News

Australasian philosophers will be sad to learn of the passing of Peter Menzies (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University), who died on Friday 6 February, after a long illness. He is survived by his partner, Catriona Mackenzie (Professor of Philosophy, Macquarie University), and their extended family.

Peter studied Philosophy at ANU, graduating with the University Medal in 1975. He went on to an MPhil at St Andrews, writing on Michael Dummett's views on Realism, and to a PhD at Stanford, where he worked with Nancy Cartwright on Newcomb Problems and Causal Decision Theory.

Returning to Australia in 1983, Peter held a Tutorship and then an ARC Research Fellowship at the Department of Traditional & Modern Philosophy, University of Sydney, from 1984 to 1988. He then moved to ANU as a Research Fellow in the Philosophy Program, RSSS, where he remained until taking up a Lectureship at Macquarie University in 1995. He was promoted to a Personal Chair in 2005, becoming an Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2013. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities in 2007, and was President of the Australasian Association of Philosophy in 2008–2009.

Peter will be remembered by friends, students and colleagues as one of the most lucid and generous voices in Australasian philosophy, and by philosophers worldwide as one of the most astute metaphysicians of his generation. He was particularly well known for many influential papers on causation. At the beginning of a famous paper in Mind in 1994, for example, David Lewis singles out "especially the problem presented in Menzies (1989)" as the source of, as he puts it, "the unfinished business with causation." Most would agree that some of the business remains unfinished, twenty years later; but that the field is greatly indebted to Peter for much of the progress that has been made in the past three decades. A fine philosopher, colleague, teacher, and friend, he will be sadly missed.

**The AAP hopes that this page can be used to collate and share thoughts about Professor Peter Menzies. If you leave a post, make sure you add your name at the end, and your email, if you wish.

AAP Media Prize

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an annual prize of $500 for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia. First awarded in 1999, the main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece(s) to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Prize include Patrick Stokes (2014) Damon Young (2013), Paul Biegler (2012), Peter Slezak (2011), Caroline West (2010) and John Armstrong (2009).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from professional philosophers (including postgraduates and also retired academic philosophers) published in 2014. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2015.

Further information about the AAP Media Prize, including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/AAPmediaprize

AAP Media Professionals' Award

The Australasian Association of Philosophy offers an occasional award of $500 to journalists and other media professionals for excellence in the presentation of philosophy or philosophical issues in the media. The main criterion for the award of the prize is the ability of the piece to engage the interest of the general public in philosophy or some philosophical issue. Consideration is also given to the quality of the philosophical discussion and to the size of the audience reached. Previous winners of the AAP Media Professionals' Award are Antonia Case (New Philosopher), Natasha Mitchell (All in the Mind) and Alan Saunders (Philosopher's Zone).

The AAP invites entries/nominations for media work from journalists and other media professionals. Entries/nominations may come from the author or from others. The AAP Media Professionals' Award is offered no more than once each year, and may not be made every year. The closing date for entries is 30th March 2015.

Further information about the AAP Media Professionals' Award , including conditions of entry, can be found at: http://www.aap.org.au/mediaprofessionalsaward

The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) awards an annual prize of $1000 for the development of innovative approaches to teaching philosophy. First awarded in 2014, the prize is offered with a view to exploring ways in which undergraduate courses in philosophy can build the understanding and practise of an inclusive discipline, concerned to foster equal participation in the profession. The aims of the prize are to encourage professionals developing and improving their teaching portfolios to consider critically how philosophy is presented, and to be innovative in implementing practices of teaching that off-set well-known disparities of participation in the discipline, for instance along race and gender lines.

Criteria of evaluation

• Innovation in course content that promotes the presentation of the discipline as accessible to a wide range of participants
  
• Innovation in classroom teaching that encourages wide participation and can be expected to improve retention rates of under-represented groups in the profession
  
• Evidence that the course design achieved some of its objectives
  

The prize is open to individuals, or groups of individuals, teaching undergraduate philosophy courses in Australasian Universities (in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore).

