Philosophy Postgraduates
Jacqui Poltera
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jacqui.poltera@scmp.mq.edu.au |
Degree: PhD
Thesis topic: A critical investigation of moral identity
Supervisor: A/Prof Catriona Mackenzie
Associate Supervisor: Dr Cynthia Townley
Scholarship: International Macquarie University Research Scholarship (IMURS)
In brief, my concern is with how we conceptualise personal change over time. To that end I use autobiography as a means of illustrating the types of processes individuals employ to integrate their lives. This research initially developed from a) my research into the personal identity debates in the analytic tradition, and b) my research into ethical theory and the nature of moral decision making and notions of moral responsibility. My thesis draws on recent debates in the practical identity literature and in the contemporary feminist tradition, touching on debates surrounding autobiographical memory and narrative self-constitution in particular. Given the nature of my project, I also investigate how time, truth, embodiment, and the relational dimension of a person’s practical identity, influence her processes of personal integration. To this end I aim to find a means of making sense of personal change by appealing to a notion of the integrity of the self over time.
I did my undergrad at Rhodes University and my Honours and Masters at Natal University, both in South Africa. The latter were joint Philosophy and Classical Civilisation degrees, although my dissertations were predominantly moral philosophy. Despite that, the background has provided me with an interest in Ancient Philosophy which I hope to pursue one day.
I began my PhD at Macquarie in 2005 and the idea is to finish it before the end of 2008. Below is my rather intellectually limited dog, and the Drakensberg Mountains (somewhere everyone should visit at least once).
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Publications/conference papers
2007 Visiting Research at University of Illinois at Chicago with Professor Marya Schechtman
2006 Presented a paper, “Stephen Fry: A Case in Defence of Practical Identity” at the Cross Currents Conference at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (also presented a version of the paper at the Melbourne Postgraduate conference)
2005 Published a paper called “Is Personal Identity Evaluative?” in the Philosophy Society of South Africa Journal and presented it at the PSSA in Durban
2004 Presented a paper, “Moral Dilemmas, Moral Residue, and Integrity” at PPSA conference in Natal
Teaching and other work through Macquarie
Tutor for:
- PHIL131 Mind, Meaning and Metaphysics
- PHIL132 Philosophy, Society and Morality
- PHIL264/364 Business and Professional Ethics
- PHIL382 Agency and the Self
- Open Universities Australia (OUA)
Research Assistant for Practical Identity and Narrative Agency conference (2006)
Other roles at Macquarie
- Philosophy Postgraduate Representative (2006-07)
- Philosophy HDR Committee Member (2006-07)