact Toby Solomon (toby.solomon@anu.edu.au<mailto:toby.solomon@anu.edu.au>).

Toby Solomon

Vale György Márkus (A Brief Note from Paul Redding)

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 23:02:38 GMT

Vale György Márkus, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. Died October 5, 2016 at the age of 82.

In 1978, the philosophical community in Sydney became the beneficiary of political conflict in Eastern Europe. Having been forced from his university post in Budapest in 1973, György Márkus arrived at the University of Sydney in 1978 to take up a lectureship in the then Department of General Philosophy. György soon become “George”, a warmly admired and widely respected philosophical presence in an otherwise fractious local environment.

In Hungary, a younger Márkus had been a student of the well-known Georg (György) Lukacs, and not surprisingly his major philosophical commitments were to a type of a Hegel-inspired, humanist variant of Marxism that within the Eastern European context some had seen as an alternative to the state-sanctioned version. Colleagues and students at Sydney, however, soon came to appreciate a philosophical depth that transcended particular theoretical commitments. George’s massive erudition in the history of philosophy was most obvious in his command of philosophies of Kant and the German Idealists, but he also had a deep understanding of the main currents of Anglo-American philosophy—then unusual in central and eastern European trained philosophers. He had translated Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus into Hungarian, corresponded with the American neo-realist Roy Wood Sellars, and in the 1960s travelled to the US with the intention of studying with his son, Wilfrid, only to end up at Harvard with W. V. O. Quine.

In the Sydney context, many philosophy undergraduates had their first exposure to social and political philosophy via his inspiring and powerful introductory first-year course. At higher levels, he introduced many to the history of Marxism, contemporary European philosophical philosophical movements such as Habermasian pragmatics and Gadamerian hermeneutics, but, especially, Kant and German idealism. Márkus’s teaching could simply be life-transforming, and it is difficult to capture the unique philosophical personality that many undergraduate and postgraduate students in these years were fortunate enough to experience at first hand. A former colleague, John Burnheim, perhaps comes closest in describing George’s “extraordinarily powerful combination of authentic sensibility and concern to get things right”.

It was this refusal to cut intellectual corners and to be satisfied with merely convenient answers that inspired those with whom he came into contact. The recognition of his work, especially in Europe and the United States, later led to his election to both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. After retirement from his position at Sydney in 1999 and the award of emeritus status, he continued to teach courses for a number of years, both in Sydney and in Budapest. In more recent years he concentrated his researches on a theory of culture, some of the results of which have appeared in the volume, Culture, Science, Society: The Constitution of Cultural Modernity, published by Brill in 2014.

2016 AAP Postgraduate Presentation Prize

Fri, 08 Jul 2016 09:12:13 GMT

Congratulations to Stephen Gadsby - Winner of the 2016 AAP Post Graduate Presentation Prize.

2016 AJP Best Paper Award

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 02:59:15 GMT

Congratulations to Boris Hennig - Winner of the 2016 AJP Best Paper Award.

2016 AAP Media Professionals' Award

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 02:50:54 GMT

Congratulations to Scott Stephens and Waleed Aly - Winners of the 2016 AAP Media Professionals' Award.

2016 AAP Media Prize

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 02:48:07 GMT

Congratulations to Dr Matthew Beard - Winner of the 2016 AAP Media Prize.

2016 Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 02:11:04 GMT

Congratulations to Dr Ruth Boeker Winner of the 2016 Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula.

2016 Annette Baier Prize

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 01:48:09 GMT

Congratulations to Monima Chadha - winner of the 2016 Annette Baier Prize.

AAP Postgraduate Presentation Prize 2016 shortlist

Fri, 03 Jun 2016 06:35:39 GMT

The AAP is pleased to announce the shortlist for the 2016 AAP Postgraduate Presentation Prize more>>

Annette Baier Prize 2016 short list

Tue, 24 May 2016 23:01:11 GMT

The AAP is pleased to announce the shortlist for the Annette Baier Prize in 2016. more>>

Vale Mary McCloskey (A Brief Note by Janna Thompson)

Thu, 19 May 2016 08:01:41 GMT

Mary McCloskey, a long time member of the Philosophy Department at Melbourne University, died on the 11^th of May of this year.

Mary began her career in philosophy as a student at Melbourne University where she was inspired by Douglas Gasking to become a philosopher. She was hired as tutor by the Department in 1948. After marrying H.J. (John) McCloskey she moved with him to Western Australia where he took up an appointment at the University of Western Australia. Not able to get a job as a philosopher she taught for several years in a secondary school for girls. The McCloskeys returned to the Melbourne University Philosophy Department in 1955 and Mary worked as a tutor, senior tutor, and lecturer. She was promoted to a senior lectureship in 1965 and retired in 1988.

Mary’s areas of expertise were Kant’s philosophy and aesthetics. She wrote articles on both and a book on Kant’s aesthetics. Mary’s interest in aesthetics had a practical side. She enjoyed sketching and painting with water colours and continued to do so up to the time of her final illness. She had a great interest in textiles and believed that aesthetics had not paid sufficient attention to the sensation of touch.

Mary grew up in Echuca during the Depression. Her family was poor, her father was often unemployed and the family was constantly on the move. She later suspected that they often had to move because her father could not afford to pay the rent. She and her mother finally settled down near Melbourne so that she could get a proper secondary education. A teacher in her last year at school inspired her to take an interest in philosophy.

Mary was one of the few women employed in philosophy in the 50s and 60s and she inspired, mentored and supported many women students during her career. She continued to do so after her retirement and the dinners she hosted for women in philosophy at University House are fondly remembered by participants.

Conference Announcement: Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference 2016

Wed, 18 May 2016 23:58:15 GMT

*Announcing the Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference 2016.*

*Venue: *Australian National University, Canberra.

*Date: *Saturday 24th September - Monday 26th September (with a plenary
address and welcoming drinks Friday 23rd).

*What: *This annual conference run in conjunction with the Australasian
Association of Philosophy provides an opportunity for graduate students to
present work to their peers and gain valuable conference experience. This
year the conference is being organised by the ANU School of Philosophy.

*Details: *Submissions for talks, workshops and poster presentations will
open soon. General registrations will open later in the year. More details
to follow shortly.

All enquiries can be directed to 2016APPC@gmail.com
Temporary website at: http://philevents.org/event/show/23226

Vale Len O’Neill (a brief note byTim Oakley)

Tue, 01 Mar 2016 07:13:31 GMT

Len O’Neill, a member of the Melbourne University Philosophy Department (as it then was) from 1966 to 1996, died on February the 18^th this year.

Len completed his undergraduate and masters degrees at Melbourne University, before gaining a doctorate at Cambridge in the mid-1960s. He returned to Australia to take up a lectureship at Melbourne University, where he remained for his entire professional life. His masters and doctoral work was in philosophy of logic and epistemology. While these interests persisted throughout his career, and were the subject matter of his publications, he also worked extensively in the theory of punishment, and the philosophies of Buddhism, and anarchism. He completed a second PhD, and during his retirement was well into a third, left uncompleted at the time of his death.

Len particularly admired Douglas Gasking, one of his teachers and his MA supervisor at Melbourne, and attempted – with considerable success – to emulate the clarity and rigour with which Gasking approached philosophical issues. He initiated and co-edited the posthumous publication of a collection of Gasking’s papers (Language, Logic and Causation: Philosophical Writings of Douglas Gasking, M.U.P. 1996). Following Gasking’s physical incapacitation by a stroke, Len visited him regularly, and they engaged in continuing philosophical discussion, especially on the work of Charles Sanders Peirce, a philosopher they both held in very high esteem. Len’s regard for Gasking was further demonstrated by his organising, in 2011, a celebration of the centenary of Gasking’s birth. This was attended by a large number of people who shared Len’s admiration and affection for their former teacher and colleague.

Len drew a similar admiration and friendship from very many students over the years. They enjoyed the quality of his lectures, but also liked Len for his patience and generosity, to say nothing of their delight in his unconventional style and non-conformist behaviour. No one else in the Arts Faculty dressed, or wore a hat, with quite the elegance Len managed. Few rode such a frighteningly potent BMW motorcycle. Few furnished their room in the Old Arts Building as elaborately.

