Dr Peter Slezak

Teaching

Consultation Times
Peter is available for consultation by prior arrangement.

Publications

Recent Newspaper Opinion Articles and Media

Chomsky on linguistics and politics
The Conversation, November 22 2011
Access here

Without Honour in His Own Land
ABC Drum, October 24, 2011
Access here

Promised Land Needs Home Truth
Sydney Morning Herald, June 8 2010
Access here

ABC TV Special Compass Program
9 May 2010
Public re-trial of Galileo at the University of New South Wales,
filmed as the basis for one-hour special Compass program.
Access here

Gaza distorted by the media lens (with A. Loewenstein)
On Line Opinion, Friday January 2, 2009
Access here

I am guilty as charged of bias and prejudice - shall I be put to death?
Sydney Morning Herald, October 20, 2008
Access here

Self-Defence or Brutal Occupation
The Age, March 31, 2008
Access here

Adversaries of piety and proof
The Australian, Higher Education, November 19, 2008
Access here

(Further items in full listing below)


1. Books

Edited Volumes

Representations in Mind: New Approaches to Mental Representation, joint editor with H. Clapin and P. Staines, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004. hyperlink

Perspectives on Cognitive Science: Theories, Methods and Foundations, joint editor with T. Caelli and R. Clark, Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1995.

Computers, Brains & Minds: Essays in Cognitive Science joint editor with W.R.Albury, Dordrecht: Kluwer (Reidel)1989.

Dimensions of Cognitive Science : Kensington Studies, Vol. 3, joint editor with W.R. Albury, Centre for Cognitive Science, University of New South Wales, 1989.

Monographs

• Foundations of Cognitive Science Manuscript in preparation, under contract with Cambridge University Press.
• Cartesian Cognitive Science: Where Philosophy Goes When It Dies. Manuscript in preparation
•The Treason of Intellectuals. Manuscript in preparation
•Learning to Die: Life & Death of Socrates (A Play). Manuscript in preparation
•The Revolt Against Reason: The Scandal of Social Constructivism. Manuscript in preparation


2. Articles

Currently Under Review or in Preparation

• Content Externalism and Intuition download here
• Realizing Newcomb's Problem. download here
• Identity and Responsibility download here

• Yahoos: Le plus séduisant cartésien: Fodor’s ‘Guilty Passions’
• G.E. Moore's Hands and Woody Allen's Carpet.
• Chomsky on the Incoherence of the Mind-Body Problem
• Social and Psychological Approaches to Science: Rapprochement
• The Two Envelope Exchange Paradox
• Davidson's Program for Truth-conditional Semantics.


2012


Slezak, P. (2012) Faith vs Reason. Review article of Michael Ruse, Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science, Science & Education, 21, 3, 403-413. download here


Slezak, P. (2012) The Wicked Son: Hemlock & Cherem, in A. Abarbanel ed., Beyond Tribal Loyalties, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars, 65-83. download here


Slezak, P. (2012) Mario Bunge's Materialist Theory of Mind and Contemporary Cognitive Science, Science & Education, 21, 8, 1213-1221.

Slezak, P. (2012) Varieties of Constructivism in Science and Mathematics Education, Handbook of HIstory & Philosophy of Science in Science Teaching, forthcoming.


2011

Slezak, P. (2011) The Matter of Mind, Review Article: Mario Bunge's 'Matter and Mind', Science & Education, 20, 11, pp -. download here


Slezak, P. (2011) Silence Resembling Stupidity, Overland, Issue 205, 82-87. download here or online version here


Good, R. and Slezak, P. (2011) Editors' Introduction to Special Issue on Pseudoscience in Education, Science & Education, 20, 401-409. download here


Slezak, P. (2011) Philosophers, Three Year Olds and Autistics, Proceedings of Cognitive Science Society 33rd Annual Meeting. download here



2010

Slezak, P. (2010) Doubts about Descartes' Indubitability: The Cogito as Intuition & Inference, in Philosophical Forum, 41, 4, 389-412. download here

