Emeritus Professor Fred D'Agostino
Emeritus Professor
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
+61 7 334 67584
Researcher biography
political philosophy, methodology of science, the disciplines
Fred D'Agostino was educated at Amherst College (BA, 1968), Princeton University (MA, 1973), and the London School of Economics (PhD, 1978). He was Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Australian National University from 1978 to 1984, and worked at the University of New England from 1984 to 2004, where he was Associate Professor of Philosophy, Associate Dean of Arts, Head of the School of Social Science, and Member of the University Council. He is now Professor Emeritus of Humanities and was President of the Academic Board and Executive Dean of Arts at The University of Queensland. He has edited the Australasian Journal of Philosophy and PPE: Politics, Philosophy and Economics and has published four books--Chomsky's System of Ideas (Clarendon Press, 1986), Free Public Reason (OUP, 1996), Incommensurability and Commensuration (Ashgate, 2003), and Naturalizing Epistemology (Palgrave, 2010). He is co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Political and Social Philosophy. His current research is on disciplinarity and complexity. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
Publications
Books
D'agostino, Fred (2010). Naturalizing epistemology: Thomas Kuhn and the 'essential tension'. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K.; New York, U.S.A.: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230251274
D'Agostino, Fred (2003). Incommensurability and commensuration: The common denominator. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate.
Book Chapters
D'Agostino, Fred (2022). Complexity. The Routledge handbook of philosophy, politics, and economics. (pp. 28-42) edited by C. M. Melenovsky. New York, NY, United States: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780367808983-4
Bellotti, Bill and D’Agostino, Fred (2021). A fragile existence: a transdisciplinary food systems research program cut short. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary failures: lessons learned from cautionary tales. (pp. 62-77) edited by Dena Fam and Michael O'Rourke. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780367207045-5
D'Agostino, Fred (2019). Objectivity. Oxford bibliographies. (pp. 1-64) edited by Duncan Pritchard. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/OBO/9780195396577-0221
D'Agostino, Fred (2019). Watkins, John William Neville (1924–99). Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Philosophers. edited by John R. Shook. London, United Kingdom: Thoemmes Continuum. doi: 10.5040/9781350052437-0452
D’Agostino, Fred (2018). The situational logic of disciplinary scholarship. The impact of critical rationalism: expanding the Popperian legacy through the works of Ian C. Jarvie. (pp. 45-57) edited by Raphael Sassower and Nathaniel Laor. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing/Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-90826-7_5
D'Agostino, Fred (2016). Disciplines, the division of epistemic labor, and agency. Social epistemology and epistemic agency: decentralizing epistemic agency. (pp. 91-108) edited by Patrick J. Reider. London, United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield.
D'Agostino, Fred (2015). Hermeneutics, epistemology, and science. The Routledge companion to hermeneutics. (pp. 417-428) edited by Jeff Malpas and Hans-Helmuth Gander. London, United Kingdom: Routledge.
D'Agostino, Fred (2015). How can we collectivise a set of visions about social epistemology?. The future of social epistemology: a collective vision. (pp. 3-10) edited by James H. Collier. London: Rowman and Littlefield.
D'Agostino, Fred (2015). Social Science, The Idea of. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. (pp. 688-694) edited by James D. Wright. Oxford: Elseiver. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.63083-0
D'Agostino, Fred (2011). Rational agency. The SAGE handbook of the philosophy of social sciences. (pp. 182-198) edited by Ian C. Jarvie and Jesus Zamora-Bonilla. London, United Kingdom: Sage.
D'Agostino, Fred (2005). The legacies of John Rawls. The legacy of John Rawls. (pp. 195-212) edited by Thom Brooks and Fabian Freyenhagen. New York, NY, United States: Continuum.
D’Agostino, Fred (2005). The Sinews of a Free Society: Autonomy, Democracy and Education. A Passion for Politics: Essays in Honour of Graham Maddox. (pp. 99-109) edited by Tim Battin. Frenchs Forest, NSW, Australia: Pearson Education Australia.
D'Agostino, F. B. (2005). Legitimacy in a Pluralistic Context. Legitimation and the State. (pp. 15-29) edited by Graham Young and Graham Maddox. Armidale: Kardooair Press.
D'Agostino, Fred (2004). Pluralism and Liberalism. Handbook of Political Theory. (pp. 239-249) edited by Gerald F. Gaus and Chandran Kukathas. London., Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Journal Articles
D'Agostino, Fred and Greste, Peter (2021). Slippery beasts: why academic freedom and media freedom are so difficult to protect. Australian Universities' Review, 63 (1), 45-52.
D’Agostino, Fred and Malpas, Jeffery (2021). Evaluation and innovation: an antagonistic pair?. Social Science Information, 60 (3), 345-349. doi: 10.1177/05390184211018670
D’Agostino, Fred (2020). The promise of democracy: The performative social contract, pluralism, and equality. Open Journal of Political Science, 10 (02), 302-318. doi: 10.4236/ojps.2020.102019
D’Agostino, Fred (2020). Pluralism, prudence, and political theory: comments on minimal morality by Michael Moehler. Analytic Philosophy, 61 (1), 37-45. doi: 10.1111/phib.12181
D'Agostino, Fred (2019). Growth of knowledge: dual institutionalization of disciplines and brokerage. Synthese, 198 (5), 4167-4190. doi: 10.1007/s11229-019-02335-1
D'Agostino, Fred (2018). How can we do political philosophy?. Cosmos + Taxis, 5 (2), 29-37.
