Research in Moral and Political Philosophy
As one of our areas of research strength, our work in Moral and Political Philosophy focuses on several core interconnected aims:
- to illuminate and resolve a range of ethical issues involving health policy and health care, reproduction, genetics, women's rights, animal rights, etc. through the application of moral theories and philosophical analysis from ancient to postmodern and feminist standpoints on ethics
- to analyse through the use of moral theory various issues in law, including connections between law and morality, moral or legal responsibility and mental illness, practical issues such as police practices and accountability, treatment of refugees etc
- to assess the adequacy of mainstream impartialist moral theories in the light of their attempts to accommodate the nature and value of love and friendship, professional roles, and feminist perspectives on ethics
Recent research grants within these areas:
Good Soldiers and Ethical Soldiers. Rob Sparrow with Dr Jessica Wolfendale (University of Melbourne) and Professor Tony Coady (University of Melbourne). ARC Discovery Project Grant for 2007-2009 ($440 000).
Victorian Doctors and End of Life Decisions: David Neil. 2004 $10 000 grant from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Victoria.
The Normative Value of Unified Agency: Steve Matthews (CSU) and Jeanette Kennett. ARC Discovery Grant 2004-05 ($62,000).
The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence of Psychopathology : Jeanette Kennett and Phil Gerrans (Adelaide). ARC Discovery Grant 2004-06 ($191,000).
Regulation, Risk, and Wrongdoing: Negligence law reform and a natural rights approach to justice: Toby Handfield, Monash Small Grant, 2004.
An ethical analysis of the disclosure of surgeons' performance data to patients within the informed consent process: Justin Oakley and Helga Kuhse NHMRC Project Grant 2003-05 ($140,000).
Friendship, Morality and the Self: Jeanette Kennett and Dean Cocking (CSU). ARC Discovery Grant 2001 ($20,000).