Slezak, P. (2010) Review article: Maurice A. Finocchiaro's 'Defending Copernicus and Galileo' in Science & Education, Volume 20, Number 1, Pages 71-81. download here

Slezak, P. (2010) Radical Constructivism: Epistemology, Education and Dynamite, in Constructivist Foundations, 6, 1, 102-111 download here


2009

Slezak, P. (2009) 'Gods of the State: Atheism, Enlightenment and Barbarity, in P. Quadrio and C. Besseling eds., Politics & Religion in the New Century, Sydney University Press. download here

Slezak, P. (2009) Linguistic Explanation And ‘Psychological Reality’ Croatian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 25, 3-21. download here

• Reply by Michael Devitt - Dodging the Argument on the Subject Matter of Grammars: A Reponse to John Collins and Peter Slezak download here

Slezak, P. (2009) Review of John H. Sceski 'Popper, Objectivity and the Growth of Knowledge' Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews,
hyperlink

2008

Slezak, P. (in press) Cognitive Science, in G. Oppy, N. Trakakis, L. Burns, S. Gardner & F. Leigh eds., A Companion to Philosophy in Australasia, Melbourne: Monash.


2007

Slezak, P. (2007) Is Cognitive Science Relevant to Teaching? Journal of Cognitive Science, 8, 171-205.

Slezak, P. (2007) Psychological Reality of Grammars, In D. S. McNamara & J. G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 647-652. ISBN: 0-9768318-3-X

2006

Slezak, P. (2006) "Trial of the Centuries", Review of Retrying Galileo, 1633-1992. Maurice A. Finocchiaro. xii + 485 pp. University of California Press, 2005. American Scientist, March-April 2006.

Slezak, P. (2006) "Cartesian 'Ideas' and the First (C17 th) Cognitive Revolution.", Ron Sun (ed.) Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 26-29, 2006, Mahwah, New Jersey, ISBN 0-9768318-2-1, 798-803.

Slezak, P. (2006) 'Demons, Decievers and Liars: Newcomb's Malin Génie', Theory and Decision, 61: 277-303 download here


2005

Slezak, P. (2005), "Newcomb's Problem as Cognitive Illusion", Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Bruno G. Bara, Lawrence Barsalou & Monica Bucciarelli eds., Mahway, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 2027-2033. (ISBN: 0-9768318-1-3)


2004

Slezak, P. (2004) Fodor"s Guilty Passions: Representation as Hume"s Ideas, Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, August 4-7, Chicago: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 1255-1260. ISBN 0-8058-5464-9. ISSN 1047-1316.

Slezak, P. (2004) There's more to vision than meets the eye. Review of Z. Pylyshyn "Seeing and Visualizing: It"s Not What You Think", Trends in Cognitive Science, 8, 7, July, 291-293.

Slezak, P. (2004) The World Gone Wrong: Images, Illusions, Mistakes & Misrepresentations, H. Clapin, P. Staines & P. Slezak, eds., Representation in Mind: New Approaches to Mental Representation. Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishers. download here


2003

Slezak, P. (2003), They Laughed at Galileo Too 7th International History & Philosophy of Science Teaching Conference, Winnipeg, Canada, July 30 - August 3, 2003

2002

Slezak, P. (2002) What Happened to the Imagery Debate? Proceedings of the 24th Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Slezak, P. (2002) Thinking About Thinking: Language, Thought & Introspection, Language & Communication, 22, 353-373. download here

Slezak, P. (2002) The Tripartite Model of Representation, Philosophical Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 3, 239-270. download here

Slezak, P. (2002) The Imagery Debate: Déja vu all over again? Commentary on Zenon Pylyshyn, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Vol. 25, No. 2, April, 209-210.

Slezak, P. (2002) Talking to ourselves: The intelligibility of inner speech, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Volume 25, Issue 06. December, 699-700.

Slezak, P. (2002) Review of M.R. Matthews "Time for Science Education" Metascience, 11, 3, 399-402.

Slezak, P. (2002) Godelian Arguments against Artificial Intelligence, L. Nagel ed., Macmillan Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. London: Macmillan. ISBN: 0-333-79261-0 4 volume set.