Len will be missed by all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Jacqui, who he married in 1965, and by his son, Lawrence.

Australasian Philosophical Review Vol 1, Issue 1

Thu, 25 Feb 2016 23:56:03 GMT

The *Australasian Philosophical Review* (APR) is the AAP's new open peer
commentary journal. It publishes invited target articles by authors from
all areas of philosophy, together with invited and open peer commentaries
on those invited target articles, and authors' responses to those
commentaries. Each issue has a different curator (chosen by a committee of
the Australasian Association of Philosophy); the curator is responsible for
the choice of the authors of the invited target article and the invited
commentaries.

The APR is now ready to receive open peer commentary proposals for Volume 1
Issue 1, Theme: Aesthetic Pleasure, curated by Jenny McMahon.

Target Article : The Pleasure of Art by Mohan Matthen

Invited commentaries from: Cynthia A. Freeland , Paul Guyer and Robert
Sinnerbrink

Closing date for submission of proposals for open peer commentaries is 15
April 2016

To view the target article and invited commentaries, register as an open
peer commentator at http://australasianphilosophicalreview.org/

AAP Annette Baier Prize

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 03:45:39 GMT

Commencing in 2016, The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) offers an annual prize of $500 for an outstanding philosophical paper or book chapter published by an Australasian woman during the previous calendar year. The prize will be named after a significant Australasian woman philosopher. more>>

Call of Bids for 2016 APPC

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 21:54:08 GMT

The Postgraduate Committee to the AAP is welcoming proposals from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organise and host the 2016 Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC).

ABOUT THE APPC

The APPC is usually a three-day conference and provides the opportunity for postgraduate students from Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback from peers and form collaborations across institutions. For over two decades, APPCs have included discussions with other graduates, meetings with successful philosophers, career seminars and/or publishing workshops (e.g. with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). Recent conferences have been held in Adelaide, Sydney and Auckland.

ABOUT BIDS

A successful bid will justify their selection of the conference dates and will likely contain a budget with an indication of expected fund sources, a conference planning timeline, and brief details of local facilities (including accommodation options). Bidders are encouraged to be both realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC Hosting Guide can be sent upon request, and we are happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have. Bids for the 2016 APPC close March 31st.

CONTACTS

If you are interested in hosting the 2016 APPC, or would like any further information about hosting an APPC, including the APPC Hosting Guide, please contact Jarrah Aubourg (jarrah@uow.edu.au).

AAP Innovation in Inclusive Curricula Prize - call for entries

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:49:34 GMT

Criteria of evaluation

Significant innovation in curriculum that successfully promotes equity and diversity within the discipline, particularly with respect to underrepresented or marginalised groups in the profession
Innovation in pedagogy that successfully promotes broader participation in the discipline
High quality in course design and delivery

The prize is open to individuals, or groups of individuals, teaching undergraduate philosophy courses in Australasian Universities.

Entries/nominations for the prize close on 29 February 2016. More>>

AAP Media Prize and Media Professionals' Award - call for entries

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:20:16 GMT

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia. First awarded in 1999, the main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece(s) to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Prize include Henry Martyn Lloyd (2015), Patrick Stokes (2014) Damon Young (2013), Paul Biegler (2012), Peter Slezak (2011), Caroline West (2010) and John Armstrong (2009).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers in Australasia (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2015. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The closing date for entries is 29th February 2016.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/AAPmediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an occasional award of $500 to journalists and other media professionals for excellence in the presentation of philosophy or philosophical issues in the media. The main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Professionals' Award are Tim Dean (The Conversation), Antonia Case (New Philosopher), Natasha Mitchell (All in the Mind) and Alan Saunders (Philosopher's Zone).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists, presenters, producers, editors and others based in Australasia published in 2015. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. The closing date for entries is 29th February 2016.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award , including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/mediaprofessionalsaward

AAP 2016

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:56:32 GMT

The 2016 Australasian Association of Philosophy Conference will be held at Monash University Caulfield Campus from July 3 through July 7.

The Presidential Address will be given by Jeanette Kennett. The Alan Saunders Lecture will be given by Susan Wolf. There will be keynote addresses from Sally Haslanger, Cristina Bicchieri, and Hille Haker.

More details to follow.

The AAP conference will be following immediately by the 40th. Anniversary Symposium of the International Association of Women Philosophers at Monash University Clayton Campus from July 7 through July 10. The baton will pass from one conference to the other in the early evening of July 7.

Postgraduate Presentation Prize 2015

Sun, 11 Oct 2015 22:57:08 GMT

Tristram Oliver-Skuse prize winning paper, "Anger Felt Towards a Bin-licking Dog" is now available for download here.

Sign Up for Australasian Philosophical Review Open Peer Commentary Community

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:10:08 GMT

The Australasian Philosophical Review is the AAP's new open peer commentary
journal. It publishes invited target articles by authors from all areas of
philosophy, together with invited and open peer commentaries on those
invited target articles, and authors' responses to those commentaries. Each
issue has a different curator (chosen by a committee of the Australasian
Association of Philosophy); the curator is responsible for the choice of
the authors of the invited target article and the invited commentaries.

When a target article and associated invited commentaries have been
prepared, a call will be sent out for open commentary proposals. As one
part of the process of building the system for submission and processing of
these proposals, the APR is calling for people to join its open peer
commentary community.

In order to register to receive our calls for open commentary proposals,
you need to send the following three pieces of information in an email to
Graham.Oppy@monash.edu with "APR Open Peer Commentary Community" as the
Subject line:

1. Your full name

2. Your institutional email address

3. Your institutional affiliation

If you do not have an institutional affiliation, please write "independent
scholar" against 3. In this case, please give the one among your email
addresses that it likely to be most enduring at 2.

Professor Graham Oppy
School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies
Menzies Building
20 Chancellor's Walk
Monash University VIC 3800

Dr Graeme Marshall

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 04:39:22 GMT

Obituary: Graeme Donald Marshall

[30-4-1934 – 7-1-2015]

Graeme Marshall was for many years Reader in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. He was born in 1934 at Hamilton, New Zealand. His first degree was an MA from the – now extinct – University of New Zealand – which he attended Victoria University College, Wellington. He moved to Melbourne where he completed his PhD. Graeme Marshall’s father was a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and Graeme was for a time reading for Holy Orders in that denomination: he described himself as a ‘Scotto Catholic’. The first Professor of Philosophy at VUC, appointed in the mid 1950s, was the Rev’d G.E. Hughes, an Anglo Catholic. I, a Roman Catholic, had just been appointed Junior Lecturer in Philosophy (1954) and G.D.M. attended my lectures on Baby Logic and Russelian Logic in 1954, without – as far as I know – complaint. Despite his immersion in a religious soup at VUC, Marshall became a non-believer, a Humeian Sceptic. In the conduct of his life Graeme Marshall was a polished stoic – especially when he succumbed to throat cancer, which he survived for many years.

Graeme Marshall married three times to Brenda, Eva and Yasmin; and his children Adrian, Holly and Sam, and grandchildren Milo, Jude, Toby and Thai, survive him.

Marshall’s philosophical acumen was widely respected, and he attended seminars at St. Edmund Hall in the University of Oxford. His contributions to the topic of ‘weakness of will’ – (in which he did not believe) are acknowledged by the Hall’s Principal (1982-1996), Justin Gosling, in his book Weakness of the Will (1990). Marshall wore the Teddy Hall scarf and tie on High Days. In his retirement year the College gave him a grand send-off dinner: the University of Melbourne gave him a weekend of papers en hommage. Marshall also lectured at Kings College in the University of London, for at least two sessions in the late 1980s.

Marshall joined the Melbourne Depaertment in 1965, and retired at the end of 1999. He was an acknowledged master of the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, when Wittgenstein was a significant influence in the Melbourne Department, with Camo Jackson, Douglas Gasking, Don Gunner and Kevan Presa as well as Marshall. Graeme Marshall was a fine teacher; and perhaps his greatest gift as a teacher was to infuse into his students a vital sense of philosophy as a conversational practice which might then inform their lives beyond strict philosophy as well as within it. Right around Australia Marshall was a prominent and respected philosophical presence for more than thirty years. His contributions at conferences and other philosophical gatherings across that time were invariably acute, clear, and precise, and always offered in a collaborative and generous spirit.

