The Antipodean Philosopher Public Lectures on Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand

by Oppy, Graham; Trakakis, N. N.; Burns, Lynda; Gardner, Steven; Leigh, Fiona; Bigelow, John; Bradley, Raymond D.; Brennan, Andrew; Coady, Tony; Forrest, Peter; Franklin, James; Green, Karen; Grigg, Russell; Sharpe, Matthew; Kennett, Jeanette; Levy, Neil; Ma

• ISBN13: 9780739127339
• ISBN10: 0739127330
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-02-22
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

Philosophy in both Australia and New Zealand has been has been experiencing, for some time now, something of a 'golden age', exercising an influence in the global arena that is disproportionate to the population of the two countries. To capture the distinctive and internationally recognised contributions Australasian philosophers have made to their discipline, a series of public talks by leading Australasian philosophers was convened at various literary events and festivals across Australia and New Zealand from 2006 to 2009. These engaging and often entertaining talks attracted large audiences, and covered diverse themes ranging from local histories of philosophy (in particular, the fortunes of philosophy in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and New Zealand); to discussions of specific topics (including love, free will, religion, ecology, feminism, and civilisation), especially as these have featured in the Australasian philosophy; and to examinations of the intellectual state of universities in Australasia at the beginning of the twenty-first century. These talks are now collected here for the first time, to provide not only students and scholars, but also the wider community with a deeper appreciation of the philosophical heritage of Australia and New Zealand.

Author Biography

Graham Oppy is professor of philosophy at Monash University. He is author of Ontological Arguments and Belief in God, Philosophical Perspectives on Infinity, and Arguing about Gods: coauthor of Reading Philosophy of Religion; and coeditor of The History of Western Philosophy of Religion and A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. N. N. Trakakis is a research fellow in the School of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University. He is author of The God Beyond Belief and The End of Philosophy of Religion; editor of William L. Rowe on Philosophy of Religion; and coeditor of Essays on Free Will and Moral Responsibility, The History of Western Philosophy of Religion, and A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Metaphysics in Australasia	p. 1
Science, Morality, and the Death of God	p. 11
Philistines, Barbarians, and the Death of Intellect	p. 25
Philosophy in Melbourne	p. 39
Missing the Point Many Times Over?: Australian Philosophical Atheism	p. 53
Philosophy in Sydney	p. 61
Australian Women Philosophers	p. 67
In the Name of the Father: Understanding Monotheism and Fundamentalism	p. 81
The Nature of Love	p. 89
Free Will and the Sciences of the Mind	p. 99
Feminist Philosophy in Australasia	p. 109
Philosophy and Its Masters: The Transformations of Philosophy in Queensland	p. 125
Philosophy in South Australia	p. 139
Is Religion to Be Respected or Only Tolerated?	p. 145
Continental Philosophy in Australia	p. 159
Getting the Wrong Anderson?: A Short and Opinionated History of New Zealand Philosophy	p. 169
Nature in the Active Voice	p. 197
Why Asian Philosophy?	p. 211
Logic in Australasia	p. 223
The Analytic/Continental Divide: A Contretemps?	p. 239
Philosopher Deans and Philosopher Kings: The Contribution of Philosophers to Senior Management in Australian Universities	p. 255
Becoming Slow: Philosophy, Reading, and the Essay	p. 265
Bibliography	p. 279
Index	p. 299
About the Contributors	p. 309
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