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Emeritus Professor Fred D'Agostino
Emeritus Professor

Fred D'Agostino

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+61 7 334 67584

Overview

Background

political philosophy, methodology of science, the disciplines

Fred D'Agostino was educated at Amherst College (BA, 1968), Princeton University (MA, 1973), and the London School of Economics (PhD, 1978). He was Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Australian National University from 1978 to 1984, and worked at the University of New England from 1984 to 2004, where he was Associate Professor of Philosophy, Associate Dean of Arts, Head of the School of Social Science, and Member of the University Council. He is now Professor Emeritus of Humanities and was President of the Academic Board and Executive Dean of Arts at The University of Queensland. He has edited the Australasian Journal of Philosophy and PPE: Politics, Philosophy and Economics and has published four books--Chomsky's System of Ideas (Clarendon Press, 1986), Free Public Reason (OUP, 1996), Incommensurability and Commensuration (Ashgate, 2003), and Naturalizing Epistemology (Palgrave, 2010). He is co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Political and Social Philosophy. His current research is on disciplinarity and complexity. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Availability

Emeritus Professor Fred D'Agostino is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, Amherst College
  • Masters (Coursework), Princeton University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, unknown
  • Australian Academy of the Humanities, Australian Academy of the Humanities

Research interests

  • disciplinarity

  • pluralism

    Pluralism is the view that it is both unavoidable and desirable that there should be more than one standard against which options are judged. It is significant in relation to democratic polities and in relation to epistemology.

  • incommensurability

    Incommensurability arises when there are two or more criteria in terms of which to judge options and neither dominance nor settled trade-offs between the criteria. It is vital for cost-benefit analysis, utilitarianism, and in civil litigation.

  • social contract theory

  • social epistemology

    Epistemology seeks norms for enquiry. Social epistemology recognizes that these norms must facilitate certain kinds of interactions and relations among enquirers.

Works

Search Professor Fred D'Agostino’s works on UQ eSpace

57 works between 1982 and 2024

1 - 20 of 57 works

Featured

2015

Book Chapter

Social Science, The Idea of

D'Agostino, Fred (2015). Social Science, The Idea of. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. (pp. 688-694) edited by James D. Wright. Oxford: Elseiver. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.63083-0

Social Science, The Idea of

Featured

2015

Book Chapter

Hermeneutics, epistemology, and science

D'Agostino, Fred (2015). Hermeneutics, epistemology, and science. The Routledge companion to hermeneutics. (pp. 417-428) edited by Jeff Malpas and Hans-Helmuth Gander. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Hermeneutics, epistemology, and science

Featured

2013

Journal Article

Verballed? Incommensurability 50 years on

D'Agostino, Fred (2013). Verballed? Incommensurability 50 years on. Synthese, 191 (3), 517-538. doi: 10.1007/s11229-013-0288-y

Verballed? Incommensurability 50 years on

Featured

2012

Journal Article

Disciplinarity and the growth of knowledge

D'Agostino, Fred (2012). Disciplinarity and the growth of knowledge. Social Epistemology, 26 (3), 331-350. doi: 10.1080/02691728.2012.727192

Disciplinarity and the growth of knowledge

Featured

2012

Journal Article

An analytics of marginality

D'Agostino, Fred (2012). An analytics of marginality. European Legacy-Toward New Paradigms, 17 (6), 755-768. doi: 10.1080/10848770.2012.715807

An analytics of marginality

Featured

2011

Book Chapter

Rational agency

D'Agostino, Fred (2011). Rational agency. The SAGE handbook of the philosophy of social sciences. (pp. 182-198) edited by Ian C. Jarvie and Jesus Zamora-Bonilla. London, United Kingdom: Sage.

Rational agency

Featured

2010

Book

Naturalizing epistemology: Thomas Kuhn and the 'essential tension'

D'agostino, Fred (2010). Naturalizing epistemology: Thomas Kuhn and the 'essential tension'. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K.; New York, U.S.A.: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230251274

Naturalizing epistemology: Thomas Kuhn and the 'essential tension'

Featured

2009

Journal Article

From the organization to the division of cognitive labor

D'Agostino, Fred (2009). From the organization to the division of cognitive labor. Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 8 (1), 101-129. doi: 10.1177/1470594X08098873

From the organization to the division of cognitive labor

Featured

2008

Journal Article

Naturalizing the essential tension

D'Agostino, Fred (2008). Naturalizing the essential tension. Synthese, 162 (2), 275-308. doi: 10.1007/s11229-007-9192-7

Naturalizing the essential tension

Featured

2006

Journal Article

Two conceptions of reason

D'Agostino, Fred (2006). Two conceptions of reason. Economy And Society, 35 (1), 1-21. doi: 10.1080/03085140500465683