A connoisseur of wine, food and ceremony Marshall was the first – and last – manciple to the Philosophy Department at the University of Melbourne. This mediaeval rôle had to do – I think – with his being on the wine committee of Staff Club of the University of Melbourne, an institution of which he was a life member. Marshall is remembered with affection by his colleagues for his urbanity, brilliant philosophical conversation, and for somewhat eighteenth century or Oxonian turns of phrase. In this Stoicism and style he modelled himself on the philosopher whose view of life he most admired, le bon David.

Patrick Hutchings

Christopher Cordner

20 July 2015

New Philosophy Journal - Australasian Philosophical Review

Tue, 25 Aug 2015 23:40:44 GMT

The AAP's new quarterly philosophical journal -- the *Australasian Philosophical Review* -- is scheduled to launch in March, 2017.

Each issue of the *Australasian Philosophical Review* will consist of a curatorial introduction, a target article, a set of invited commentaries on the target article, a set of open commentaries on the target article, and a response to the invited and open commentaries.

Each issue of the *Australasian Philosophical Review* will have a different curator, and a different editorial team assembled by the given curator. The editorial team will appoint the author of the target article and the authors of the invited commentaries.

The open commentaries will be written by people who have registered with the journal to be sent alerts when target articles (and invited commentaries) are released to the commentary community. An invitation for submission of proposals for open commentaries will be made when invited material for a forthcoming issue is released. The editorial team will select, from among the submitted proposals, those that will lead to invitations to submit completed commentaries. All of this process will be managed through an online platform that enables double-blind refereeing.

The *Australasian Philosophical Review* is a general journal of philosophy. It will carry target articles -- and commentaries -- from all philosophical domains and orientations.

The *Australasian Philosophical Review* is supported by an AAP APR Committee. One of the main functions of this Committee is to choose the curators for issues of the journal.

The *Australasian Philosophical Review* is published by Taylor and Francis, the publishers of the *Australasian Journal of Philosophy*.

There will be further announcements -- including a call for registration in our open commentary community -- in a few weeks from now.

Graham Oppy

2nd CFP: 2015 APPC at University of Adelaide

Thu, 06 Aug 2015 03:41:24 GMT

The 2015 Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference will be held at the University of Adelaide from 29th September-1st October. We invite submissions by postgraduate students in Philosophy and related fields; all topics welcome. All presentation slots will be 50 minutes, so talks should go for 30-35 minutes (with 15-20 minutes for discussion.)

The deadline for submitting an abstract is Mon. 31st August, and the deadline for registration is Mon. 14th September. The deadline to apply for travel funding has now passed. Successful applicants will be notified by email shortly.

To register, submit an abstract, or find out more, please visit our conference website: https://arts.adelaide.edu.au/philosophy/appc/.

Registration is free. Upper level students (3rd years and Honours) are welcome to register to attend the conference (but may not present.)

Confirmed keynote speakers:

Dr. Lina Eriksson (http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/lina.eriksson)

Professor Philip Gerrans (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/philip.gerrans)

Associate Professor Jenny McMahon (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/jenny.mcmahon)

On behalf of the conference organising committee,

Chris Letheby

Conference Secretary

2015 Alan Saunders Lecture and AAP Media prize winners

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 05:13:23 GMT

The 2015 Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture presented by Assoc. Professor Cordelia Fine - 'The gender galaxy beyond Mars & Venus: Insights for science and society' at ABC Ultimo centre, Sydney, 7th July 2015, will be broadcast on ABC Radio National Big Ideas radio at 8.05 pm AEST this evening (Tuesday 14th July). The lecture is also available as a podcast, for further details see: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/the-alan-saunders-lecture/6606398

At the lecture the following AAP Media prize winners were announced:

Dr Henry Martyn Lloyd, University of Queensland, was awarded the 2015 AAP Media Prize for two pieces on free speech - an online article on The Drum (“Brandis misses the finer points of free speech”) and an interview with Ian Newton from Radio Adelaide. more>>

Dr Tim Dean, science and technology section editor for The Conversation, was awarded the AAP Media Professionals' Award. more>>

Beth Matthews, host and presenter of 'Radical Philosophy' on 3CR community radio, was awarded a commendation. more>>

AJP Best Paper Award 2014

Tue, 07 Jul 2015 05:10:08 GMT

Congratulations to Professor Roy Sorensen, winner of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy Best Paper Award 2014.

https://pages.wustl.edu/sorensen

AAP note on Hiring 2015

Wed, 08 Apr 2015 23:02:08 GMT

The AAP has produced the second of a series of notes that will collectively make up an AAP statement on gender: see http://aap.org.au/Gender-Statement

I urge all AAP members -- and, indeed, everyone associated with philosophy in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore -- to think carefully about the further material that is linked to the note, and about the content of the note itself.

Graham Oppy

Chair, AAP Council

Inaugural AAP Postgraduate Presentation Prize

Wed, 01 Apr 2015 03:17:24 GMT

The AAP is introducing a new prize at the 2015 Macquarie conference, for the best paper presented by a postgraduate student. This prize is offered to encourage postgraduates to present at the AAP Conference, and to recognise the philosophical contributions from excellent Australasian postgraduate students.

The deadline for submission is Friday, April 24th.

To be eligible, applicants must be members of the AAP in good standing and enrolled in an Australasian HDR philosophy program. Applicants cannot submit more than one paper in any given year, and all papers must conform to the word limit and be properly prepared for blind review. Previously published papers are not eligible."

more>>

AAP Conference 2015. Registration now open

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:55:16 GMT

The AAP Conference is held annually by the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP). This conference is designed to give professional philosophers and philosophy postgraduate students the opportunity to present and discuss papers in all areas of philosophy.

The 2015 AAP Conference will be hosted by Macquarie University from July 5th-9th. Paul Redding (Sydney) will give the Presidential Address. The keynote speakers will be Cheshire Calhoun (Arizona State), Cordelia Fine (Melbourne), Frederick Neuhouser (Columbia), and Dan Zahavi (Copenhagen).

Cordelia Fine will also deliver the 2015 Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, in conjunction with ABC Radio National.

Conference registration is now open, please visit the AAP conference website to register and to submit your abstract.
The deadline for submitting an abstract, and for the early registration discount, is *Friday, May 15th*.

Postgraduate subsidy applications close on *Friday May 1st.*

Please note that this year the AAP will be awarding a Postgraduate Presentation Prize. Applications for this prize close on *Friday April 24th*.

We look forward to seeing you at Macquarie in July.

Professor Peter Menzies

Sat, 14 Feb 2015 22:20:00 GMT

Australasian philosophers will be sad to learn of the passing of Peter Menzies (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University), who died on Friday 6 February, after a long illness. He is survived by his partner, Catriona Mackenzie (Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University), and their extended family.

Peter studied Philosophy at ANU, graduating with the University Medal in 1975. He went on to an MPhil at St Andrews, writing on Michael Dummett's views on Realism, and to a PhD at Stanford, where he worked with Nancy Cartwright on Newcomb Problems and Causal Decision Theory.

Returning to Australia in 1983, Peter held a Tutorship and then an ARC Research Fellowship at the Department of Traditional & Modern Philosophy, University of Sydney, from 1984 to 1988. He then moved to ANU as a Research Fellow in the Philosophy Program, RSSS, where he remained until taking up a Lectureship at Macquarie University in 1995. He was promoted to a Personal Chair in 2005, becoming an Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2013. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 2007, and was President of the Australasian Association of Philosophy in 2008–2009.

