Antipodean Philosopher

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.

This book will interest both those who have been involved in the profession of philosophy in Australia and New Zealand, and those who have an interest in what such philosophers have to say to the general public on topics such as religion, love, and time. Future historians may well find some of the chronicles of individual departments, included here, important documents for any real history of philosophy in this region, in which the contradictions in what is said here will be ironed out. Was Arthur Prior an important New Zealand philosopher? Was Jack Smart Australia’s best philosopher? Only time will tell., Among academics, philosophy in Australasia is best known for materialism about the mind, realism about almost everything, and consequentialism in ethics—and for fighting way above its weight. These entertaining, informed, and often delightfully opinionated lectures tell us how this came to be, and why there is so much more to say about philosophy in Australia and New Zealand, much of it of great interest outside academe.

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, co-author of Reading Philosophy of Religion, and co-editor of History of Western Philosophy of Religion and Companion to Australian Philosophy. N. N. Trakakis is lecturer and research fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Monash University and at Deakin 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 co-editor of Essays on Free Will and Moral Responsibility, volumes 1 through 5 of History of Western Philosophy of Religion, and A Companion to Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand. Associate Editors: Lynda Burns, Steven Gardner, and Fiona Leigh.