A Short History of Philosophy at RSSS

In 1946 the Australian National University Act established the University, and by 1952 four Research Schools -- Social Sciences, Pacific Studies, Physical Sciences and Medical Research -- had been established with their component departments. Philosophy was a foundation part of the Research School of Social Sciences as the Department of Social Philosophy, headed by Professor Percy Herbert Partridge. Partridge continued as Professor of Social Philosophy until his retirement in 1975, also being Dean of School from 1961 to 1968.

John Passmore began his career with the RSSS as Reader in Philosophy in 1956. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy in 1958 and Head of Department in 1962. His many fine books include the seminal A Hundred Years of Philosophy and Man's Responsibility for Nature. During this time John Harsanyi and Stanley Benn were Senior Fellows, and Robert Brown, Edwin Curley and Eugene Kamenka commenced as Research Fellows. All proceeded to distinguished careers, Harsanyi being awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994, jointly with John Nash and Reinhart Selten. Curley, a distinguished historian of philosophy, was eventually appointed to a Senior Fellowship in Philosophy, a post he held until 1977. He is now Professor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Kamenka was appointed Professorial Fellow and Head of the History of Ideas Unit in 1969. Brown moved to History of Ideas in 1973, where he served as Senior Fellow until his retirement in 1985. Brown, a philosopher of social science, was for many years editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. Benn, best known for Social Principles and the Democratic State which he wrote with R. S. Peters, was appointed Professorial Fellow in Philosophy in 1973, a post he held until his retirement in 1985.

Passmore appointed Richard Routley, later known as Richard Sylvan, to a Senior Fellowship in 1971, a position which he held until his death in 1996, and Robert Meyer to a Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1974. Meyer, who was ultimately made Professor of Philosophy, remained with the Program until his retirement in 1996. Meyer and Sylvan were the foundation of a world class logic group within the Program. The standing and achievement of this group was such that it ultimately became a self-standing entity, the Automated Reasoning Project. ARP later helped form the basis of a new research school at ANU, the Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering.

In December 1976 J.J.C. Smart, the famous architect of materialism in the philosophy of mind and staunch defender of utilitarianism in moral philosophy--his books include Philosophy and Scientific Realism, and, with Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism For and Against--took up the Chair and became Head in 1977. Philip Pettit was appointed to a Professorial Fellowship in 1983. His appointment was initially in the Director's Section, as his role was to work with individuals across a range of academic programs, a role he filled with great distinction. He was made Professor of Social and Political Theory by special appointment in 1989, a position he held until 2002 when he left to become Professor of Politics at Princeton University. During his time with the School he wrote many books including the influential Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government.

Frank Jackson, author of much cited 'Epiphenomenal Qualia,' succeeded Smart in the Chair, becoming Head in 1986. He appointed Libby Prior Jonson Postdoctoral Fellow in 1987, the first woman to be appointed to a philosophy position within the RSSS. Robert Goodin, whose work straddles political theory, public policy and applied ethics, was appointed to a Professorial Fellowship in 1989. The editor of the Journal of Political Philosophy, his many books include Utilitarianism as a Public Philosophy. Michael Smith was appointed to a Senior Fellowship in 1995 after having spent a year with the Program on secondment in 1993, during which time he wrote his The Moral Problem. Goodin became Professor of Philosophy in 1992 and Smith in 1997. In 1995 Jackson gave the John Locke lectures at Oxford University, a rare professional honour extended to only one other Australian philosopher, his own father, A.C. (Camo) Jackson, in 1958. Jackson's Locke Lectures eventually became his From Metaphysics to Ethics.

Smith took over as Head of the Philosophy Program in 1998 when Jackson began a four year term as Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies. Together with Geoffrey Brennan, author of many books including Democracy and Decision with Loren Lomasky and editor of Economics and Philosophy, Goodin and Pettit moved to joint appointments in the Philosophy Program and the newly formed Social and Political Theory Program in 1999. With Pettit's departure, Goodin and Brennan eventually moved to appointments wholly within the Philosophy Program in 2004. Martin Davies was appointed Professor of Philosophy in 2000. Davies, who works in philosophy of mind and language, epistemology, and cognitive science, is also well known for his foundational work with Lloyd Humberstone on two dimensional semantics. Kim Sterelny, the author of Thought in a Hostile World: The Evolution of Human Cognition and editor of Biology and Philosophy, took up a half-time appointment as Professor in the Program in 2001. The other half of his appointment is at Victoria University in New Zealand, where he is also Professor of Philosophy. In that same year Peter Godfrey-Smith, author of Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (Science and Its Conceptual Foundations), accepted a half-time appointment as Professor of Philosophy, the other half of his time being spent as Visiting Professor at Harvard University. Philosopher of mind Daniel Stoljar was also appointed to a Senior Fellowship.

Davies took over as Head of Program in 2004 when Smith left to become Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. In that same year Jackson became Director of RSSS; David Chalmers, author of the celebrated The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory, joined the Program on a Federation Fellowship, setting up an ARC Research Centre focusing on the way in which human consciousness represents the world; and Alan Hájek, a specialist in probability theory and decision theory, was appointed Professor of Philosophy, a position he takes up in 2005.

Over the years the Philosophy Program has hosted a range of workshops and conferences, some thematic and others focussing on the work of individual philosophers such as Ned Block, Michael Bratmnan, Tyler Burge, John Gardner, Tony Honore, and Philip Pettit. In 2003 it hosted a series of occasional Tanner Lectures on Human Values, the second to be held in Australia, the first series also having been held at ANU. There remains a strong Social and Political Theory concentration within the Program, and this group organizes the annual John Passmore Lecture. It also holds annual lectures in honour of J.J.C.Smart, the first of which was held in 1999. Boasting a stellar cast of past Lecturers, the Jack Smart Lecture is now a highlight of the Program's calendar.

Research in the Philosophy Program has been strengthened and expanded over the years by a long succession of outstanding shorter term staff members and visiting fellows. Complete lists of those philosophers, including visitors, who have been at RSSS since 1983 can be viewed by clicking here. Profiles of the following past members can be viewed by clicking on their names.

BENN, Stanley 1962-1985
BROWN, Robert 1956-1973
CURLEY, Edwin 1966-1977
D'AGOSTINO, Fred 1979-1983
FORREST, Peter 1984-1986
GAUS, Gerald 1983-1986
HAAKONSSEN, Knud 1982-1994
HAWTHORNE, John 1994-1995
HOLTON, Richard 1997-1998
LANGTON, Rae 1997-1998
MENZIES, Peter 1989-1995
MEYER, Bob 1974-1996
NEANDER, Karen 1989-1995
OPPY, Graham 1993-1996
PASSMORE, John 1955-1976
PETTIT, Philip 1983-2002
PRICE, Huw 1988-1989
PRIOR JONSON, Libby 1987-1988
SMART, J.J.C. 1976-1985
SMITH, Michael 1995-2004
STOCKER, Michael 1975-1977
SYLVAN, Richard 1971-1996
TOOLEY, Michael 1974-1980, 1988-1992