Peter will be remembered by friends, students and colleagues as one of the most lucid and generous voices in Australasian philosophy, and by philosophers worldwide as one of the most astute metaphysicians of his generation. He was particularly well known for many influential papers on causation. At the beginning of a famous paper in Mind in 1994, for example, David Lewis singles out "especially the problem presented in Menzies (1989)" as the source of, as he puts it, "the unfinished business with causation." Most would agree that some of the business remains unfinished, twenty years later; but that the field is greatly indebted to Peter for much of the progress that has been made in the past three decades. A fine philosopher, colleague, teacher, and friend, he will be sadly missed.

**The AAP hopes that this page can be used to collate and share thoughts about Professor Peter Menzies. If you leave a post, make sure you add your name at the end, and your email, if you wish.

AAP Media Prize and AAP Media Professionals' Award - call for entries/nominations

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:42:33 GMT

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia. First awarded in 1999, the main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece(s) to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Prize include Patrick Stokes (2014) Damon Young (2013), Paul Biegler (2012), Peter Slezak (2011), Caroline West (2010) and John Armstrong (2009).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2014. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2015.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/AAPmediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an occasional award of $500 to journalists and other media professionals for excellence in the presentation of philosophy or philosophical issues in the media. The main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Professionals' Award are Antonia Case (New Philosopher), Natasha Mitchell (All in the Mind) and Alan Saunders (Philosopher's Zone).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2015.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award , including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/mediaprofessionalsaward

AAP Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula - call for entries

Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:20:38 GMT

The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) awards an annual prize of $1000 for the development of innovative approaches to teaching philosophy. First awarded in 2014, the prize is offered with a view to exploring ways in which undergraduate courses in philosophy can build the understanding and practise of an inclusive discipline, concerned to foster equal participation in the profession. The aims of the prize are to encourage professionals developing and improving their teaching portfolios to consider critically how philosophy is presented, and to be innovative in implementing practices of teaching that off-set well-known disparities of participation in the discipline, for instance along race and gender lines.

Criteria of evaluation

Innovation in course content that promotes the presentation of the discipline as accessible to a wide range of participants
Innovation in classroom teaching that encourages wide participation and can be expected to improve retention rates of under-represented groups in the profession
Evidence that the course design achieved some of its objectives

The prize is open to individuals, or groups of individuals, teaching undergraduate philosophy courses in Australasian Universities (in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore).

Entries/nominations for the prize close on 30th March 2015. More>>

Vale David Oldroyd

Tue, 11 Nov 2014 19:51:18 GMT

David Oldroyd (1936-2014)

David died, from cancer, on November 7 of this year, well before his time. This is a sad loss indeed for the HPS, especially here in Australasia. David leaves considerable legacy. An obituary and also some other information about David can be found on the AAHPSSS website here

I could also send a link to our (AAHPSSS) website where I have posted an

AAP Patron

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 02:03:18 GMT

The AAP is delighted to announce that the Honorable Justice Pamela Tate has agreed to become the first Patron of the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

Justice Tate was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 14 September 2010. She was the Solicitor-General for Victoria from 2003 to 2010, representing the State of Victoria in constitutional challenges in the High Court of Australia. She is the first woman to be appointed Solicitor-General of Victoria.

For more details, see: http://aap.org.au/AAP-Patron

I am delighted to announce that the Honorable Justice Pamela Tate has agreed to become the first Patron of the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

Justice Tate was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and graduated from Otago University in 1979 with first class Honours in Philosophy. She undertook postgraduate study in Philosophy at Oxford University under the supervision of Michael Dummett, graduating with a B.Phil. She returned to New Zealand and taught Philosophy at Otago University before moving to Australia to live. While teaching Philosophy at Monash University, she graduated with a first class Honours degree in Law from Monash University in 1988.

Justice Tate was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 14 September 2010. She was the Solicitor-General for Victoria from 2003 to 2010, representing the State of Victoria in constitutional challenges in the High Court of Australia. She is the first woman to be appointed Solicitor-General of Victoria.

For more details, see: http://aap.org.au/AAP-Patron

AAP Gender Statement

Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:30:29 GMT

The AAP has produced the first of a series of notes that will collectively make up an AAP statement on gender: see http://aap.org.au/Gender-Statement .

Graham Oppy

Chair, AAP Council

The AAP has produced the first of a series of notes that will collectively make up an AAP statement on gender: see http://aap.org.au/Gender-Statement .

Graham Oppy

Chair, AAP Council

The AAP has produced the first of a series of notes that will collectively make up an AAP statement on gender: see http://aap.org.au/Gender-Statement .

Graham Oppy

Chair, AAP Council

2014 Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture - Broadcast details

Mon, 11 Aug 2014 03:19:11 GMT

The 2014 Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, delivered by Professor Philip Pettit at the National Gallery of Australia last month, will be broadcast on ABC's Big Ideas TV show on Friday 15th August at 11am.

See the following link at the ABC for more information: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/tv_show/

You cal also watch the full video here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2014/08/08/4063436.htm

For more information about the lecture see: http://aap.org.au/PhilipPettit

AAP Prize winners - announced

Thu, 10 Jul 2014 02:54:22 GMT

The following prize winners were announced during the 2014 AAP Conference:

Dr Patrick Stokes, Deakin University, was awarded the 2014 AAP Media Prize for several articles: “Burying Thatcher: why celebrating death is still wrong” (The Conversation, 17th April 2013); “Do you really exist online” (New Philosopher, 2013, Issue 2); and “Just who do you think you are? The splendid mess of personal identity” (New Philosopher, 2013, Issue 1). more>>

Antonia Case, literary editor and journalist at New Philosopher, was awarded the AAP Media Professionals' Award. more>>

Michelle Sowey, Director at The Philosophy Club, was awarded the inaugural AAP Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula, for The Big Questions Philosophy Mentoring Program. more>>

Dr Alex Barber, the Open University, was awarded the AJP Best Paper Award (Volume 91) for his paper, ‘Science's Immunity to Moral Refutation’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2013, Vol. 91, Issue 4, pp. 633–53. more>>

Blog post - Philosophers who work outside academia

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 08:06:19 GMT

First of a three-part series featuring in-depth interviews with philosophers who have left academia >>

Philosophers who work outside academia (URL)

CALL FOR BIDS - 2015 Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference

Sun, 15 Jun 2014 05:15:00 GMT

The AAP Postgraduate Steering Committee (PGSC) is now welcoming proposals
from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and
Singapore with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organize and host the
next Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC).

*ABOUT THE APPC*
The APPC provides the opportunity for postgraduate students from
Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback
from peers and form collaborations across institutions. For over two
decades, APPCs have included discussions with other graduates, meetings
with successful philosophers, career seminars and/or publishing workshops
(e.g. with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). Recent
conferences have been held in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.

*ABOUT BIDS*
A successful bid will likely contain a budget with an indication of
expected fund sources, a conference planning timeline and brief details of
local facilities (including accommodation options). Bidders are encouraged
to be realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC
Hosting Guide can be sent upon request, and we are
happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have.

*CONTACTS*
If you are interested in submitting a Bid, or would like any further
information about hosting an APPC, please contact Tessa Jones
(tessa.jones@monash.edu).

Kind regards,

Tessa Jones
Proposal Support Officer - Monash Research Office
PhD Candidate - School of Philosophical, Historical and International
Studies
Monash University

Professor Max Charlesworth

Thu, 05 Jun 2014 04:10:37 GMT

Max Charlesworth (1925-2014), AO, FAHA, was one of the great figures in Australasian philosophy. Areas in which he worked included: philosophy of religion, bioethics, European philosophy, social studies in science, studies of indigenous Australian religions, and political philosophy (with a particular focus on relations between church and state, and the activities and organisation of the Catholic Church).

Max obtained a BA (Hons) (1946) and an MA (1949) from the University of Melbourne, and a PhD (1955) from the University of Louvain. He was Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Auckland (1956-1958); Lecturer (1959-1961), Senior Lecturer (1962-67) and Reader (1968-1974) in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne; and Planning Dean of Humanities (1975-1980) and Professor of Philosophy (1980-1990) at Deakin University. From 1990, he was Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Deakin. He held various visiting appointments in the course of his career, including at the University of Notre Dame (1968-9) and the University of Louvain (1972).

