Damian Cox

I studied science and philosophy at the Australian National University before taking a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Melbourne. I have held positions in philosophy at Edith Cowan University and University of Queensland, before joining Bond University in 2006.

My research covers theories of ethics and philosophy of film.

In ethics, I work in virtue ethics - the study of virtues and the attempt to develop a moral theory (e.g. a theory of right and wrong action) in terms of virtues and virtue-concepts. I have written on individual virtues, most notably integrity, as well as the prospects of a theory of ethics based on virtues.

Current work focuses on an attempt to develop a form of virtue ethics that overcomes problems that have bedevilled the project of virtue ethics. It is a form I call 'vice-centred ethics'. My research in philosophy of film centres on the question of how film represents ideas: for example, can film be a medium of philosophy? I have written about numerous films, showing how they represent and develop ideas, especially philosophical ideas.

Current work is in philosophy and film centres on the issue of realism in cinema and the possibility of representing ethical experience in a philosophically useful and profound way.

In future research, I will expand my concern for the philosophical possibility of cinema to the philosophical possibilities of music - and questions of the relationship between ethics and music.

I supervise a wide-range of topics in philosophy. These are in the fields of moral psychology (the study of psychological qualities and attributes of moral action and vices and virtues); moral theory (the study of the concepts of right and wrong action and related concepts such as blameworthiness, responsibility, free-will and culpability).

I also supervise in the area of philosophy and film (the study of film as a medium and an art form, the study of individual film-makers and their philosophical achievements).