Open Journal Systems at the Victoria University of Wellington Library
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Modal Meinongianism and Object Theory: A Reply to Bueno and Zalta
Get PDFWe reply to various arguments by Otavio Bueno and Edward Zalta (‘Object Theory and Modal Meinongianism’) against Modal Meinongianism, including that it presupposes, but cannot maintain, a unique denotation for names of fictional characters, and that it is not generalizable to higher-order objects. We individuate the crucial difference between Modal Meinongianism and Object Theory in the former’s resorting to an apparatus of worlds, possible and impossible, for the representational purposes for which the latter resorts to a distinction between two kinds of predication, exemplification and encoding. We show that encoding has fewer forerunners in the history of philosophy than Bueno and Zalta want, and that there’s a reason why the notion has been found baffling by some
Encoding Equality: The Case for Greater Regulation of Artificial Intelligence and Automated Decision Making in New Zealand
Get PDFAutomated decision-making systems, developed using artificial intelligence and machine learning processes, are being used by companies, organisations and governments with increasing frequency. The purpose of this article is to outline the urgent case for regulating automated decision-making and examine the possible options for regulation. This article will argue that New Zealand's current approach to regulating decision-making is inadequate. It will then analyse art 22 of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, concluding that this regime also has significant flaws. Finally, this article will propose an alternative regulatory solution to address the novel challenge posed by automated decision-making. This solution aims to strike a balance between the interests of organisations in capitalising on the benefits of automated decision-making technology and the interests of individuals in ensuring that their right to freedom from discrimination is upheld
The Majestic Equality of Disenfranchisement: Assessing the Right to Freedom from Discrimination in Light of the Ngaranoa Litigation
Get PDFThe right to freedom from discrimination in New Zealand is underpinned by equality, one of the most influential, yet amorphous principles in political theory. This article argues that the failure of New Zealand courts to articulate the norms behind the anti-discrimination guarantee enables arbitrary and inconsistent reasoning. The decisions of the High Court in Taylor v Attorney-General and the Court of Appeal in Ngaronoa v Attorney-General thus reflect a wrong turn in New Zealand discrimination law, taken in the case of Ministry of Health v Atkinson. Because discrimination law necessitates moral judgment, this article argues that the courts have been wrong to treat discrimination law as a largely amoral enterprise. Seen in this context, it should be unsurprising that the decisions of Taylor v Attorney-General and Ngaronoa v Attorney-General appear to mask moral judgments behind a façade of empiricism and common sense, and reveal different conceptions of equality
A Moment's Inadvertence Should Not Bring Down the Heavens: Rethinking Proportionality in Negligence Law in New Zealand
Get PDFTrue proportionality between the degree of a tortfeasor's fault and the extent of a plaintiff's loss is unachievable in negligence law in New Zealand. As Mallon J's judgment in Strathboss Kiwifruit Ltd v Attorney-General highlighted, the concept of proportionality can only be used to negate an alleged tortfeasor's duty of care, thereby eliminating the potential for liability. This approach does not accommodate differing levels of disproportionality. Moreover, relying on negligence law's liability limiting mechanisms to achieve proportionality, as Mallon J did in Strathboss, will not always be fruitful; there may still be a large gap between what a defendant has done and what the defendant is held accountable for. The extent of a tortfeasor's liability may depend on luck rather than principle. However, internationally, the wrongful conception and birth cases reveal a more nuanced use of proportionality: reducing the scope of a tortfeasor's duty of care. While this may be seen as inconsistent with negligence law's compensatory objective, I argue that a tortfeasor's interest in being free from undue burdens should constrain this objective, where necessary. This article develops on the reasoning in the wrongful conception and birth cases and borrows from the language of the Contributory Negligence Act 1947 to create a general mechanism for limiting a tortfeasor's liability in the interests of proportionality. The proposed mechanism aims to ensure that the law of negligence delivers more just results
I Said No
Get PDFResearch is an always already whole-self endeavour. As researchers we do not get to choose what parts of us to leave behind at home when we go to work; this is especially clear in the doing of fieldwork. Additionally, what happens in “the field” does not stay there. In fact that is the point. We move between fieldwork and reflection at varying intervals; it is through this corrugated process that research emerges. Research institutions need to recognize and provide appropriate preparation and support systems for researchers when their work takes them outside of the institutions’ walls. What follows is an account of the fieldwork experience that lead me to think about these dynamics of research and a window into those thoughts
Culture, young people and wellbeing
Get PDFCulture is the bedrock of nations. It is the collective manifestation of human intellectual achievement and will continue to determine societal responses to issues big and small. Our attitudes towards abuses of power, multilateralism and market failure are undoubtedly moulded through exposure to our cultural tapestry – literature, comedy, music and more
From Tough Justice to Smart on Crime: criminal justice lessons from the Lone Star State
Get PDFNew Zealand has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the OECD. The current Labour prime minister and the most recent National prime minister have both expressed support for addressing the rate of imprisonment. Nonetheless, New Zealand’s prison population continues to grow and is forecast to continue growing. This article investigates Texas’s experience of criminal justice reform; in particular, how they achieved a bipartisan consensus in favour of reform. It then looks at what lessons Texas’s experience might offer New Zealand. Finally, it highlights shortcomings of the Texan approach and what these might mean for New Zealand
Public Health Aspects of the Covid-19 Response and Opportunities for the Post-Pandemic Era
Get PDFThis article takes a public health perspective on New Zealand’s pandemic preparations, its pandemic response, and the successful outcome (as of June 2020) of its Covid-19 elimination strategy. The health outcome appears to be the best in the OECD, but some other countries made better use of certain control strategies. In the postpandemic era there are many emerging opportunities for society to be gained by embedding better plans for controlling future emerging diseases, strengthening public health infrastructure and consolidating the evident benefits of reduced pollution during the lockdown
Government’s Income Support Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic
Get PDFIncome support policy was already a contentious issue before the arrival of Covid-19, but it has assumed increased significance as a result of the job losses and disruption to people’s earnings following the border closures, trade disruption and the period of nationwide lockdown. This article documents the government’s income support and social welfare responses to the pandemic and places them in the context of the pre-existing debates around welfare policy. The article finishes with a brief discussion of possible future directions for the welfare state
Dairying, Dispossession, Devastation: Primitive Accumulation and the New Zealand Dairy Industry, 1814–2018
Get PDFThe past three-and-a-half decades of neoliberal orthodoxy in New Zealand have been marked by the rapid expansion and intensification of the New Zealand dairy industry. In the years since direct agricultural subsidies and supports were removed in the mid-1980s, the national dairy herd has more than doubled and the area given over to dairying has increased by some 750,000 hectares. This relentless drive to intensify has come at a simply enormous environmental cost: New Zealanders, present and future, are being systematically dispossessed of cherished freshwater ecosystems and endemic biodiversity. In this paper, I argue that this is but the latest episode in a long history of often-violent dispossession that has been crucial to the historical development of capitalist agriculture in New Zealand. In so doing, I draw on Marx’s theory of primitive accumulation
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