Max was the founder of Sophia, and its co-editor from 1962-1990; he was also founder and co-editor of The Catholic Worker. His major books include: Philosophy and Linguistic Analysis (1959); St. Anselm’s Proslogion (1965); Life among the Scientists (1989); Life, Death, Genes and Ethics (1989); Bioethics in a Liberal Society (1993); Religious Business (1998); and Philosophy and Religion (2002).

Positions of responsibility that Max held included: membership of the Charles Strong Trust (1975-2014); Chairperson of the Advisory Committee of the Centre for Human Bioethics (1987-1990); member of the Victorian Government Standing Review and Advisory Committee on Infertility (1985-2014), and member of the National Bioethics Consultation Committee (1988-1990)

A fuller account of Max’s life from which all of the above has been cribbed may be found at: http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/468/art%253A10.1007%252Fs11841-012-0345-x.pdf?auth66=1402102405_b1202bd7fa702bea8c1f0b412c095e7a&ext=.pdf

**The AAP hopes that this page can be used to collate and share thoughts about Professor Max Charlesworth. If you leave a post, make sure you add your name at the end, and your email, if you wish.

Professor David Armstrong

Fri, 16 May 2014 07:30:01 GMT

The philosophical community will be saddened to learn that David Malet Armstrong died on the 13th of May after a long illness: two months shy of his 88 thbirthday. DMA or Armo, as he was affectionately known, is the most important philosopher that Australia has produced. Such has been his impact that he not only made major contributions to the philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaphysics, he also played a significant role in laying out the terrain and setting the agenda in those fields. As one reviewer put it when summing up Armstrong’s book What is a Law of Nature?, ‘all future work ... starts here’.

The Australasian Association of Philosophy expresses its sadness at David Armstrong’s death, and offers its condolences to his wife Jenny and her children and his sister Suzanne.

The University of Sydney will host a Memorial for David Armstrong in the Great Hall at 2.00pm on Wednesday 16 July.

The AAP hopes that this page can be used to collate and share thoughts about Professor DM Armstrong. If you leave a post, make sure you add your name at the end, and your email, if you wish.

REMINDER: 2014 AAP Annual Conference Call for papers & Registration

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 21:26:09 GMT

The 2014 Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) Conference is being hosted by the Australian National University. It will be held in sunny Canberra, July 6th-11th. Registration for the conference is now open!

The keynote speakers for this year's conference are:

Catriona MacKenzie (Macquarie University) undefined AAP Presidential Address
Cecile Fabre (Oxford University)
John Hawthorne (Oxford University)
Christian List (London School of Economics)
Philip Pettit (Princeton University and ANU)undefinedAlan Saunders Memorial Lecturer.

To register or submit an abstract (max. 200 words), visit the conference website at: http://www.aap-conferences.org.au/

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome. Alongside the regular sessions, there will be the following streams:

Philosophy, Politics and Economics: In Celebration of Geoffrey Brennan (Co-ordinator: Nic Southwood)
The Ethics of Force: War, Self defence, and other cases (Co-ordinator: Seth Lazar)
Advances in Philosophy of the Cognitive Sciences and Psychology (Co-ordinator: Glenn Carruthers)
Teaching Philosophy (Co-ordinator: Philip Cam)
Continental Philosophy (Co-ordinator: Joanne Faulkner)
The Philosophy of Frank Jackson and Michael Devitt (Co-ordinator: Kim Sterelny)

These streams are open to all conference delegates.

For more information please go to http://www.aap-conferences.org.au/. The cut off date for submission of abstracts and for early bird registration prices is 1 May 2014.

Please direct any enquiries to phil.admin.cass@anu.edu.au<mailto:phil.admin.cass@anu.edu.au>

AAP 2014 Organizing Committee
Daniel Stoljar (ANU)

ERA Consultation

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:14:19 GMT

The second phase of the ARC’s Public Consultation on its draft documents for ERA 2015 has opened. This emil invites submissions on the Draft ERA 2015 Journal and Conference Lists, available through the ERA 2015 consultation website.

AAP members are invited to send any contribution they wish to make towards an AAP submission to Eliza Goddard (elizagoddard@aap.org.au), by 3 March 2014.

2014 AAP Conference

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 02:15:42 GMT

Registrations are now open for the 2014 AAP conference, to be hosted by the Australian National University. The Conference will commence on Sunday 6 July with an address by the AAP President and a welcome reception. For more information please go tohttp://www.aap-conferences.org.au/. The cut off date for submission of abstracts and for early bird registration prices is 1 May 2014.

Please direct any enquiries to phil.admin.cass@anu.edu.au

Call for abstracts - 2014 Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference

Tue, 18 Feb 2014 23:41:37 GMT

The 2014 Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference will be held at Sydney University on the 22nd to the 24th of April. Registration for this year's APPC is now open.

Registration is free. All attendees (presenting and non-presenting) must register in advance through the online form provided on the conference website:
http://sydney.edu.au/arts/philosophy/research/2014_pg_conference.shtml

Limited funding is available to assist presenters travelling from Singapore, New Zealand, and Australian states and territories other than New South Wales.

Keynote Speakers:
Professor Raimond Gaita
Dr. Catherine Legg

Workshops:
Professor Stephen Hetherington, the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, will run a workshop on publishing.

To share all this information and more here is the conference flyer: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x683mobfg7nrd27/xp05PxKuCr

If you have any questions or concerns, email the conference organisers: appc2014@gmail.com

Public Consultation on the Draft ERA 2015

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 01:46:18 GMT

The Australian Research Council recently announced a Public Consultation on the Draft ERA 2015 Submission Documents, with a deadline for submissions of 14 February 2014.

The relevant documents and information about the public consultation are available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/ current_consult.htm.

An AAP submission to this consultation will be coordinated through AAP Council. AAP members are invited to send any contribution they wish to make towards this submission to Eliza Goddard (elizagoddard@aap.org.au), by 3 February 2014.

AAP Media Professionals' Award - call for entries/nominations

Mon, 13 Jan 2014 03:39:14 GMT

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2014. more>>

AAP Media Prize 2013 - call for entries/nominations

Mon, 13 Jan 2014 03:36:35 GMT

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia.

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2013. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2014. more>>

New Prize - AAP Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula

Mon, 06 Jan 2014 23:08:49 GMT

Commencing in 2014, the Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) offers an annual prize of $1500 for the development of innovative approaches to teaching philosophy. more>>

AAP Annual Conference 2014 at ANU

Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:15:53 GMT

CFP: 2013 AAP New Zealand Conference (Auckland, 08-12 December 2013)

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 22:44:55 GMT

Call for papers:

2013 AAP New Zealand Conference
8-12 December, The University of Auckland
http://2013aapnzconference.blogspot.co.nz/p/home.html

The Conference is designed to give academics and postgraduate students in
Philosophy and related subjects the opportunity to present and discuss
their papers. All areas of philosophy are welcome. Choose between 60-minute
and 90-minute long sessions.

The opening address will be given by Prof Stephen Davies (Auckland) on the
evening of Sunday, 8 December. On the evening of Tuesday, 10 December, Dr
Karen Jones (Melbourne) will give this year's Robert C. Solomon Lecture, to
which Conference guests are warmly invited.

Registration for the 2013 AAP New Zealand Conference is now open. You may
attend as a presenter or without presenting a paper.

The first deadline for submitting abstracts (with titles) is 08 November
2013. Please note that you may only submit one paper. If we still have open
presentation slots after the specified deadline, we will be happy to accept
further submissions. Priority at that point will be given to first papers;
after that, we will be open to accepting second papers from authors at our
discretion.

We have a limited amount of funding with which to assist postgraduate
students from New Zealand who present at the Conference. Please visit our
website for more details (select 'Student Travel Support' in the menu).

Please also note that on the Friday immediately after the Conference (13
December) we are hosting a workshop on The Philosophy of Cyber Security:
Confronting Practice with Reflection. (Details can be found online.)