Two conceptions of reason

Featured

2005

Journal Article

Kuhn's Risk-Spreading Argument and the Organization of Scientific Communities

D'Agostino, Fred (2005). Kuhn's Risk-Spreading Argument and the Organization of Scientific Communities. Episteme: A Journal of Social Epistemology, 1 (3), 201-209. doi: 10.3366/epi.2004.1.3.201

Kuhn's Risk-Spreading Argument and the Organization of Scientific Communities

Featured

2004

Journal Article

The doctrine of filial piety: A philosophical analysis of the concealment case

Bi, Lijun and D' Agostino, Fred (2004). The doctrine of filial piety: A philosophical analysis of the concealment case. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 31 (4), 451-467. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6253.2004.00165.x

The doctrine of filial piety: A philosophical analysis of the concealment case

Featured

2004

Journal Article

The Legacies of John Rawls

D'Agostino, Fred (2004). The Legacies of John Rawls. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 1 (3), 349-365. doi: 10.1177/174046810400100308

The Legacies of John Rawls

Featured

2004

Book Chapter

Pluralism and Liberalism

D'Agostino, Fred (2004). Pluralism and Liberalism. Handbook of Political Theory. (pp. 239-249) edited by Gerald F. Gaus and Chandran Kukathas. London., Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Pluralism and Liberalism

2024

Book Chapter

New diversity theory

D’Agostino, Fred (2024). New diversity theory. The Routledge companion to social and political philosophy. (pp. 714-725) New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003411598-70

New diversity theory

2022

Conference Publication

Reply to Muldoon

D'Agnostino, Fred (2022). Reply to Muldoon. Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World, Online, 22 March - 12 April 2022. Eugene, OR United States: Syndicate.

Reply to Muldoon

2022

Conference Publication

What Counts as a Gain to Trade?

D'Agnostino, Fred (2022). What Counts as a Gain to Trade?. Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World, Online, 22 March 2022 - 12 April 2022. Eugene, OR United States: Syndicate.

What Counts as a Gain to Trade?

2022

Book Chapter

Complexity

D'Agostino, Fred (2022). Complexity. The Routledge handbook of philosophy, politics, and economics. (pp. 28-42) edited by C. M. Melenovsky. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780367808983-4

Complexity

2021

Journal Article

Evaluation and innovation: an antagonistic pair?

D’Agostino, Fred and Malpas, Jeffery (2021). Evaluation and innovation: an antagonistic pair?. Social Science Information, 60 (3), 345-349. doi: 10.1177/05390184211018670

Evaluation and innovation: an antagonistic pair?

2021

Journal Article

Slippery beasts: why academic freedom and media freedom are so difficult to protect

D'Agostino, Fred and Greste, Peter (2021). Slippery beasts: why academic freedom and media freedom are so difficult to protect. Australian Universities' Review, 63 (1), 45-52.

Slippery beasts: why academic freedom and media freedom are so difficult to protect

Funding

Past funding

  • 2011 - 2012
    Design of Enhanced Studies Summer Intensive Course to Improve Higher-Order Cognitive Skills for Equity Group Students
    UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grants
    Open grant
  • 2010 - 2012
    First-year non-credit seminars in a large generalist degree
    UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grants
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2010
    Easing the transition from secondary to tertiary education: dealing with culture shock
    UQ DEEWR Higher Education Equity Support Program Grants
    Open grant
  • 2008 - 2009
    Enhancing recruitment from public schools to generalist degrees
    UQ DEEWR Higher Education Equity Support Program Grants
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    Developing flagship curriculum and assessment practices in gateway and capstone courses which encourage and test the understanding of disciplinary threshold concepts
    UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grants
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    Our Spaces: enhancing the BA First Year Community website and securing student engagement and ownership
    UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grants
    Open grant
  • 2007 - 2009
    Research high school teaching practices in Arts-relevant subjects to ensure appropriate alignment between high school and university-level learning
    UQ Teaching & Learning Strategic Grants
    Open grant
  • 2006 - 2008
    Closing th gap in curriculum development leadership
    Carrick Leadership for Excellence in Learning and Teaching
    Open grant
  • 2006 - 2008
    Using Empirical Materials To Inform Normative Thinking About The Organization Of Groups For The Production Of Knowledge
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2005
    New Paradigms In The Philosophical Theory Of Knowledge, And The Contribution Of Other Disciplines
    University of Queensland Research Development Grants Scheme
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Emeritus Professor Fred D'Agostino is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Emeritus Professor Fred D'Agostino directly for media enquiries about:

  • Democratic theory
  • Ethics - professional
  • Incommensurability
  • Professional ethics
  • Public reason
  • Social epistemology

Need help?

For help with finding experts, story ideas and media enquiries, contact our Media team:

communications@uq.edu.au