2001

Slezak, P. (2001) Representation: Where Philosophy Goes When It Dies, Proceedings of 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 940-945

Slezak, P. (2001) Should Philosophy of Science be Rated X too?, Proceedings of the Sixth International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Conference (IHPST), Denver, Colorado, November 7-10, 2001; and Australasian Association of History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Science (AAHPSSS), Melbourne University, June 25-28, 2001

Slezak, P. (2001) The Relevance of Cognitive Science to Teaching, Proceedings of the 6th International History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Conference (IHPST), Denver, Colorado, November 7-10, 2001.


2000

Slezak, P. (2000) Descartes' Startling Doctrine of the Reverse-Sign Relation, Stephen Gaukroger, John Schuster, and John Sutton eds., Descartes' Natural Philosophy, London: Routledge, 542-556. ISBN: 0-415-21993-0. download here

Slezak, P. (2000) A Critique of Radical Social Constructivism, D.C. Philips, ed., Constructivism in Education: Opinions and Second Opinions on Controversial Issues. Ninety-Ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 91-126. ISSN: 0077-5762. download here


Slezak, P. (2000) The Mind-Brain Problem in Contemporary Perspective, Evian Gordon ed. Integrative Neuroscience, Harwood Academic Publishers, 49-63. ISBN: 90-5823-055-4.


1999

Slezak, P. (1999) Situated Cognition: Paradigm Shift, Empirical Issue or Conceptual Confusion? J. Wiles, T. Dartnall eds., Perspectives on Cognitive Science, Vol. 2 Stamford, CT.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 69-98.

Slezak, P. (1999) Review of S. Fuller and W.R. Shadish eds., "The Social Psychology of Science" and R. Dunbar, "The Trouble with Science" Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 35, 2, Spring, 188-190.

1998

Slezak, P. (1998) Rational Decision Theory: The Relevance of Newcomb"s Paradox Proceedings of 20th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society University of Wisconsin-Madison, August 1-4, Morton Ann Gernsbacher & Sharon J. Derry eds., Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 992-996. ISBN 0-8058-3231-9, ISSN 1047-1316


1997

Slezak, P. (1997) Review of Barnes, Bloor & Henry: "Scientific Knowledge: A Sociological Analysis", Metascience, 11, 44-52.


1996

Slezak, P. (1996) Review of P. Davies, 'Mind of God', Science & Education, 5, 201-212.

Slezak, P. (1996) Responsibility of Intellectuals: The Case of East Timor, Lisa Rasmussen ed., It"s Time to Lead the Way. Collingwood: East Timor Relief Association, 72-82.


1995

Slezak, P. (1995) The "Philosophical" Case Against Visual Imagery, in P. Slezak, T. Caelli and R. Clark eds., Perspectives on Cognitive Science: Theories, Experiments and Foundations, Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 237-271.


1994

Slezak, P. (1994) The Social Construction of Social Constructionism, Inquiry, Vol. 37, No. 2, 139-157.

Slezak, P. (1994) A Second Look at Bloor"s Knowledge and Social Imagery, The Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 24, No.3, 336-361.

Slezak, P. (1994) Suchting and the Sleep of Reason, Science and Education, Vol 3, No. 1, 69-72.

Slezak, P. (1994) The Sociology of Science and Science Education Part 1, Science and Education, Vol. 3, No. 3, July, 265-294.

Slezak, P. (1994) Laboratory Life Under the Microscope: The Sociology of Science and Science Education Part 2, Science and Education, Vol 3, No. 4, 329-355.

Slezak, P. and Forge, J. (1994) False Advertising for God, Metascience, New Iss., Vol. 5, 1-6.

Slezak, P. (1994) Situated Cognition: Empirical Issue, Paradigm Shift or Conceptual Confusion, Proceedings of 16th Conference of the Society for Cognitive Science, Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 806-811.

Slezak, P. (1994) Mental Imagery and Pictorial Representation, Reasoning with Diagrammatic Representations H. Narajanan and Chandrasekaran eds. AAAI Press, 1994, Stanford University, Palo Alto.

