This book is devoted to a critical evaluation of a project of philosophical methodology and analysis known colloquially as the “Canberra Plan.” The original driving forces behind the project were David Lewis and Frank Jackson, and the many people who were associated with the Philosophy Program of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra during the 1990s. Since Canberra is a planned city founded originally as the seat of the Federal Government of Australia, its detractors complain that it lacks the features that arise in cities that grow...

This book is devoted to a critical evaluation of a project of philosophical methodology and analysis known colloquially as the “Canberra Plan.” The original driving forces behind the project were David Lewis and Frank Jackson, and the many people who were associated with the Philosophy Program of the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University in Canberra during the 1990s. Since Canberra is a planned city founded originally as the seat of the Federal Government of Australia, its detractors complain that it lacks the features that arise in cities that grow organically and have diverse inhabitants who are not largely government bureaucrats. As the following chapters show, the label has been “rescued” and adopted by Canberra Plan proponents, even if not all “Canberra Planners” agree on certain aspects of what the project should be.