Dr Toby Handfield
Email: toby.handfield@arts.monash.edu.au
Other contact details: I will be on research leave in the US from 1 August 2009 until early 2010.
Career Highlights:
- Visiting Scholar, MIT (Fall 2009)
- Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence (2008)
- ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship, "Chance and Necessity in the Physical Sciences" 2006–2009
- CEU Summer School in Philosophy of Physics (2006)
- British Academy Visiting Fellowship, at University of Bristol (Autumn 2005)
Research Interests:
I have a wide range of research interests, from metaphysics of science to moral theory and political philosophy.
Currently I am working on a number of projects:
As part of a current ARC Discovery Project (with Stephen Barker), I am working on a book-length account of objective chance. In particular, I am trying to account for the time-asymmetry of objective chance, and to relate this to other temporal asymmetries (causation, entropy, knowledge, and the like).
In collaboration with Patrick Emerton, I am working on topics related to the morality of warfare.
In collaboration Daniel Cohen, I have been working recently on moral psychology and how rational agents can cope with choices between incommensurate goods, or between goods which vary in their attractiveness over time.
I have had a longstanding interest in dispositional properties, causation, and laws of nature. I recently edited a book, published with OUP, on these topics.
Recently I have become interested in population ethics and what duties we owe to future generations.
Finally, this year I have commenced a new ARC Discovery Project with Graham Oppy, Jeremy Butterfield, Alexander Bird, and Barry Loewer, on "Neglected Problems of Time". This project will investigate a number of topics in the philosophy of physics and metaphysics of time.
Publications and works in progress are available on my personal webpage.
Teaching activities:
I usually teach PHL1010 (Introduction to Philosophy A) and PHL2510/3510 (Political Philosophy). This year I am on research leave, but I expect to return to teaching these in the near future. I also regularly teach honours seminars relating to topics of current research interest.
With my colleague Sam Butchart, I have been trying out the Peer Instruction method of lecturing for the last few years. We have put together some helpful resources for those who are interested in the method here.