Dr John Wright
Conjoint Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities and Social Science (Philosophy)
- Email:john.wright@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4921 5182
Career Summary
Biography
In my research I have endeavored to produce solutions to problems in the following areas: *How is the novel predictive success of science to be explained? The answer I favor appeals to a notion of the independence of theory from data. This is explored in books Science and the Theory of Rationality (Avebury, 1991) and The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Scientific Method (in progress) *Is our preference for simple theories in science to be rationally justified? The answer I favor is “Yes”, and the reasons are defended in Science and the Theory of Rationality. *What is the Realism/anti-Realism issue? How is it to be resolved? The view I favor is that this is to be seen as a thesis about explanatory priority. This is explored in book Realism and Explanatory Priority (Kluwer, 1997) *What factors determine personal identity over time? The view I favor is termed the seat of consciousness view of personal identity. This has been defended in papers. *Does the operation of the free market produce ethically acceptable outcomes? I have argued that the answer to this question is no. This is defended in book The Ethics of Economic Rationalism (UNSW Press, 2003) and Where Did Fair Go? (in progress).
Research Expertise
I have published in the following areas: Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science, Critical Thinking and educational philosophy, Metaphysics, particularly Realism and anti-Realism, Philosophy of Mind, particularly personal identity, and political philosophy, especially as it relates to issues of ethics and economics.
Teaching Expertise
I have taught in: History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Language, Logic, Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Art, Metaphysics and philosophy of Mind.
Administrative Expertise
I have served as Head of Department of Philosophy, and Convenor of Discipline of Philosophy. I have also served on numerous committees, including Faculty Research committees, Board of Environmental Studies and Faculty steering committees. I have also served on three Appointment committees.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Melbourne
- Bachelor of Science, University of Melbourne
Keywords
- Ethics and Economics
- Metaphysics
- Philosophy of Science
- metaphysics
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 220399 | Philosophy not elsewhere classified | 100 |
Professional Experience
Academic appointment
| Dates | Title | Organisation / Department |
|---|---|---|
| 1/9/2010 - 1/12/2010 | Visiting Scholar | University of Cambridge United Kingdom |
| 1/9/1993 - 1/12/1993 | Visiting Scholar | University of Oxford United Kingdom |
| 1/9/2005 - 1/12/2005 | Visiting Scholar | University of Cambridge United Kingdom |
| 1/1/1987 - 1/12/1997 | Tutor | The University of Adelaide Philosophy Australia |
| 30/8/2018 - 1/10/2018 | Visiting Professor | university of urbino Philosophy Italy |
Invitations
External Reviewer - Departments
| Year | Title / Rationale |
|---|---|
| 2003 |
John Wright/ curriculumn monitor Organisation: Australian Catholic University Description: My role was to review the offerings of the dept of philosophy at the ACU |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (8 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Wright J, An Epistemic Foundation for Scientific Realism Defending Realism Without Inference to the Best Explanation, Springer, 220 (2018) [A1] | ||
| 2014 | Wright J, Where Did Fair Go?, Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, 143 (2014) [A1] | ||
| 2013 | Wright J, Explaining Science's Success, Acumen Publishing, Durham, 199 (2013) [A1] | ||
| 2012 |
Wright J, Explaining science s success: Understanding how scientific knowledge works (2012) © John Wright, 2013. Paul Feyeraband famously asked, what's so great about science? One answer is that it has been surprisingly successful in getting things right about the n... [more] © John Wright, 2013. Paul Feyeraband famously asked, what's so great about science? One answer is that it has been surprisingly successful in getting things right about the natural world, more successful than non-scientific or pre-scientific systems, religion or philosophy. Science has been able to formulate theories that have successfully predicted novel observations. It has produced theories about parts of reality that were not observable or accessible at the time those theories were first advanced, but the claims about those inaccessible areas have since turned out to be true. And science has, on occasion, advanced on more or less a priori grounds theories that subsequently turned out to be highly empirically successful. In this book the philosopher of science, John Wright delves deep into science's methodology to offer an explanation for this remarkable success story. |
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| 2003 | Wright JN, The Ethics of Economic Rationalism, UNSW Press, Sydney, Australia (2003) [A1] | ||
| 2003 | Wright JN, The Story of Philosophy, Social Science Press, Tuggerah NSW 2259 (2003) [A2] | ||
| Show 5 more books | |||
Chapter (3 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Wright JN, 'Some Surprising Phenomena and Some Unsatisfactory Explanations of Them', Recent Themes in the Philosophy of Science: Scientific Realism and Commonsense, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht 139-155 (2002) [B1] | ||
| 1996 | Wright JN, 'Metaphysical Realism and the Explanation of the Success of Science', Realism and anti-Realism in Science, kluwer academic publishers, dordrecht 227-243 (1996) | ||
| 1989 | Wright JN, 'Critical Thinking: Deductive versus Abductive Approaches.', Intermediate Conclusions, Flinders University, Adelaide 61-81 (1989) |
Journal article (12 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Wright JN, 'On James's Argument Against Epiphenomenalism', William James Studies, 11 69-85 (2015) [C1] | |||||||
| 2012 |
Wright JN, 'In defence of Kripkenstein: On Lewis' proposed solution to the sceptical argument', International Journal of Philosophical Studies, 20 603-621 (2012) [C1]