Please visit our Conference website for all your information needs first:
http://2013aapnzconference.blogspot.co.nz/p/home.html

For further questions, feel free to contact the organisers at the following
addresses:

Denis Robinson: dj.robinson@auckland.ac.nz
Marco Grix: m.grix@auckland.ac.nz

Department of Philosophy
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland 1142
New Zealand

CALL FOR BIDS to host The Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference - Extended Deadline

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 02:55:00 GMT

The AAP Postgraduate Steering Committee (PGSC) is now welcoming proposals
from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and
Singapore with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organize and host the
next Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC). The Call for
Bids deadline has been extended, and now closes December 1, 2013.

*ABOUT THE APPC*
The APPC provides the opportunity for postgraduate students from
Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback
from peers and form collaborations across institutions. For over two
decades, APPCs have included discussions with other graduates, meetings
with successful philosophers, career seminars and/or publishing workshops
(e.g. with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). Recent
conferences have been held in Auckland and Melbourne.

*ABOUT BIDS*
A successful bid will likely contain a budget with an indication of
expected fund sources, a conference planning timeline, and brief details of
local facilities (including accommodation options). Bidders are encouraged
to be realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC
Hosting Guide can be sent upon request, and we are
happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have.

*CONTACTS*
If you are interested in submitting a Bid, or would like any further
information about hosting an APPC, please contact Tessa Jones (
tessa.jones@monash.edu) or Paul Daniels (paul.daniels@gmail.com).

Be well,
Paul Daniels
AAP Council, Student Rep

Smart Lecture Adelaide

Fri, 27 Sep 2013 03:51:18 GMT

Smart Lecture Adelaide
J.J.C. (Jack) Smart was Hughes Professor of Philosophy at the University of Adelaide from 1950 to 1972. During that time, he developed ideas about philosophy and philosophical methodology whose importance became acknowledged throughout the world. In a public lecture on 17 Oct, Adelaide philosophers come together to celebrate his life, by describing his main ideas in terms accessible to a general audience. The speakers and their topics will be:
Chris Mortensen - Smart’s scientific realism
Jon Opie - Smart’s philosophy of mind
Graham Nerlich - Smart’s theories of time
Garrett Cullity - Smart’s ethics.
The meeting will be chaired by Gerard O’Brien
Time and place: Thursday 17 Oct 2013, 7.30pm-9pm, Napier lecture theatre 102,
Napier Building, University of Adelaide.
Admission free, all welcome.

AAP letter - ARC funding

Sun, 22 Sep 2013 22:42:03 GMT

The AAP has written to the Minister for Education, The Honourable Christopher Pyne MP, raising concerns about statements made by Jamie Briggs about reprioritising and auditing ARC funding. The letter reiterates claims made by AAH and DASSH supporting an independent academic peer review grant process and also notes the valuable research contribution made by Australian philosophers.

Download the full version of the letter:

AAP letter

Call for Bids to host the 2014 and 2015 APPCs

Tue, 10 Sep 2013 01:43:32 GMT

The AAP Postgraduate Steering Committee (PGSC) is welcoming proposals from
postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore
with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organise and host the 2014 or
2015 Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC).

Bids close soon (September 27th) as we aim to announce the successful bid
for the 2014 APPC at this year's conference, to be held from the 4th - 6th
October this year.

Please contact Tessa Jones:
tessa.jones@monash.edu

DASSH Media Release - Support for Peer Review Process

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 22:20:40 GMT

DASSH reiterates our strong support for an independent, robust and non-partisan academic peer review grant process. View the media release here

AAH Media Release - Supporting Research Excellence

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 01:27:24 GMT

The Australian Academy of the Humanities today cautioned that the Coalition’s proposal to redirect Australian Research Council funds away from projects it deems to be “wasteful” compromises the fundamental principle of funding research based on the criteria of excellence. The AAH's media release is available here>>

AAP Media Prize

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:26:39 GMT

Damon Young is this year's winner of the AAP Media Prize more>>

Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 03:33:16 GMT

ABC Radio National and the Australasian Association of Philosophyinvite you to be part of a studio audience for the inaugural Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture.more>>

ANNOUNCEMENT: Extension for submission of abstracts until 9 June / Early bird registration closes 1st June - AAP Annual Conference 2013 at UQ

Wed, 29 May 2013 21:34:51 GMT

ANNOUNCEMENT RE: EXTENSION FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS / EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION PAYMENT DUE UPON THE SUBMISSION OF YOUR ON-LINE APPLICATION (CLOSES 1ST JUNE)

We are pleased to announce that the date for submission of abstracts has been extended until Sunday 9 June. Please ensure that you have submitted your abstract online by the deadline as late submissions will not be accepted (see instructions below).

Please note that Early bird registration will still close on 1st June. To be eligible, payment is due upon the submission of your on-line application or higher rates for after 1 June will apply. So, take advantage of the discount and register and make your payment now!

It is recommended that non-members become members of the AAP before commencing the registration process. Membership is open to all. The membership fee is equivalent to the difference between the non-member and the member full-conference registration rates. To become a member or to learn more about member benefits, please go to: www.aap.org.au/membership.

If you are presenting a paper at the conference please take a moment to read 'Instructions for Presentations'. Go to: www.aap-conferences.org.au/instructions-for-presentations/

2013 AAP Annual Conference
4Th Call for papers & Registration

The 2013 Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) Conference is being hosted by the University of Queensland and Bond University. It will be held at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Queensland, Australia, 7th - 12th July. Registration for the conference is now open!

The keynote speakers for this year's conference are:

Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)
Mark Colyvan (Sydney)
Lisa Guenther (Vanderbilt)
Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie)

To register or register and submit an abstract (max. 200 words), visit the conference website at:

www.aap-conferences.org.au (Go to Fees and Registration | Submit and Abstract)

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome. Alongside the regular sessions, we will be announcing a small number of special streams on more focused topics as suggestions arise. So far we have:

* Advances in philosophy of the cognitive sciences
* Jack Smart
* Continental Philosophy

These streams are open to all conference delegates.

Abstracts received after 9th June will not be considered.

Please register by no later that 1st June to take advantage of the early registration discount! Note: payment is due upon the submission of your on-line application or higher rates for after 1st June rates will apply.

In addition to the conference dinner and opening night reception, there will be a commemorative event: Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, held on Monday 8th July, at 7pm, ABC studios, Southbank.

For more information, visit the conference website: www.aap-conferences.org.au or contact the organizers at:

AAP 2013 Organizing Committee
Gilbert Burgh (UQ) and Damian Cox (Bond

Email: aap-2013@uq.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 3365 6348

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION CLOSES 1st JUNE - AAP Annual Conference 2013 at UQ

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:41:59 GMT

2013 AAP Annual Conference
REMINDER: Call for papers & Registration

NOTE: Please register before June 1st to take advantage of the early registration discount. Abstracts received after 1st June will not be considered.

The 2013 Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) Conference is being hosted by the University of Queensland and Bond University. It will be held at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Queensland, Australia, 7th - 12th July. Registration for the conference is now open!

The keynote speakers for this year's conference are:

Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)
Mark Colyvan (Sydney)
Lisa Guenther (Vanderbilt)
Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie)

To register or register and submit an abstract (max. 200 words), visit the conference website at:

http://www.aap-conferences.org.au/ (Go to: Fees and Registration | Submit and Abstract)

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome. Alongside the regular sessions, we will be announcing a small number of special streams on more focused topics as suggestions arise. So far we have:

* Advances in philosophy of the cognitive sciences
* Jack Smart

These streams are open to all conference delegates.

Abstracts received after 1st June will not be considered.

Please register before June 1st to take advantage of the early registration discount!

In addition to the conference dinner and opening night reception, there will be a commemorative event: Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, held on Monday 8th July, at 7pm, ABC studios, Southbank.

For more information, visit the conference website at http://www.aap-conference.org.au or contact the organizers at:

AAP 2013 Organizing Committee
Gilbert Burgh (UQ) and Damian Cox (Bond

Advance notice: 2013 New Zealand Philosophy Conference

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:05:44 GMT

2013 New Zealand Philosophy Conference
(hitherto 'AAP NZ Division Conference')
8-12 December, The University of Auckland

This is an early notice that this year's New Zealand Philosophy Conference
will be held at The University of Auckland (New Zealand) from the evening
of Sunday 8th December to the afternoon of Thursday 12th December 2013.

