Educated here, I (pictured with my spouse, Associate Professor Hill of the Department of Politics, University of Adelaide) am a Reader in the Philosophy Department at the University of Adelaide. My main research interest is a range of issues raised by the use of psychological disorder to study the mind. One of the most interesting of these is the extent to which those issues are philosophical as well as belonging to psychology or cognitive neuroscience. My approach is to allow the answer to that question to emerge from the process of trying to understand the nature of, say, delusion or pathologies introduced by orbitofrontal damage. The only constraint is that the philosopher's theories face the tribunal of empirical evidence as well as cross examination by counsel for philosophy. I have written on developmental disorders (autism and Williams syndrome), cognitive neuropsychiatry, and, more recently, on moral psychopathologies (such as psychopathology) and the emotions. I teach political philosophy and philosophy of social science as well as courses related to my research.
Seminal Online Papers
Pathbreaking Publications
Challenging and Rewarding Teaching Career
Pioneering Research Grants
Crusading Investigative Journalism. Contains unexpurgated version of the titanic struggle between Stephen Buckle and myself over the legacy of Plato. Is he (Plato) "confused", "bonkers" or merely "wrong". Almost blogworthy.
Moral Cognition Conference Aug 30-Sep 2