title: The meaning of meaning-fallibilism

authors: Legg, Catherine

subjects: fallibilism

abstract: Much discussion of meaning by philosophers over the last 300 years has been predicated on a Cartesian first-person authority (i.e. ‘infallibilism’) with respect to what one’s terms mean. However this has problems making sense of the way the meanings of scientific terms develop, an increase in scientific knowledge over and above scientists’ ability to quantify over new entities. Although a recent conspicuous embrace of rigid designation has broken up traditional meaning-infallibilism to some extent, this new dimension to the meaning of terms such as ‘water’ is yet to receive a principled epistemological undergirding (beyond the deliverances of ‘intuition’ with respect to certain somewhat unusual possible worlds). 
     Charles Peirce’s distinctive, naturalistic philosophy of language is mined to provide a more thoroughly fallibilist, and thus more realist, approach to meaning, with the requisite epistemology. Both his pragmatism and his triadic account of representation, it is argued, produce an original approach to meaning, analysing it in processual rather than objectual terms, and opening a distinction between ‘meaning for us’, the meaning a term has at any given time for any given community and ‘meaning simpliciter’, the way use of a given term develops over time (often due to a posteriori input from the world which is unable to be anticipated in advance). This account provocatively undermines a certain distinction between ‘semantics’ and ‘ontology’ which is often taken for granted in discussions of realism.

text: The meaning of meaning-fallibilism Much discussion of meaning by philosophers over the last 300 years has been predicated on a Cartesian first-person authority (i.e. ‘infallibilism’) with respect to what one’s terms mean. However this has problems making sense of the way the meanings of scientific terms develop, an increase in scientific knowledge over and above scientists’ ability to quantify over new entities. Although a recent conspicuous embrace of rigid designation has broken up traditional meaning-infallibilism to some extent, this new dimension to the meaning of terms such as ‘water’ is yet to receive a principled epistemological undergirding (beyond the deliverances of ‘intuition’ with respect to certain somewhat unusual possible worlds). 
     Charles Peirce’s distinctive, naturalistic philosophy of language is mined to provide a more thoroughly fallibilist, and thus more realist, approach to meaning, with the requisite epistemology. Both his pragmatism and his triadic account of representation, it is argued, produce an original approach to meaning, analysing it in processual rather than objectual terms, and opening a distinction between ‘meaning for us’, the meaning a term has at any given time for any given community and ‘meaning simpliciter’, the way use of a given term develops over time (often due to a posteriori input from the world which is unable to be anticipated in advance). This account provocatively undermines a certain distinction between ‘semantics’ and ‘ontology’ which is often taken for granted in discussions of realism.

year: 2005-06

title: Spectral analysis of seasonality in tourism demand

authors: Chan, Felix

subjects: Fast Fourier Transform

abstract: This paper aims to analyse the seasonality in New Zealand tourism demand from Australia and the USA using spectral analysis. Tourism demand is divided into four different categories depending on the tourists’ visiting purposes as registered in the customs cards upon their arrivals in New Zealand. Spectral analysis based on the sample from January 1980 to December 2007 revealed that different travel purposes share similar cyclical components but their contributions to the total variation in tourism demand differ between travel purposes and markets. More importantly, the results show that analysing aggregated data is often not sufficient to reveal the underlying seasonal patterns of tourist arrivals and policy makers would benefit greatly by analysing disaggregated data rather than relying on the analysis of aggregated data alone.

text: Spectral analysis of seasonality in tourism demand This paper aims to analyse the seasonality in New Zealand tourism demand from Australia and the USA using spectral analysis. Tourism demand is divided into four different categories depending on the tourists’ visiting purposes as registered in the customs cards upon their arrivals in New Zealand. Spectral analysis based on the sample from January 1980 to December 2007 revealed that different travel purposes share similar cyclical components but their contributions to the total variation in tourism demand differ between travel purposes and markets. More importantly, the results show that analysing aggregated data is often not sufficient to reveal the underlying seasonal patterns of tourist arrivals and policy makers would benefit greatly by analysing disaggregated data rather than relying on the analysis of aggregated data alone.