Due to legal/structural changes of the AAP, a number of formal details of
the conference are yet to be finalised (including its title). Details of
the event will be posted on our departmental website in late July, once the
2013 AAP Conference hosted by The University of Queensland and Bond
University has ended. We will also send a call for papers at that time.

In the meantime, if you would like further details on arrangements, please
feel free to contact the organisers at the following addresses:

Denis Robinson: dj.robinson@auckland.ac.nz
Marco Grix: m.grix@auckland.ac.nz

Department of Philosophy
University of Auckland
Private Bag 92019
Auckland 1142
New Zealand

(http://www.arts.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/philosophy)

2013 AAP Annual Conference - CALL FOR PAPERS

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:31:00 GMT

The 2013 Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) Conference is being hosted by the University of Queensland and Bond University. It will be held at the University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus, Queensland, Australia, 7th – 12th July.

The keynote speakers for this year’s conference are:

• Simon Blackburn (Cambridge)
• Mark Colyvan (Sydney)
• Lisa Guenther (Vanderbilt)
• Jeanette Kennett (Macquarie)

Registration for the conference will be open soon through the 2013 AAP conference website.

If you are planning to submit an abstract, these can also be submitted soon through the website. Abstracts must be a max of 250 words. We will try to accommodate all suitable abstracts received by 1st June, after which no more submissions will be considered (no exceptions).

Website: www.aap-conferences.org.au

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome. Alongside the regular sessions, we will be announcing a small number of special streams on more focused topics as suggestions arise. These streams are open to all conference delegates. So far we have:

• ‘Advances in philosophy of the cognitive sciences’

In addition to the conference dinner and opening night reception, there will be a commemorative event: Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, held on Monday 8th July, at 7pm, ABC studios, Southbank.

For more information, visit the conference website or contact the organizers at:

AAP 2013 Organizing Committee
Gilbert Burgh (UQ) and Damian Cox (Bond

Email: aap-2013@uq.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 3365 6348

AAP Media Prize and AAP Media Professionals' Award - call for entries/nominations

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:22:32 GMT

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia. First awarded in 1999, the main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece(s) to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Prize include Paul Biegler (2012) Peter Slezak (2011), Caroline West (2010), John Armstrong (2009) and Geoffrey Levey (2008).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2012. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. Entries may be submitted in either electronic or hard copy via email to elizagoddard@aap.org.au or post to GPO BOX 1978, Hobart, 7001, Australia. If providing hard copy, please provide 3 copies of your nominated piece(s). The closing date for entries is 30th March 2013.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/AAPmediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an occasional award of $500 to journalists and other media professionals for excellence in the presentation of philosophy or philosophical issues in the media. The main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Professionals' Award are Natasha Mitchell (All in the Mind) and Alan Saunders (Philosopher's Zone).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. Entries may be submitted in either electronic or hard copy via email to elizagoddard@aap.org.au or post to GPO BOX 1978, Hobart, 7001, Australia. If providing hard copy, please provide 3 copies of your nominated piece(s). The closing date for entries is 30th March 2013.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award , including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/mediaprofessionalsaward

APPC 2013 Conference Bids

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 02:17:07 GMT

We are now welcoming all proposals by postgraduates to organize and host the 2012 Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC)

The APPC provides the opportunity for postgraduate students studying all over Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, and meet others around our region.

For over two decades, we have sought to provide postgraduate attendees with programming suited to their needs, including public forums, discussions with graduates, philosophy 'superstars', and a publishing workshop with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Recent conferences have been in Christchurch, Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne, and we definitely welcome bids from anywhere in New Zealand, Australia and Singapore that teaches postgraduate Philosophy.

Our comprehensive guide to hosting the APPC can be sent upon request, and we are happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have.

Bids close on January 15th, with the successful bidder notified by January 30th.

Successful bids will likely contain a budget, brief details of local facilities and local accommodation, and a conference planning timeline. Further details concerning bid evaluation criteria are available upon request. Bidders are encouraged to be both realistic and creative with their bids!

If you are interested in hosting the 2013 conference, or would like further information, then please contact Tad Davis at tdav105@aucklanduni.ac.nz

For any general comments about the PGSC please contact the new Postgraduate Committee Chair, Paul Daniels at paul.daniels@gmail.com

Professor JJC Smart

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 01:30:00 GMT

The philosophical community will be saddened to hear that Jack Smart died on Saturday (October 6). He was a figure of huge influence over many years in Australasian philosophy, and indeed in philosophy world-wide. In addition, Professor Smart's constant curiosity about, and interest in all manner of scientific and philosophical matters, and his open, cheerful and friendly disposition, made him much liked by all those who were fortunate enough to know him personally.

There will be a full obituary published in a forthcoming issue of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

The Australasian Association of Philosophy expresses its sadness at Professor Smart's death, and offers its condolences to his wife, Elizabeth and his family.

Photo: Steven Morton

The AAP hopes that this page can be used to collate and share thoughts about Professor JJC Smart. If you leave a post, make sure you add your name at the end, and your email, if you wish.

AAP New Zealand Conference 2012: Registration Open

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:45:30 GMT

Victoria University of Wellington will host the annual New Zealand AAP conference later this year. The conference will run from the evening of Sunday December 2 until the afternoon of Thursday December 6. Details of the conference can be found on the following webpage: http://aapnzconference.yolasite.com/.

Registration is now open and delegates are encouraged to give a paper. Abstracts must be received no later than November 13 (and preferaly by November 1). If you would like further details on the conference, please email Anton Killin at the following address: Anton.Killin [at] vuw.ac.nz.

National Philosothon - Results, Pix and AAP Prizes

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 21:24:53 GMT

The National Philosothon was held on 13 and 14th July, on the Gold Coast on. The AAP sponsored two prizes - AAP Prize for the Most Promising Female Philosopher and the AAP Prize for the Most Promising Male Philosopher. For more information, including pictures, visit the Philosothon site here>>

POSITION OF EDITOR OF THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 05:11:58 GMT

The Council of the AAP seeks expression of interest from Australasia-based individuals or groups who may wish to take on the editorship of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.

The AJP is a very highly regarded journal, generally ranked well in the top ten non-specialised philosophy journals in the world. We seek a new editor or editorial team who will maintain the Journal's position. The present editor, Professor Stewart Candlish, will retire from the position at the end of 2013. The new editor should be decided and in place by mid 2013, so that there can be a period of overlap.

Interested parties, who may be individuals, groups, or possibly whole departments, should contact the Secretary of the Association, Tim Oakley, who will see that immediate questions are answered, and who will provide details about the journal, the workload that an editor may expect, and information on the support, both financial and non-financial, available to the editorial office. We request such expressions be made by September 14, 2012. Shortly after this time, it is expected that those who have expressed interest will be asked to submit further, more detailed submissions, and further negotiations will take place.

The Association reserves the right not to appoint any applicant, and also to pursue its own searches and headhunting activities independently of the above procedures.

QS World University Rankings 2012

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 01:00:00 GMT

QS World University Rankings by subject 2012 show that in the top 100 universities for philosophy, there are:

40 from North America,
38 from Europe (inc. UK),
10 from Australasia,
8 from Asia (mostly China),
3 from Central/South America, and
1 from the Middle East.

more>>

Members of Council 2012-13

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 03:39:36 GMT

At the AGM, held on Wednesday 4th July, Professor Garrett Cullity, University of Adelaide, was elected President of the Association in 2012-13. Dr Patrick McGivern, University of Wollongong was acted Conference Liaison Officer, Dr Ben Blumson, National University of Singapore, was elected Singapore Representative, and Dr Catherine W Legg, Waikato University, was elected as an Ordinary Member. more information on members of Council 2012-3 more>>

AAP Prize Winners

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 03:37:31 GMT

Dr Paul Biegler from the Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University was awarded the AAP Media Prize for his timely discussion of climate change scepticism in a widely read article in the Sydney Morning Herald (20/12/11) and for an interview on Life Matters on Radio National (7/9/11) that explored the ethical treatment of depression. more>>

Josh Parsons, then of the University of Otago, now of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was awarded the AJP Best Paper Award (Volume 89) for his paper, ‘Assessment-contextual indexicals’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2011, Vol. 89, Issue 1, pp. 1–17. more>>

AAP 2012: Final reminder

Tue, 29 May 2012 20:27:27 GMT

This is the last reminder that the earlybird deadline for registering for the 2012 Australasian Association of Philosophy conference at the University of Wollongong is June 1st. After June 1st, registration rates will increase considerably.

