I studied philosophy at the Universities of Sydney (B.A. 1962, M.A. 1965) and Oxford (B.Phil. 1967). 

I taught at the Australian National University (1967-1997). 

From 1998 to 2007 I was Dean of Arts, first at ANU then at Southern Cross University.

In 1999 I was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Since 2007 I have been an honorary professor in the SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL INQUIRY at the University of Sydney. 
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From 2013 to 2015 I was a chercheur en rattachment principal at the LABORATOIRE SPHERE, University of Paris - Diderot.

My research is in two main fields:
- history of logic
- philosophy of the performing arts.