year: 2010

title: Taku Kuru Pounamu

authors: Pihama, Leonie

abstract: ‘Taku kuru pounamu’ (My precious adornment) is a whakataukī that speaks of a child who is loved and cherished by their whānau. It represents for us the essence of this publication, an expression of the collective wisdom and values of our ancestors, and the adoration that we have for our tamariki. A selection of whakataukī, or ancestral sayings, form the basis of this publication. Each whakataukī reflects the centrality and importance of children in the Māori world. They also give insights into practices that uplift our tamariki, mokopuna and wider whānau.
‘Taku kuru pounamu’ was born out of the research project ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ which explores the mana of te pā harakeke, the collective values that nourish all whanau members. ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ provided an opportunity to investigate and understand more fully our knowledge, beliefs and practices relating to whānau, and more specifically childrearing, in the Māori world. What we found was confirmation that our own tikanga, our cultural practices, are about enhancing the well-being of tamariki as taonga within our whānau, hapū and iwi.
This is a small selection of whakataukī. Many of them remind us that we need to be mindful of our actions. We must always treat each other with care and respect, especially our children. Our actions should ensure the safety and well-being of our tamariki, mokopuna, and whānau, and should never be harmful. These are critical messages passed to us by our tūpuna. These ancestral messages provide us with examples of traditional childrearing philosophies and practices.
Many valuable lessons are encoded in the language of whakataukī and in this publication we touch on but a few. In deciding which whakataukī should feature, it was important for us to acknowledge the voices of those who contributed to ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ and to include, where possible, whakataukī shared with us by kaumātua during our interviews. A number of other whakataukī pertinent to the whānau context, have also been included as examples of how we can draw upon ancestral knowledge to support the care and nurturing of our tamariki and mokopuna today. While there is a wealth of whakataukī worthy of inclusion in this publication, many were unable to be included, due to the timeframe of the publication.
We hope that we have done justice to those whakataukī that have been included in this publication. We set out with a goal to share positive, culturally enriched and effective approaches to childrearing as defined and practiced by our tūpuna. It is our sincere hope that we have done this and that applying the cultural knowledge embodied in these whakataukī will enrich and enhance the experiences of our tamariki, mokopuna and whānau.
These are gifts of mana left to us by our tūpuna to share with present and future generations.

text: Taku Kuru Pounamu ‘Taku kuru pounamu’ (My precious adornment) is a whakataukī that speaks of a child who is loved and cherished by their whānau. It represents for us the essence of this publication, an expression of the collective wisdom and values of our ancestors, and the adoration that we have for our tamariki. A selection of whakataukī, or ancestral sayings, form the basis of this publication. Each whakataukī reflects the centrality and importance of children in the Māori world. They also give insights into practices that uplift our tamariki, mokopuna and wider whānau.
‘Taku kuru pounamu’ was born out of the research project ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ which explores the mana of te pā harakeke, the collective values that nourish all whanau members. ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ provided an opportunity to investigate and understand more fully our knowledge, beliefs and practices relating to whānau, and more specifically childrearing, in the Māori world. What we found was confirmation that our own tikanga, our cultural practices, are about enhancing the well-being of tamariki as taonga within our whānau, hapū and iwi.
This is a small selection of whakataukī. Many of them remind us that we need to be mindful of our actions. We must always treat each other with care and respect, especially our children. Our actions should ensure the safety and well-being of our tamariki, mokopuna, and whānau, and should never be harmful. These are critical messages passed to us by our tūpuna. These ancestral messages provide us with examples of traditional childrearing philosophies and practices.
Many valuable lessons are encoded in the language of whakataukī and in this publication we touch on but a few. In deciding which whakataukī should feature, it was important for us to acknowledge the voices of those who contributed to ‘Tiakina Te Pā Harakeke’ and to include, where possible, whakataukī shared with us by kaumātua during our interviews. A number of other whakataukī pertinent to the whānau context, have also been included as examples of how we can draw upon ancestral knowledge to support the care and nurturing of our tamariki and mokopuna today. While there is a wealth of whakataukī worthy of inclusion in this publication, many were unable to be included, due to the timeframe of the publication.
We hope that we have done justice to those whakataukī that have been included in this publication. We set out with a goal to share positive, culturally enriched and effective approaches to childrearing as defined and practiced by our tūpuna. It is our sincere hope that we have done this and that applying the cultural knowledge embodied in these whakataukī will enrich and enhance the experiences of our tamariki, mokopuna and whānau.
These are gifts of mana left to us by our tūpuna to share with present and future generations.

year: 2015