Argument Visualisation Software

I'm tutroing in PHILO 1002 Logic & Reasoning this semester and one of our Moodle weblinks is to a company called AusThink who specialise in developing critical thinking tools. I thought that since the Philosphy programmme at UB has grown from strength to strength in terms of the service teaching now done with Psychology and Human Movement, that I'd pop this info up for general distribution. I think the programme has solid structural and visual merit in terms of information organisation. Particularly appealing to dyslexics too.

Local company AusThink (affiliated with The University of Melbourne) have developed an exciting looking software package for called Rationale: Argument Visualisation Software that assists in the maping out of argumentative essays and workss to exercise critical thinking skills in particular. Currently available for Windows only, AusThink offers a free seven day trial which is well worth the trouble.

I've included the official AusThink Rationale video above, but I've also tracked down a shorter video (below) that includes some testimonials from teaching staff as well as the programme's creator (a lecturer in critical thinking himself). Well worth having a look at these. It would be interesting to see if the University could get a site license for this programme. I'd be interested to hear what other staff and students think about this one.

2009 Philosophy Symposium: Philosophy and Responsibility

Photo: Marnie Nolton

The 3rd annual Philosophy Symposium is being held at the Mt Helen campus of the University of Ballarat. In choosing Philosophy & Responsibility - A Day of Philosophical Friendship & Conversation as the theme of this year's Symposium we reflect on philosophy's two-fold nature. It is and must be a responsible practice in its own right, but it is also an activity of reconsidering the issues of our (epistemological, ontological, ethical, social, political, aesthetic) responsibilities in the world.

The Symposium will be held at the University of Ballarat on Monday 7 December 2009 and is open to interested academics, postgraduate and undergraduate students. Our goal is to provide a supportive collegial forum to promote the vital exchange of ideas and ongoing conversation in philosophy, as well as to foster ties between participants.

The UB Philosophy Programme invited abstracts of 250 words for twenty-minute papers in any field of philosophy or papers that present philosophical perspectives on other fields of the humanities and social sciences. We are please to confirm the presentation of ten diverse papers (The School of Law, Deaking University; Faculty of IT, Monahs University; Philosophy, Murdoch University; School of ITMS, School of BSSH, University of Ballarat).

For further information contact
Dr Jane Mummery
Philosophy Programme
School of Behavioural, Social Sciences & Humanities
University of Ballarat
j.mummeryAT ballarat.edu.au

For Symposium registration contact
Marnie Nolton
Philosophy Programme
School of Behavioural, Social Sciences & Humanities
University of Ballarat
m.noltonAT ballarat.edu.au

The Humanities in Australia: Taking Stock

Last week saw The Australian Academy of the Humanities hold its 40th annual symposium on 19 -20 November at the National Library of Australia, Parkes, Canberra. This year's theme was The Humanities in Australia: Taking Stock, and syposium convener Prof. Mark Finnane (Griffith University) saw this theme as befitting a retrospective on both the Academy and the state of Humanities in Australia. Papers focussed on both the development and changes in the last 40 years as well as looking to future trends which might impact upon the Academy and the humanities themselves.

A stellar cast of academics presented a diverse series of papers that provoked lively questions from the floor. Including but not limited to Catriona Elder, Genevieve Lloyd, Graeme Davison, John Frow, Mark Byron, Ian Hunter, Ien Ang, Glenda Sluga, and Ian Donaldson. The symposium was attended by Jane Mummery and Marnie Nolton.