Slezak, P. (1994) Computer Modeling of Cognitive Processes: Introduction, J. Wiles, C. Latimer and C. Stevens eds., Symposium on Connectionist Models and Psychology, Technical Report No. 289, St. Lucia, Key Centre for Software Technology, Department of Computer Science, The University of Qld., 6-8.


1993

Slezak, P. (1993) Artificial Imagery? Commentary on Janice Glasgow"s "Computational Imagery, " Computational Intelligence, Vol. 9, No. 4, November, 349-352.

1992

Slezak, P. (1992) When Can Images Be Reinterpreted: Non-Chronometric Tests of Pictorialism, Proceedings of 14th Conference of the Society for Cognitive Science, Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 124-129.


1991

Slezak, P. (1991) "Can Images Be Rotated and Inspected? A Test of the Pictorial Medium Theory" Proceedings of 13th Conference of the Society for Cognitive Science, Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Slezak, P. (1991) "How Strong Is the Strong Programme?" Social Studies of Science, Vol. 21, No. 1, 154-156.

Slezak, P. (1991) "Artificial Experts: Essay Review" Social Studies of Science, Vol. 22, No. 1, 175-201.

Slezak, P. (1991) 'Bloor's Bluff: Behaviourism and the Strong Programme', International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 5, No. 3, 241-256.

Slezak, P. (1991) "Descartes's Diagonal Deduction" Georges J.D. Moyal (ed.), Rene Descartes: Critical Assessments, Volume II, London: Croom Helm, pp. 235-60 (reprint of Slezak 1983).


1990

Slezak, P. (1990) 'Man not a subject for science?" Social Epistemology, Vol. 4, No. 4, 327-342.

Slezak, P. (1990) "On Rhetorical Strategies: Verstehen Sie?" Social Epistemology, Vol. 4, No. 4, 357-360.

Slezak, P. (1990) "Re-Interpreting Images" Analysis, Vol. 50, No. 4, 235-243.


1989

Slezak, P. (1989) 'Scientific Discovery by Computer as Refutation of the Strong Programme', Social Studies of Science, Vol. 19, No. 4, 563-600.

Slezak, P. (1989) 'Computers, Contents and Causes: Replies to my Critics', Social Studies of Science, Vol. 19, No. 4, 671-95.

Slezak, P. (1989) "The Relevance of Philosophy to Psychology: Response to J. Furedy", Australian Journal of Psychology, Vol. 41, No. 2, 123-130.

Slezak, P. (1989) 'Introduction' P. Slezak and W.R. Albury eds., Computers, Brains and Minds: Essays in Cognitive Science, Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Slezak, P. (1989) 'How NOT to Naturalize the Theory of Action' in P. Slezak and W.R. Albury eds., Computers, Brains and Minds: Essays in Cognitive Science, Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Slezak, P. (1989) 'Man NOT a Subject for Science?' in W.R. Albury and P. Slezak eds., Dimensions of Cognitive Science: Kensington Studies, Centre for Cognitive Science, University of New South Wales.


1988

Slezak, P. (1988) "Was Descartes a Liar? Reply to Roy Sorensen," British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 39, No. 3. (PDF)

Slezak, P. (1988) Jay D. Bolter, 'Turing's Man', Metascience, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1988, 35-37.


1987

Slezak, P. (1987) Myles Brand 'Intending and Acting: Toward a Naturalized Action Theory' The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 84, No. 1, January, 49-54.


1986

Slezak, P. (1986) 'Action, Cognition and the Self' Synthese, Vol. 66, 405-435.


1983

Slezak, P. (1983) 'Descartes's Diagonal Deduction' British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 34, No. 1, 13-36.

Slezak, P. (1983) "Minds, Machines and Self-Reference" Dialectica, Vol. 37, No. 4, 17-34.


1982

Slezak, P. (1982) "Godel's Theorem and the Mind" British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 33, No. 1, 41-52. (PDF)

Slezak, P. (1982) P. Bell & P. Staines 'Reasoning & Argument in Psychology" Australian Journal of Psychology, August, Vol. 34, No. 2.


1981

Slezak, P. (1981) "Language and Psychological Reality" Synthese, Vol. 49, 427-440.

