Russell Blackford – curriculum vitae

Phone: +61 3 9699 1493
Email: russellblackford@bigpond.com

Academic background and professional qualifications

·        BA (Hons 1) - University of Newcastle.

·        Dip.Ed. - University of Newcastle.

·        Ph.D in English literature - University of Newcastle.

·        LLB (Hons 1) - University of Melbourne.

·        MBioeth - Monash University.

·        Ph.D in philosophy – Monash University.

·        Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

 

Career

Tutor, Department of English, Monash University (1979-82).

 

Various positions in labour relations and professional legal practice (1983-2001).

 

Currently:

·        Freelance writer.

·        Sessional teacher, School of Philosophy and Bioethics, Monash University.

·        Fellow, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

 

Areas of specialisation

Philosophical bioethics; legal and political philosophy; philosophy of religion.

 

Areas of competence

 

Moral philosophy generally; philosophy of science, particularly philosophy of biology; metaphysics; representation of philosophy and science in literature, art, and popular culture.

 

Selected academic publications

·        Trite Truths About Technology: A Reply to Ted Peters." The Gobal Spiral 9, 9 (February 2009). Available at URL http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/tabid/68/id/10681/Default.aspx

·        Embracing The Unkown Future: In Defence of New Technology." Human Futures: Art In An Age of Uncertainty, ed. Andy Miah. Liverpool, University of Liverpool Press/FACT, 2008: 24-35.

·        "Rendezvous with Utopia: Two Versions of the Future in the Rama Novels." Colloquy 14 (2007): 21-29.

·        "Slippery Slopes to Slippery Slopes: Therapeutic Cloning and the Criminal Law." American Journal of Bioethics 7, 2 (February 2007):  63-64.

·        "Differing Vulnerabilities: The Moral Significance of Lockean Personhood." American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB-Neuroscience) (January 2007):  7, (1) (January 2007): 70-71. 

·        "Sinning against Nature: The Theory of Background Conditions." Journal of Medical Ethics 32 (2006): 629-34.

·        "Dr. Frankenstein meets Lord Devlin: Genetic Engineering and the Principle of Intangible Harm." The Monist 89 (2006): 526-47.

·        "Stem cell research on other worlds, or why embryos do not have a right to life." Journal of Medical Ethics 32 (2006): 177-80.

·         "Greg Egan." A Companion to Science Fiction. Ed. David Seed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005: 441-51.

·         "Human Cloning and 'Posthuman' Society." Monash Bioethics Review 24 (2005): 10-26.

·        "Should We Fear Death? Epicurean and Modern Arguments." Ed. Immortality Institute. The Scientific Conquest of Death: Essays on Infinite Lifespans. Buenos Aires: LibrosEnRed, 2004: 257-69.

·        "Try the Blue Pill: What's Wrong with Life in a Simulation?" Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation. Ed. Matthew Kapell and William Doty. New York: Continuum, 2004: 169-82.

·        "Mutants, Cyborgs, AI & Androids." Meanjin 63, 1 (2004): 14-21.

·        "Stranger Than You Think: Arthur C. Clarke's Profiles of the Future." Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History. Ed. Darren Tofts, Annemarie Jonson, and Alessio Cavellaro. Sydney: Power Publications, 2002; co-published Boston: MIT Press, 2003: 252-63.

·        "Thinking about Cloning: A Reply to Judith Thomson." Journal of Law and Medicine 9 (2001): 238-50.

·        "Judicial Power, Political Liberty and the Post-Industrial State." Australian Law Journal 71 (1997): 267-93.

 

Academic journals

 

Editor-in-chief of The Journal of Evolution and Technology

 

Referee for the following peer-reviewed journals:

 

·        Bioethics.

·        Colloquy.

·        Journal of Medical Ethics.

·        Monash Bioethics Review.

·        NeuroEthics.

·        Open Ethics Journal.

·        Science Fiction Studies.

·        Utopian Studies.

 

Work in progress

Work associated with my recently-approved doctoral dissertation on emerging technologies and human enhancement. The dissertation is entitled Human Enhancement: The Challenge to Liberal Tolerance. It argues that an unnecessarily restrictive approach has been taken to the regulation of such technologies as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, human cloning, and genetic engineering.

 

Co-editing a book, provisionally entitled Voices of Disbelief, containing essays by high-profile atheists (philosophers, creative writers, and others). This will be published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2009.

 

Research interests generally revolve around questions relating to the future of  humanity, including the regulation of new technologies and the future prospects for law, political organisation, culture and literature, science, and religious belief.

 

Personal

Russell Blackford was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in the Lake Macquarie area, near Newcastle, NSW. He has lived in Melbourne since 1979.

 

In addition to his interests in philosophy and philosophical bioethics, Russell is a professionally published writer, and a well-known critic, in the field of science fiction and fantasy. His other interests include travel and cinema. For more information, see his personal web site: http://www.russellblackford.com.