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Achievements of the 1980s

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History of Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand

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Abstract

Philosophy flourished in Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s, despite tensions within some departments and increasing difficulties imposed from without. A generation of philosophers who had got jobs in the 1960s were reaching the peak of their careers and producing substantial publications, some of which are still a focus for research and debate. A list of these would include Frank Jackson’s article ‘Epiphenomenal Qualia’ (1982) and his ‘What Mary Didn’t Know’ (1986), David Armstrong’s book What is a Law of Nature? (1983) and Genevieve Lloyd’s 1984 The Man of Reason. Jackson’s ‘knowledge argument’ is often cited in current work in philosophy of mind; Armstrong’s account of natural laws as relations between universals is now one of the standard accounts of laws of nature and has led to an ongoing debate in metaphysics, and Genevieve Lloyd’s book is regarded as a foundational text in contemporary feminist theory.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, Muller (2009), Howell (2007), Alter (2007) and articles in Ravenscroft (2009).

  2. 2.

    See Cartwright et al. (2005).

  3. 3.

    See Kalhat (2006), Williams (2007), Bolander (2006) and Forrest (2006).

  4. 4.

    Colebrook’s (2000) article provides a useful review of Lloyd’s contribution to feminist thought.

  5. 5.

    This research took different directions in each country. In Australia, it has been developed within philosophy of religion and in particularly within the area of comparative religion, while in New Zealand, the central focus has tended to be on ethics, comparing Maori and Western values.

  6. 6.

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3965/is_200201/ai_n9034417/pg_8?tag=artBody;col1.

  7. 7.

    Of the published works of philosophers mentioned in this section, only books are listed in the Bibliography.

  8. 8.

    Ex-students from the Otago department were also doing significant work in this decade. In the mid-1980s, Annette Baier published Postures of the Mind: Essays on Mind and Morals, as well as her influential articles ‘What Do Women Want in a Moral Theory’ and ‘Trust and Anti-Trust’. Another ex-student, Jeremy Waldron, published The Right to Private Property and a book on Bentham and human rights entitled, Nonsense upon Stilts.

  9. 9.

    This is based on a rough count only. There are obvious overlaps, and boundaries to the ‘areas’ could be disputed.

  10. 10.

    Experimentation on humans had became an issue of public concern in New Zealand following the revelation in Auckland in 1987 of the selective nontreatment of women with cervical cancer. Articles written around this time reflect concerns in medical ethics about patient rights and informed consent. In Australia, the National Health and Medical Research Council adopted a recommendation in 1985 that any institution eligible for its research funds must submit research on human subjects to review by an institutional ethics committee. By 1990, there were over one hundred such committees in Australia.

  11. 11.

    See http://www.aislingmagazine.com/aislingmagazine/articles/TAM30/ValPlumwood.html.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Lynda Burns

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  1. Lynda Burns
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

    Graham Oppy

  2. School of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia

    N.N. Trakakis

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Burns, L. (2014). Achievements of the 1980s. In: Oppy, G., Trakakis, N. (eds) History of Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6958-8_9

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