Slezak, P. (1981) Noam Chomsky"s "Rules and Representations" Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 59, No. 2.


1980

Slezak, P. (1980) S. Gaukroger ed., 'Descartes: Philosophy, Mathematics & Physics' Proceedings of Australasian Association for History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science, No. 12, 72-77.


Newspaper and Media Articles

Slezak, P. (2011) Chomsky on linguistics and politics
The Conversation, November 22 2011
Access here

Slezak, P. (2010) Without Honour in His Own Land
ABC Drum, October 24, 2011
Access here

Slezak, P. (2010) Promised Land Needs Home Truth
Sydney Morning Herald, June 8 2010
Access here

ABC TV Special Compass Program, 9 May 2010
Public re-trial of Galileo at the University of New South Wales,
filmed as the basis for one-hour special Compass program.
Access here

Slezak, P. and Loewenstein, A. (2009) Gaza distorted by the media lens, On Line Opinion, Friday January 2, 2009. hyperlink

Slezak, P. (2008) Self-defence or brutal occupation? The Age, March 31 2008. hyperlink Access here

Slezak, P. (2008) I am guilty as charged of bias and prejudice - shall I be put to death? Sydney Morning Herald, October 20, 2008. hyperlink Access here


Slezak, P. (2008) Adversaries of piety and proof.
The Australian, Higher Education, November 19, 2008. hyperlink

Slezak, P. and Loewenstein, A. (2008) Israel no victim, Unleashed (ABC online) December 31, 2008. hyperlink

Slezak, P. (2004) Fighter for truth, liberty & justice: Obituary for Andrew McNaughtan, The Australian, Friday Jan 9.

Slezak, P. (2000) Review of C. Seife "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" & R. Kaplan "The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero" A.D. Aczel " God"s Equation: Einstein, Relativity and the Expanding Universe" The Australian"s Review of Books Volume 5, 4, May, 18-20. (PDF)

Slezak, P. (2000) Review of Dava Sobel, "Galileo"s Daughter" Quadrant April, 75-77. (PDF:21.8kb) (PDF)

Slezak, P. (2000) Crime (Sometimes) Doesn"t Pay, The Australian, January 10.

Slezak, P. (2000) What Happened to HPS? Show Cause, Faculty of Arts University of New South Wales (PDF)

Slezak, P. (1999) Let"s Keep the Monarchy, Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age, Monday, November 1, 1999.

Slezak, P. (1998) They are only Iraqis, Melbourne Age, December 18, 1998

Slezak, P. (1996) "Progress" Sydney Morning Herald, July 29.

Slezak, P. (1996) "Dissidents and Commissars" Review of Noam Chomsky"s "Power & Prospects" The Australian, Weekend Review, June 22. (PDF) (DOC)

Slezak, P. (1995) "The Righteous May Forget" Sydney Morning Herald, October 23.

Slezak, P. (1995) 'Chomsky: Denier or Denied?' Australian Jewish News February 24.

Slezak, P. (1995) 'The Debate Over Chomsky: A Farrago of Misrepresentations' Farrago, Volume 74, Edition 3.

Slezak, P. (1995) 'Ignored Linguist Who Survives by Word of Mouth? The Australian, Higher Education, January 18.

Slezak, P. (1992) 'God, the Cosmos, the Can-Opener and Everything" Sydney Morning Herald and New Zealand Herald, May 14.

Slezak, P. (1988) 'What is Intelligence', The Bulletin, May 1988.

Slezak, P. (1987) "In Defence of the Intellectual" The Weekend Australian, February 7-8.

Reports

Slezak, P. (2002) Report and Business Plan, Continuing Education Initiative at UNSW.

Slezak, P. (1996) Introduction, Come with me, singing in a choir >Ab? Barreto Soares, East Timor Relief Association, September.

Slezak, P. (1996) Introduction, A Travesty of Justice: Xanana"s Defence, Xanana Gusmao, East Timor Relief Association, May.

Slezak, P. (1996) Report on Hemp as Industrial Crop in the context of Cuban Agriculture, Consul General, Cuban Embassy.