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Department of Philosophy

Cynthia Townley

BA Tas., PhD Tas.
Cynthia graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2000. After a semester at the University of Melbourne, and 2 years at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, she joined the Macquarie Philosophy Department in June, 2003.

Awards

ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning 2008 (joint citation with Catriona Mackenzie & Mianna Lotz)

Teaching

Cynthia currently teaches or has taught the following units:

  • PHL 131 Mind, Meaning and Metaphysics
  • PHL 225 Ethical Theory
  • PHL 242 Practical Ethics
  • PHL 256 Knowledge and its Limits
  • PHL 260 Body and Mind
  • PHL 264/PHIL364 Business and Professional Ethics
  • PHL 352 Gender, Race and Identity
  • PHL 357 Theories of Justice


Selected publications

Books

C Townley forthcoming 2011, A Defense of Ignorance: its value for knowers and roles in feminist and social epistemologies Lanham MD: Lexington Books. 

Book chapters

C Townley forthcoming 2011, ‘Recent trends in Global Philosophy’ in Jay L Garfield and William Edelglass (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, New York: Oxford University Press.

M Parsell, and C Townley 2010 ‘The ethics of virtual communities’ in R. Chadwick (ed.), The Elsevier Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics second edition, Elsevier, Oxford.

C Townley ‘Forgiveness and Betrayal’ in Geoffrey Karabin and Karolina Wigura (eds) Forgiveness: Promise, Possibility and Failure eBook: The Inter-Disciplinary Press (ISBN: 978-1-84888-055-9)

C Townley 2008, 'Patriotism: Problems at Home', in I Primoratz and A Pavkovic (eds.), Patriotism Philosophical and Political Perspectives, Ashgate.

Refereed journal articles

J Johnson, W Rogers, M Lotz, C Townley, D Meyerson and G Tomossy, 2010, ‘The ethical challenges of innovative surgery – a response to the IDEAL recommendations’, Lancet 376 (9746): 1113- 1115.

C Townley 2010, ‘Animals and humans - grounds for separation?,’ Journal of Social Philosophy 41 (4): 512–526.

C Townley 2010, ‘Animals as Friends’ Between the Species X: 45-59

C Townley 2009, ‘More on Enrolling Female Students in Science and Engineering’, Science and Engineering Ethics 16 (2): 295-301.

C Townley 2006, ‘Towards an Epistemology of Ignorance’, Hypatia 21 (3): 37-55.

C Townley and Mitch Parsell 2006, ‘Cyber Disobedience: Gandhian Cyberpunks’ SCAN 3(3): Special Edition on Technological In(ter)ventions. December.

Other

C Townley and J Johnson, 2010, ‘Justifying animal research and risks of engagement’ Rapid Response Letter British Medical Journal July.

C Townley 2009. Review of The Limits of Loyalty by Simon Keller. Analysis 69 (2): 392-394.

Current research

Cynthia's research interests cluster around issues of knowledge, agency and community, especially trust and other forms of epistemic dependence. Her current projects include a book in which the importance of ignorance in epistemology is explored, and collaborative papers on tolerance and on trust and plagiarism detection.

Current research grants

2011-14 Rogers W, Johnson J, Townley C, Sheridan S, Ballantyne A, Lotz M,  Meyerson D, Tomossy F, Eyers T,  Maddern G, Thomson C. On the cutting edge: promoting best practice in surgical innovation. ARC LP110200217 $255,000

2011-12 Townley C & Rogers W. A Novel Approach to Research Ethics: using social epistemology to investigate responsibilities for knowledge generation and use. MQRDG $47,291

Administrative responsibilities

Philisophy Honours Convenor
Philosopy Graduate Diploma Convenor
Philosophy Learning and Teaching Committee Member
Philosophy Higher Degree Research (Postgraduate) Committee Member

Other roles

Member of Ally Network
Member of Spectrum Mentoring Program

Contact details

Location: Building W6A Room 723
Phone: (61 2) 9850 8812
Fax: (61 2) 9850 8892
Email: cynthia.townley@mq.edu.au
Office hours: to be advised

 

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(last updated: 25/11/11 )

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