Frege’s Puzzle and Nature of Semantic Facts
Seminar
Frege noted that sentences that differ from each other only by the substitution of coreferential proper names can differ in their role in rational linguistic activity. For example, “Robert Zimmerman is Bob Dylan” can be used to make an informative assertion; “Bob Dylan is Bob Dylan” cannot.…
Mark McKenna: In Conversation
Activity
Join Professor Maria Nugent and Emeritus Professor Mark McKenna to talk about Mark's new book: The Shortest History of Australia (Black Inc., 2025). (Please note that this event will replace Mark McKenna's School of History seminar, originally scheduled for 6 May.) In The…
Does U.S. Nuclear Arms Control Diplomacy Affect Allied Perceptions of U.S. Extended Deterrence? Evidence from Cross-National Survey Experiments
Lecture/seminar
This project explores how U.S. nuclear arms control diplomacy with nuclear-armed adversaries—such as Russia and China—affects the credibility of extended nuclear deterrence in the eyes of U.S. allies. Although arms control is widely viewed as a critical tool for managing nuclear risks between…
What is Enlightenment in Australia? Towards a New Account of its History and Uses
Lecture/seminar
This paper presents the outlines of a new collaborative project on Enlightenment in Australia. The project has two strands, one grounded in contemporary history, the other in the Enlightenment era itself. The contemporary strand examines how the concept of Enlightenment is understood in today’s…
The Stained Man: A Crime, a Scandal, and the Making of a Nation, by Patrick Mullins
Book launch
The Stained Man: A Crime, a Scandal, and the Making of a Nation (Scribe, 2026) tells the story of Richard 'Dick' Meagher, the Sydney solicitor who incited a campaign to free a man he knew was guilty of attempted murder and subsequently lost it all, including his reputation and ability to…
History, Country, and Community: A Celebration of Ann McGrath
Symposium
We are delighted to invite you to History, Country, and Community: A Celebration of Ann McGrath — a free public symposium honouring the scholarship of Professor Ann McGrath, a foundational figure in Australian history whose work on First Nations histories, cross-cultural encounters, and the…
What the Tortoise Told The Skeptic
Seminar
Over forty years ago, Saul Kripke did the unthinkable — producing an exposition of Wittgenstein's Rule-Following Argument that was actually intelligible. More than that, it was interesting as well. In this talk, Drew Khlentzos will discuss Ludwig Wittgenstein's Skeptical Paradox about rule-…