The Antipodean Philosopher
Interviews on Philosophy in Australia and New Zealand
Edited by Graham Oppy, N. N. Trakakis, Lynda Burns, Steve Gardner, Fiona Leigh, Michelle Irving
Publication date:
21 December 2011Length of book:
282 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
240x164mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739166550
In this second volume of The Antipodean Philosopher, Graham Oppy and N.N. Trakakis have brought together fourteen leading Australasian philosophers, inviting them to speak in a frank and accessible way about their philosophical lives: for example, what drew them to a career in philosophy, what philosophy means to them, and their perceptions and criticisms of the ways in which philosophy is studied and taught in Australia and New Zealand.
The philosophers interviewed include Brian Ellis, Frank Jackson, Jeff Malpas, Alan Musgrave, Philip Pettit, Graham Priest, Peter Singer and Michael Smith – philosophers who have distinguished themselves in the discipline, both nationally and internationally, over many years and in various branches of philosophy. What emerges from the discussion with these philosophers is a distinctive and engaging narrative of the history of philosophy in Australasia, its recent successes and flourishing, and the problems and prospects facing it in the twenty-first century.
These interviews will challenge and entertain anyone with an interest in contemporary philosophy and the challenges of living out the examined life today.
The philosophers interviewed include Brian Ellis, Frank Jackson, Jeff Malpas, Alan Musgrave, Philip Pettit, Graham Priest, Peter Singer and Michael Smith – philosophers who have distinguished themselves in the discipline, both nationally and internationally, over many years and in various branches of philosophy. What emerges from the discussion with these philosophers is a distinctive and engaging narrative of the history of philosophy in Australasia, its recent successes and flourishing, and the problems and prospects facing it in the twenty-first century.
These interviews will challenge and entertain anyone with an interest in contemporary philosophy and the challenges of living out the examined life today.
Non-philosophers are often puzzled about what philosophers do; about how and why people end up being philosophers; about why there should be philosophers at all. This is a book to put into the hands of such people. In it, fourteen philosophers, twelve from Australia and two from New Zealand, tell us just how they end up in philosophy, just why they find it exciting, and just what they see its value to be. One thing we quickly see is the variety of backgrounds from which people come: from physics, mathematics, literature, law, and from many other disciplines. Yet what is common to all those interviewed is that they wanted to ask basic questions about their discipline, questions which the discipline itself did not engage with. What the interviews strikingly establish is that in philosophy there is a unified method of enquiry which can apply to all disciplines, and which attracts minds who need to think things out for themselves. The interviews do not provide an introduction to philosophy, but they do something which is even rarer, they give an insight into just what philosophy is and just how philosophers currently working in Australasia approach it. Books which are able to do this are all too rare, and this one will, I am sure, have an appeal to all thinking people.