Philosophy student work at Murdoch University


Student work

It takes different kinds of thought to be creative, and we’re proud to have staff and students who think differently.

Here you can explore just some of the work coming from our students, and see how our freethinkers are working collaboratively to create moving pieces of work.


Life, Death and Meaning

This essay was submitted by Aaron Harrison for the unit PHL277 Life, Death and Meaning. The unit asks questions about the meaning of our lives in the world where science and technology provide the main framework for thinking who we are and what matters in life.

"In Lecture Five of The Principle of Reason, Heidegger discusses the principle of sufficient reason, which has long been common knowledge but was first articulated by Gottfried Leibniz as the principle "nothing is without reason". He provides two main objections to this principle. One is an objection to the consequences of the principle of sufficient reason. Heidegger criticises the modern view of the world, which the principle of sufficient reason helped to shape, as limiting and historically concealed. The other objection is structural. Heidegger claims that the principle of sufficient reason can be formulated in two conflicting ways and that the principle of sufficient reason ultimately contradicts itself as it cannot provide a reason for itself. I will put forward one weakness in Heidegger's interpretation of the principle of sufficient reason. It seems that Heidegger formulates the principle of sufficient reason in such a way that it constitutes a stronger claim than the principle of sufficient reason is actually intended to make. This does weaken Heidegger's structural argument though by the end his objection still stands."

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Meaning and Interpretation

The following essay was submitted by Philippa McLean in the Meaning and Interpretation unit that deals with central themes in contemporary philosophy of language; in both the analytic and phenomenological traditions. In the end, the importance of 'body' is discussed.

"Descartes gave us one of the most well known quotes in philosophy: “I think therefore I am”. The foundation of this argument relies on personal certainty between thought and self. The sphere of res cogitans is considered indubitable, thus it is my thinking that constitutes who I am. The consequence is that the body is then relegated to the sphere of res extensa. The body is seen as a machine which is there only to maintain the mind. Although in this analysis Descartes started from a personal position, it is nonetheless the result that the body’s role in our engagement with the world and with others is forgotten. However, Descartes position raises several questions: is the world really divided into res extensa and res cogitans? Is my body merely a machine or does it play a larger role in forming my sense of self? How do I experience a meaningful world?"

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Ethics in Practice

As part of the assessment for PHL272 Ethics in Practice students are asked to analyse a specific dilemma in terms of the ethical problems it raises and to give reasons for what they consider to be the best possible ethical response that could be made to it.

Below are some extracts from Isobel Stevenson’s analysis of the following case:

"Peter, a 32 year old, suffered horrific injuries as the result of the collapse of a bridge over which he was driving his car. He has been classified as being in a persistent vegetative state for the past five years. Although Peter’s brain stem is still functioning, his heart is beating and he can breathe spontaneously, he is dependent on oral feeding for the continuation of his life. The doctors in charge of his case have come to the decision that Peter’s life is no longer of value to him and have requested that they be allowed to withdraw his food supply. It is legal for doctors to withdraw medical support, however, feeding a patient is regarded as part of palliative care and not a medical treatment. Peter’s parents have taken the case to court in order to prevent his doctors from withdrawing his feeding tubes. What decision would you advise the judges to make in this case?"

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Love and Friendship

In PHL215 Love and Friendship, students were asked to discuss and evaluate C.S. Lewis’s claim that lovers are absorbed in each other while friends are absorbed in some common interest. Here is the beginning of Brad Knott’s essay on this topic:

"The standard way of thinking about romantic love and companion friendship has it that romantic love falls into a distinct, separate category due to the element of sexual intimacy. Traditionally, it has been claimed that companion friendships are of a 'higher' nature since, unlike romantic love, they are not tethered to bodily passion, causing them to be more conducive to virtue. C.S. Lewis claims that friends are absorbed in a common interest, whereas lovers are absorbed in each other. In this essay, I will examine what I consider to be certain flaws in this assumption. I will argue that eros permeates both types of relationships which makes it difficult to distinguish between the two. Furthermore, I will argue that companion friends are not only absorbed in a common interest, but are intricately absorbed in each other due to the dynamic combination of mutual self-disclosure, reflection, and interpretation of each other."

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