PhD Scholarship 'Dignity and respect: a Kantian theoretical approach to practical rationality and human agency' (EXPIRED)

A full time PhD Scholarship is available for Australian domestic candiadtes ONLY in the Department of Philosophy at Macquaire University associated with Dr Paul Formosa's ARC DECRA research project : 'Dignity and respect: a Kantian theoretical approach to practical rationality and human agency' (DE120100320).

Appeals to the innate dignity of human beings are commonplace in important public debates in bioethics and on the grounding of human rights. But why do humans, and not other animals, have dignity? Do all humans have dignity? And how should we practically acknowledge the dignity of others? This project will construct robust answers to these important practical questions by developing a Kantian account of dignity and rational agency and investigating the practical implications of this account of dignity in the area of bioethics.

A PhD candidate (Australian domestic candidates ONLY) is sought to work on a topic related to this project. The exact thesis topic can be negotiated. Possibilities include: Kantian ethics, different conceptions of dignity, accounts of rational agency, and the role of dignity in bioethics or human rights debates. Candidates should have either an honours or master's degree in philosophy and an interest in engaging philosophically with Kantian ethics.

This PhD scholarship is funded at $26,670 pa tax exempt for 3 years.

Interested prospective applicants should contact, in the first instance, Dr Paul Formosa at the email address below.

Prospective PhD applicants should have a first class Honours degree or equivalence, and for scholarship holders, additional relevant research experience and/or qualifications in line with the University's scholarship rating guidelines. Refer to Scholarship Requirements for further information about this.

Applicants will need to complete a candidature/scholarship application form and arrange for two academic referee reports to be submitted to the Higher Degree Research Office. Refer to the Applications page for further application instructions. Macquarie University will advise the successful applicant of entitlements at the time of scholarship offer.

Please quote reference 'ARC Dignity & Respect Philosophy PhD Scholarship' on your application form.