All abstracts received by June 1st will be considered for the conference program. After June 1st, we will only consider a limited number of further contributions. After June 8th, no further contributions will be considered.

Postgraduate students who wish to apply for a travel subsidy should notify the organizers by June 1st. Eligibility conditions are described on the conference website.

To register, and to see a list of all abstracts that have currently been approved, visit the conference site at:

http://www.aap-conferences.org.au/

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome.

The dates for the conference are July 1st - 6th.

Keynotes:

Prof. Rebecca Kukla (Georgetown): "Performative force, Convention, and Discursive injustice"

Prof. Galen Strawson (Reading): "Real Naturalism"

Prof. Robert Wilson (Alberta): "Of Enthusiasm, Philosophers, and Folk Experience"

Prof. Peter Anstey (Otago), AAP Presidential Address: "Locke on the Nature of Mind"

The conference will include a variety of special sessions:

Tracking, Cognition, and Knowledge
Women in Philosophy: What Needs to Change?
Philosophy and Film
Schizoanalysis
De-Mystifying the ARC
New Work in Philosophy of Biology
The Evolved Apprentice
Graduate Career Workshop

All delegates are also welcome to contribute to the special streams within the conference:

Global Ethics
Philosophy of Biology
Philosophy in Schools
The Ethics and Epistemology of Surveillance
Causal Mechanisms and Levels of Explanation

The Philosophy in Schools stream is being run conjointly with the annual conference of the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations. AAP delegates are welcome to attend all FAPSA sessions.

In addition to the conference dinner and opening night reception, there will be a special celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, sponsored by Routledge and Taylor and Francis.

For more information, visit the conference website or contact the organizers at:

AAP 2012 Organizing Committee
University of Wollongong

e: aap-2012@uow.edu.au
p: +61 2 4221 5676
f: +61 2 4221 5341

The Thoughtful Classroom: Teaching to Overcome Educational Disadvantage

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:48:27 GMT

This conference, to be held at the University of Melbourne on Saturday 2 June 2012, will have a dual focus on:
(a) facilitating thoughtful dialogue in primary school classrooms – as modeled, for example, by the practice of ‘Philosophy for Children’; and
(b) overcoming educational disadvantage.

It will be a full day event organised by the University of Melbourne in partnership with FAPSA (the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations).

For information visit the FAPSA site here: http://fapsa.org.au/conference/the-thoughtful-classroom/

2012 AAP Conference - Call for papers

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:17:57 GMT

The 2012 Conference of the Australasian Association of Philosophy will be held at the University of Wollongong, in Wollongong, New South Wales, July 1st - 6th. Registration for the conference is now open!

The keynote speakers for this year’s conference are:

Prof. Rebecca Kukla (Georgetown)

Prof. Galen Strawson (Reading)

Prof. Robert Wilson (Alberta)

To register and submit an abstract, visit the conference website at:

www.aap-conferences.org.au

Papers in all areas of philosophy are welcome. Alongside the regular sessions, we are organizing a small number of special streams on more focused topics:

Causal Mechanisms and Levels of Explanation
Global Ethics
Philosophy of Biology
Philosophy in Schools
The Ethics and Epistemology of Surveillance

These streams are open to all conference delegates.

In addition to the conference dinner and opening night reception, there will be a special celebration of the 90th anniversary of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy, sponsored by Routledge and Taylor and Francis.

For more information, visit the conference website or contact the organizers at:

AAP 2012 Organizing Committee
University of Wollongong

e: aap-2012@uow.edu.au
p: +61 2 4221 5676
f: +61 2 4221 5341

AAP Survey

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:45:35 GMT

The AAP subcommittee to enquire into relations between the AAP and sub-disciplines within philosophy in the Australasian Region has released a short summary report of its findings. You can find it here.

The report includes a summary of the survey findings, as well as conclusions and recommendations. The Survey Monkey Results are also available on this page.

AAP Media Prize and Media Professionals' Award - call for entries/nominations

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:07:33 GMT

The AAP invites entries for the 2012 AAP Media Prize and AAP Media Professionals' Award:

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia. First awarded in 1999, the main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece(s) to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Prize include Peter Slezak (2011), Caroline West (2010), John Armstrong (2009) and Geoffrey Levey (2008).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2011. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. Entries may be submitted in either electronic or hard copy via email to mediaprize@aap.org.au or post to GPO BOX 1978, Hobart, 7001, Australia. If providing hard copy, please provide 3 copies of your nominated piece(s). The closing date for entries is 30th March 2012.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://aap.onefireplace.com/mediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an occasional award of $500 to journalists and other media professionals for excellence in the presentation of philosophy or philosophical issues in the media. The main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Professionals' Award are Natasha Mitchell (All in the Mind) and Alan Saunders (Philosopher's Zone).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. Entries may be submitted in either electronic or hard copy via email to mediaprize@aap.org.au or post to GPO BOX 1978, Hobart, 7001, Australia. If providing hard copy, please provide 3 copies of your nominated piece(s). The closing date for entries is 30th March 2012.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award , including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://aap.onefireplace.com/mediaprofessionalsaward

APPC 2012 Conference Bids

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:45:59 GMT

The Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Steering Committee (APPC) is now welcoming all proposals to organize and host the 2012 Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference.

The APPC provides the opportunity for postgraduate students studying all over Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, and meet others in their field around our region.

For over two decades, we have sought to provide postgraduate attendees with programming suited to their needs, including public forums and a publishing workshop with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Recent conferences have been in Christchurch, Sydney and Melbourne, and we welcome bids from anywhere in NZ, Australia and Singapore that teaches postgraduate Philosophy.

A comprehensive guide to hosting the APPC is attached (or can be sent upon request), and we are happy to assist organisers with any questions that they might have.

Bids close on January 15th, with the successful bidder notified by January 30th.

Successful bids will likely contain a budget, details of local facilities, a basic plan for accommodation, and a conference timeline. Further details concerning bid evaluation criteria are available upon request. Bidders are encouraged to be both realistic and creative with their bids!

If you are interested in hosting the 2012 conference, or would like further information, then please feel free to contact me at Michael.couchATcanterbury.ac.nz.

Sincerely,

Michael Couch

AAP Postgraduate Committee Chair

Maurice Goldsmith Lecture

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 03:48:40 GMT

The Victoria Foundation has launched a fundraising appeal to establish an annual Maurice Goldsmith Lecture in Philosophy, in honour of our former colleague and past Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. The Foundation has secured a little over NZ$50,000; to establish the Lecture we need a minimum total of NZ$100,000. If you're interested in donating, please go to www.victoria.ac.nz/foundation/ and click on the "Goldsmith Appeal" button. Thanks!

Ken Perszyk
Head of School
History, Philosophy, Political Science & International Relations

AJP Best Paper Award

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:07:59 GMT

Jeff Speaks, John A. O'Brien Associate Professor of Philosophy University of Notre Dame, IN, was awarded the AJP Best Paper Award (Volume 88) for his paper, 'Epistemic Two-Dimensionalism and the Epistemic Argument' Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol 88, 2011, Issue 1, pp. 59 78. more>>

AAP Media Prize

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:09:39 GMT

Associate Professor Peter Slezak from the School of History and Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, was awarded the AAP Media Prize in 2011 for the pivotal role that he played in the production of the Compass program, The Trials of Galileo, which appeared on the ABC in May 2010. In this program the trial of Galileo at the hands of the Roman Catholic Inquisition is re-examined. more>>

Council members 2011-12

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 05:04:56 GMT

At the AGM, held on Wednesday 6th July, Professor Peter Anstey, from the University of Otago was elected President of the Association in 2011-12.

more>>