Entries/nominations for the prize close on 30th March 2015. More>>

David Oldroyd (1936-2014)

David died, from cancer, on November 7 of this year, well before his time. This is a sad loss indeed for the HPS, especially here in Australasia. David leaves considerable legacy. An obituary and also some other information about David can be found on the AAHPSSS website here

The AAP is delighted to announce that the Honorable Justice Pamela Tate has agreed to become the first Patron of the Australasian Association of Philosophy.

Justice Tate was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and graduated from Otago University in 1979 with first class Honours in Philosophy. She undertook postgraduate study in Philosophy at Oxford University under the supervision of Michael Dummett, graduating with a B.Phil. She returned to New Zealand and taught Philosophy at Otago University before moving to Australia to live. While teaching Philosophy at Monash University, she graduated with a first class Honours degree in Law from Monash University in 1988.

Justice Tate was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 14 September 2010. She was the Solicitor-General for Victoria from 2003 to 2010, representing the State of Victoria in constitutional challenges in the High Court of Australia. She is the first woman to be appointed Solicitor-General of Victoria.

For more details, see: http://aap.org.au/AAP-Patron

The AAP has produced the first of a series of notes that will collectively make up an AAP statement on gender: see http://aap.org.au/Gender-Statement .

I urge all AAP members -- and, indeed, everyone associated with philosophy in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore -- to think carefully about the further material that is linked to the note, and about the content of the note itself.

Graham Oppy

Chair, AAP Council

The 2014 Alan Saunders Memorial Lecture, delivered by Professor Philip Pettit at the National Gallery of Australia last month, will be broadcast on ABC's Big Ideas TV show on Friday 15th August at 11am.

See the following link at the ABC for more information: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/tv_show/

You cal also watch the full video here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2014/08/08/4063436.htm

For more information about the lecture see: http://aap.org.au/PhilipPettit

The following prize winners were announced during the 2014 AAP Conference:

Dr Patrick Stokes, Deakin University, was awarded the 2014 AAP Media Prize for several articles: “Burying Thatcher: why celebrating death is still wrong” (The Conversation, 17th April 2013); “Do you really exist online” (New Philosopher, 2013, Issue 2); and “Just who do you think you are? The splendid mess of personal identity” (New Philosopher, 2013, Issue 1). more>>

Antonia Case, literary editor and journalist at New Philosopher, was awarded the AAP Media Professionals' Award. more>>

Michelle Sowey, Director at The Philosophy Club, was awarded the inaugural AAP Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula, for The Big Questions Philosophy Mentoring Program. more>>

Dr Alex Barber, the Open University, was awarded the AJP Best Paper Award (Volume 91) for his paper, ‘Science's Immunity to Moral Refutation’, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 2013, Vol. 91, Issue 4, pp. 633–53. more>>

First of a three-part series featuring in-depth interviews with philosophers who have left academia >>

Philosophers who work outside academia (URL)

The AAP Postgraduate Steering Committee (PGSC) is now welcoming proposals
from postgraduates from any institution in Australia, New Zealand, and
Singapore with postgraduate philosophy programmes to organize and host the
next Australasian Philosophy Postgraduate Conference (APPC).

*ABOUT THE APPC*
The APPC provides the opportunity for postgraduate students from
Australasia to present their work, debate their ideas, receive feedback
from peers and form collaborations across institutions. For over two
decades, APPCs have included discussions with other graduates, meetings
with successful philosophers, career seminars and/or publishing workshops
(e.g. with the editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy). Recent
conferences have been held in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney.

*ABOUT BIDS*
A successful bid will likely contain a budget with an indication of
expected fund sources, a conference planning timeline and brief details of
local facilities (including accommodation options). Bidders are encouraged
to be realistic and creative with their bids. Our comprehensive APPC
Hosting Guide can be sent upon request, and we are
happy to assist organisers with any further questions that they might have.

*CONTACTS*
If you are interested in submitting a Bid, or would like any further
information about hosting an APPC, please contact Tessa Jones
(tessa.jones@monash.edu).

Kind regards,

Tessa Jones
Proposal Support Officer - Monash Research Office
PhD Candidate - School of Philosophical, Historical and International
Studies
Monash University