D'Agostino, Fred (2013). Book review: Science in a democratic society. Analysis, 73 (3), 593-594. doi: 10.1093/analys/ant033
D'Agostino, Fred (2013). The orders of public reason. Analytic Philosophy, 54 (1), 129-155. doi: 10.1111/phib.12009
D'Agostino, Fred (2013). Verballed? Incommensurability 50 years on. Synthese, 191 (3), 517-538. doi: 10.1007/s11229-013-0288-y
D'Agostino, Fred (2012). Disciplinarity and the growth of knowledge. Social Epistemology, 26 (3), 331-350. doi: 10.1080/02691728.2012.727192
D'Agostino, Fred (2012). An analytics of marginality. European Legacy-Toward New Paradigms, 17 (6), 755-768. doi: 10.1080/10848770.2012.715807
D'Agostino, Fred (2009). From the organization to the division of cognitive labor. Politics, Philosophy and Economics, 8 (1), 101-129. doi: 10.1177/1470594X08098873
D'Agostino, Fred (2008). Naturalizing the essential tension. Synthese, 162 (2), 275-308. doi: 10.1007/s11229-007-9192-7
D'Agostino, Fred (2008). Student learning and university teaching. Higher Education Research and Development, 27 (3), 297-298. doi: 10.1080/07294360802183838
D'Agostino, Fred (2007). Review of Baert, P. (2005). Philosophy of the Social Sciences: Towards Pragmatism, Cambridge: Polity.. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 37 (4), 541-543. doi: 10.1177/0048393107307667
D'Agostino, Fred (2006). Two conceptions of reason. Economy And Society, 35 (1), 1-21. doi: 10.1080/03085140500465683
D'Agostino, Fred (2006). Two conceptions of reason. Economy and Society, 35 (1), 1-21. doi: 10.1002/sim.2474
D'Agostino, Fred (2005). Kuhn's Risk-Spreading Argument and the Organization of Scientific Communities. Episteme: A Journal of Social Epistemology, 1 (3), 201-209. doi: 10.3366/epi.2004.1.3.201
Bi, Lijun and D' Agostino, Fred (2004). The doctrine of filial piety: A philosophical analysis of the concealment case. Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 31 (4), 451-467. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6253.2004.00165.x
D'Agostino, Fred (2004). The Legacies of John Rawls. Journal of Moral Philosophy, 1 (3), 349-365. doi: 10.1177/174046810400100308
D'Agostino, Fred (2001). Rituals of Impartiality. Social Theory and Practice, 27 (1), 65-81.
D'Agostino, Fred (2000). Incommensurability and commensuration: Lessons from (and to) ethico-political theory. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 31A (3), 429-447. doi: 10.1016/S0039-3681(00)00013-3
D'Agostino, F. (1995). Value pluralism, public justification, and post-modernism: The conventional status of political critique. The Journal of Value Inquiry, 29 (3), 351-366. doi: 10.1007/BF01206988
D'Agostino, F. (1995). The ethics of social science research. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 12 (1), 65-76.
D'agostino, Fred (1993). The necessity of theology and the scientific study of religious beliefs. Sophia, 32 (1), 12-30. doi: 10.1007/BF02773077
D'Agostino, Fred (1991). Some modes of public justification. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 69 (4), 390-414. doi: 10.1080/00048409112344851
D'Agostino, Fred (1990). The aimless rationality of science1. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 4 (1), 33-50. doi: 10.1080/02698599008573344
D'Agostino, F (1989). Adjudication as an epistemological concept. Synthese, 79 (2), 231-256. doi: 10.1007/BF00869625
D'Agostino, F. (1984). Language, Creativity and Freedom. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 14 (2), 251-262. doi: 10.1177/004839318401400208
D'Agostino, F (1984). Chomsky on creativity. Synthese, 58 (1), 85-117. doi: 10.1007/BF00485363
D'Agostino, FB and Burdick, HR (1982). Symbolism and literalism in anthropology. Synthese, 52 (2), 233-265. doi: 10.1007/BF00869195
D'Agostino, F (1982). Mill, paternalism and psychiatry. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 60 (4), 319-330. doi: 10.1080/00048408212340721
Conference Papers
D'Agnostino, Fred (2022). Reply to Muldoon. Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World, Online, 22 March - 12 April 2022. Eugene, OR United States: Syndicate.
D'Agnostino, Fred (2022). What Counts as a Gain to Trade?. Social Contract Theory for a Diverse World, Online, 22 March 2022 - 12 April 2022. Eugene, OR United States: Syndicate.
D'Agostino Fred and O'Brien Mia (2007). Convening a university program or major: Curriculum leadership or career suicide?. Higher education research and development society of Australasia (HERDSA) inc annual conference, Adelaide, South Australia, 8-11 July 2007. HERDSA Website: HERDSA.
D'Agostino, F. B. (2005). Rituals of cosmopolitanism. Sites of Cosmopolitanism Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 6-8 July 2005. Brisbane, Australia: Griffith University Centre for Public Culture & Ideas.
Rooney, D., McKenna, B. and D'Agostino, F. B. (2004). Wisdom as an attribute of knowledge work. International Conference of Knowledge Management in Asia Pacific (KMAP), Taipei, Taiwan, 7-8 December, 2004. Taipei. Taiwan: National Taiwan University.
D'Agostino, Fred (2004). From the organization to the division of cognitive labor. Politics, Philosophy and Economics Workshop, New Orleans, USA, 27-28 March, 2004.
Research Report
D'Agostino, Fred and O'Brien, Mia (2009). Closing the gap in curriculum development leadership: final report. Strawberry Hills, NSW, Australia: Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
Preprint
Generic Documents
D'Agostino, Fred (2022). Preferences, Pareto, and collective judgment and decision. PEA Soup.