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| 2009 | Wright JN, 'Thinking about Gödel and Turing : Essays on complexity, 1970-2007 [Book Review]', Australian Mathematical Society. Gazette, 36 211-213 (2009) [C2] | |||||||
| 2008 | Wright JN, 'A madman dreams of Turing machines', Gazette of the Australian Mathematical Society, 35 56-57 (2008) [C3] | |||||||
| 2006 | Wright JN, 'Personal Identity and Consciousness', Iyyun: The Jerusalem Philosophical Quarterly, 55 235-263 (2006) [C1] | |||||||
| 2006 |
Wright JN, 'Personal identity, fission and time travel', Philosophia, 34 129-142 (2006) [C1]
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| 2006 | Wright JN, 'Ethics and the will of the affluent majority', Australian Rationalist, 40-46 (2006) [C2] | |||||||
| 2004 | Wright JN, 'Review of Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World Through the Language of Mathematics', Australian Mathematical Society Gazette, 31 263-264 (2004) [C3] | |||||||
| 2004 | Wright JN, 'What ever happened to the ideal of equality?', Journal of the Rationalist Society of Australia, 66 26-34 (2004) [C3] | |||||||
| 2003 | Wright JN, 'Newton: The Making of Genius by P Fara', Australian Mathematical Society Gazette, 30 303-304 (2003) [C3] | |||||||
| 2002 | Wright JN, 'The Explanatory Role of Realism', Philosophia: Philosophical Quarterly of Israel, 29 35-56 (2002) [C1] | |||||||
| Show 9 more journal articles | ||||||||
Conference (1 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Wright JN, 'Personal Identity and Consciousness', Toward a Science of Consciousness 2004, Tucson, Arizona, USA (2004) [E3] |
Other (6 outputs)
| Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Wright J, 'Epistemic Tribalism and Epistemic Chaos Would Not Be Welcome Imports From America', On-Line Opinion:Australia's e-journal of Social and Political Debate (2020) | ||
| 2020 | Wright J, 'The Protests Are in the Name of Freedom. But what is Freedom?', The Protests Are in the Name of Freedom. But What is Freedom?: Graham Young (2020) | ||
| 2017 | Wright JN, 'Gordon Gekko's Garden', Gordon Gekko's Garden (2017) | ||
| Show 3 more others | |||
Grants and Funding
Summary
| Number of grants | 8 |
|---|---|
| Total funding | $39,805 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20041 grants / $2,380
Toward a Science of Consciouness, 7 April 2004 to 11 April 2004$2,380
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Travel Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2004 |
| Funding Finish | 2004 |
| GNo | G0183861 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
20021 grants / $1,425
New Perspective on the Relation between History and Philosophy of Science, Paris France 3 - 5 October 2002$1,425
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Travel Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 2002 |
| Funding Finish | 2002 |
| GNo | G0182301 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
19971 grants / $2,000
Explanation, Evidence and Understanding: An attempt to develop a comprehensive account of scientific explnatin and of the nature and role of evidence in science$2,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Project Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1997 |
| Funding Finish | 1997 |
| GNo | G0176686 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
19961 grants / $7,000
Explanation, evidence and understanding: An attempt to develop a comprehensive account of the nature of scientific explanation and of the nature and role of ec$7,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Project Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1996 |
| Funding Finish | 1996 |
| GNo | G0175782 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
19951 grants / $9,000
'Explanation, Evidence and Understanding': An attempt to develop a comprehensive account of the nature of scientific explanation and of the nature and role....$9,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Project Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1995 |
| Funding Finish | 1995 |
| GNo | G0174941 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
19931 grants / $9,000
Realism and Explanatory Priority: An Attempt to Resolve the Realism/Anti-Realism Debate by Viewing Anti-Realism as the Thesis that the Mental is Explanatorily$9,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Project Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1993 |
| Funding Finish | 1993 |
| GNo | G0172773 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
19922 grants / $9,000
Realism And Explanatory Priority$8,000
Funding body: ARC (Australian Research Council)
| Funding body | ARC (Australian Research Council) |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Small Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1992 |
| Funding Finish | 1992 |
| GNo | G0173642 |
| Type Of Funding | Scheme excluded from IGS |
| Category | EXCL |
| UON | Y |
Metaphysical Realisms And Explanatory Priorty$1,000
Funding body: University of Newcastle
| Funding body | University of Newcastle |
|---|---|
| Project Team | Doctor John Wright |
| Scheme | Project Grant |
| Role | Lead |
| Funding Start | 1992 |
| Funding Finish | 1992 |
| GNo | G0174247 |
| Type Of Funding | Internal |
| Category | INTE |
| UON | Y |
News
If democracy is to give everyone a say, equality isn’t an optional extra
December 1, 2014
Do Australians still believe in the fair go? Views on pay suggest not
October 14, 2014
Dr John Wright
Position
Conjoint Senior Lecturer
School of Humanities and Social Science
Faculty of Education and Arts
Focus area
Philosophy
Contact Details
| john.wright@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Phone | (02) 4921 5182 |
| Fax | (02) 4921 6928 |
Office
| Room | MC113 |
|---|---|
| Building | McMullin Building |
| Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |
NEWS • Dec 01.2014
If democracy is to give everyone a say, equality isn’t an optional extra
Dr John Wright, a Senior Lecturer in the University of Newcastle's Faculty of Education and Arts, talks democracy in The Conversation.
NEWS • Oct 14.2014
Do Australians still believe in the fair go? Views on pay suggest not
Dr John Wright, from the School of Humanities and Social Science at the University of Newcastle, sheds light on Aussie's view of fair pay.
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