Social Sciences Academy honours ANU philosopher

ANU philosopher Dr Seth Lazar, who has written extensively about the ethics of war, has been honoured by the Australia Academy of Social Sciences (ASSA) in its 2016 Panel Commendations for Early Career Research.

Dr Lazar’s recognition, along with other researchers from the Universities of New South Wales, University of Queensland, and Wollongong, is another example of the esteem in which the ANU School of Philosophy – Australia’s top-ranked philosophy school – is held.

“I was honoured that my work had been nominated in the first place and it was a great pleasure to receive the recognition that it did,” Dr Lazar says. He notes the calibre of other recipients, including 2016 Paul Bourke Award winner, Dr Muireann Irish of Neuroscience Research Australia and UNSW.

“It was very nice to be recognised as a social scientist and I think that’s one of the pleasing features of philosophy in Australia - that it counts as a social science.

“It a nice recognition for my work, the School, the College and the University.”

Dr Lazar specialises in political philosophy, applied ethics and nominated ethics and has written extensively about the ethics of war and self-defence, including the book Sparing Civilians.

“One of the things that I try to do in my work is draw connections between philosophy and the social and natural sciences,” he says.

“I was part of a Theo Murphy High Flyer Think Tank with the Australian Academy of Science in July 2016, so I like to think that the avenue that this new honour spells out for me in the future is one in which I can connect moral philosophy and work in the sciences and social sciences more broadly.”

Dr Lazar’s ASSA commendation was based on his work examining the ethics of war, which drew on political literature about the effectiveness of military tactics. His new project will assess the ethics of risk, which has obvious applications for the sciences.

“For example, the risks in disease management and public health, or climate change and mitigation measures are areas where thinking about the ethics of risk will need to connect with the social and natural sciences in order to have practical effects,” Dr Lazar explains.

“We feel like the School of Philosophy is very well-placed because naturally philosophy is an outward-looking discipline.

“We have people here who are working on topics that connect up directly with policy-makers in the social sciences, but also philosophers of biology who connect closely with the Research School of Biology, and the philosophy of mind and decision-theory who connect closely with what’s going on in psychology and also with neuroscience at the university.”

One new cross-disciplinary initiative upon which the School intends to build is a new Centre for the Philosophy of Science, perhaps in late 2017.

“This will enable us to organise and coordinate the links we already have through people like ARC Laureate Professor Kim Sterelny and Dr Rachael Brown with scientific research at the university,” Dr Lazar says.

He says he’s thrilled as an early career researcher to have had “incredible opportunities” to bring some of the world’s leading minds onto the campus to meet their ANU-based counterparts, and host important workshops and conferences.

“I feel since I’ve been here I’ve received an incredible amount of institutional support. I’ve been able to bring out to Australia everyone I’ve wanted to bring out.”