The Australian Research Council (ARC) has announced the winners of its latest round of funding awards, and two philosophers have been awarded large grants.

They are:

• Melissa Merritt (New South Wales), awarded AU$850,525 (US$626,144) for her project, Reason, Value and Virtue: “This project aims to show how key ethical ideals from philosopher Immanuel Kant, such as human dignity, autonomy, cosmopolitanism, and good will, emerged from ancient Stoic ethics. This project will investigate the influence of Stoicism on the development of Kant’s moral philosophy. The project aims to show that the Stoic influence on Kant’s ethics is governed by a shared concept of human rationality. This project will provide a better understanding of contemporary ethical values.”
• Toby Handfield (Monash University), awarded AU$1,039,125 (US$764,973) for his project, The Evolution and Economics of Sacred Value: “This project aims to use a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate sacred value, a type of extreme moral commitment held by an individual or group. Conflict and violence often revolve around perceived threats to sacred value, and there is a struggle to predict the interaction between material incentives and sacred commitments using orthodox methods of economic analysis. Using techniques from evolutionary anthropology and economics, this project expects to identify the mechanisms that underlie sacred value, and generate novel ways of representing sacred values. By providing a more nuanced set of tools for representing sacred values in areas of conflict, this research will strengthen democratic culture and advance understanding of international conflict.”

The ARC has a useful interactive tool for searching through its funded projects by various factors. You can check it out here.

(via Antony Eagle)