title: Privileging our future hedonic states

authors: Weijers, Dan M.

abstract: As Parfit famously claims in Reasons and Persons, we would prefer to hear that our painful surgery is 5 hours long and finished than that it is 1 hour long and about to start. If true, this claim means that our judgments about the value of future suffering are very different to our judgements about past suffering. But, surely past and future suffering have (at least roughly) equal disvalue. Is this privileging of future suffering an irrational bias? I attempt to shed light on this question by reporting on severalexperiments on Parfit’s surgery case and a host of cases that assess the comparative value of past and future goods in various contexts. I will argue that the experimental data show that people (at least 2,000+ WEIRD undergraduate students from California and Waikato) exhibit judgments that routinely privilege future hedonic states for themselves, but not other people or for non-hedonic goods. I attempt to make sense of the results, but we are left with more questions than answers.

text: Privileging our future hedonic states As Parfit famously claims in Reasons and Persons, we would prefer to hear that our painful surgery is 5 hours long and finished than that it is 1 hour long and about to start. If true, this claim means that our judgments about the value of future suffering are very different to our judgements about past suffering. But, surely past and future suffering have (at least roughly) equal disvalue. Is this privileging of future suffering an irrational bias? I attempt to shed light on this question by reporting on severalexperiments on Parfit’s surgery case and a host of cases that assess the comparative value of past and future goods in various contexts. I will argue that the experimental data show that people (at least 2,000+ WEIRD undergraduate students from California and Waikato) exhibit judgments that routinely privilege future hedonic states for themselves, but not other people or for non-hedonic goods. I attempt to make sense of the results, but we are left with more questions than answers.

year: 2016

title: Bernard Montague: a contractor and farmer in the Te Aroha district

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Born in Ireland, Bernard Montague arrived in New Zealand in 1874 and for some years worked as a contractor, especially on drainage projects. After being a publican and storekeeper for a year, he settled in Waiorongomai in 1882 and invested in the local mines. This involvement led to his supporting criticisms of inadequate council assistance for mining, how the tramway operated, and the Battery Company’s charges. He also speculated in sections in Waiorongomai village, and briefly attempted to be a publican there. 
For some years he was a contractor in the district, mostly on road construction and repairs, and sometimes was criticized for the quality of his work. Acquiring a farm at nearby Gordon, he gradually developed it, like other new farmers being rather too slow to do so and also rather slow to pay the rent. In time he acquired more farmland, and by the early twentieth century was dairying on what had become a valuable estate. After struggling for years, even becoming bankrupt, by the new century he was financially secure.
Montague was a prominent leader of the Gordon settlement, prominent not only for promoting its needs but also for his many conflicts with other residents. In a notably abrasive fashion he criticized absentee owners and those who did not develop their land. Deposed as chairman of the association, he later held other leadership roles, but never ceased to fight with others.
At Te Aroha he joined a variety of committees to assist the progress of the community, and expressed himself forcefully (how else?) during the controversy over forming a borough. Residents became used to his quarrelsome nature and some were even amused by it, as in the case of ‘Barney’s Cow’, for he was one of the local ‘personalities’.

text: Bernard Montague: a contractor and farmer in the Te Aroha district Born in Ireland, Bernard Montague arrived in New Zealand in 1874 and for some years worked as a contractor, especially on drainage projects. After being a publican and storekeeper for a year, he settled in Waiorongomai in 1882 and invested in the local mines. This involvement led to his supporting criticisms of inadequate council assistance for mining, how the tramway operated, and the Battery Company’s charges. He also speculated in sections in Waiorongomai village, and briefly attempted to be a publican there. 
For some years he was a contractor in the district, mostly on road construction and repairs, and sometimes was criticized for the quality of his work. Acquiring a farm at nearby Gordon, he gradually developed it, like other new farmers being rather too slow to do so and also rather slow to pay the rent. In time he acquired more farmland, and by the early twentieth century was dairying on what had become a valuable estate. After struggling for years, even becoming bankrupt, by the new century he was financially secure.
Montague was a prominent leader of the Gordon settlement, prominent not only for promoting its needs but also for his many conflicts with other residents. In a notably abrasive fashion he criticized absentee owners and those who did not develop their land. Deposed as chairman of the association, he later held other leadership roles, but never ceased to fight with others.
At Te Aroha he joined a variety of committees to assist the progress of the community, and expressed himself forcefully (how else?) during the controversy over forming a borough. Residents became used to his quarrelsome nature and some were even amused by it, as in the case of ‘Barney’s Cow’, for he was one of the local ‘personalities’.

year: 2016

title: He purapura whetū tō te whakataukī

authors: Tuahine, Hōhepa

subjects: Whakataukī

abstract: Ko te whakataukī he kōrero e whakaatu ana i ngā tini āhuatanga o te Māori me te āhua o tōna taiao (Milroy, 2004, wh. 38).  Hei tuinga ake, he kōrero e pupuri ana i ngā tohutohu e tau ai te noho o te tangata ki te whenua.  Ka rerekē te whakatakotoranga o te kupu o te whakataukī o nehe, ki te reo Māori o nāianei.  Ko ngā whakataukī o tāukiuki i titoa i te wā e ora tonu ana ngā whare wānanga o nehe me ōna tohunga.  Ka mutu, ko te reo me ōna kupu kei tērā taumata e rere ana.  Nō reira, he kōrero e whakaata ana i te ao Māori, ko ōna atua, ko ōna tikanga, ko ōna pakanga, ko ōna tātai whakapapa, ko ōna mātauranga, ko ōna tohutohu (Milroy, 2004, wh. 38).  Ka tākaitia ake aua mātauranga ki te kōrero poto noa iho, ka tuku iho ai ki ngā uri whakaheke.

text: He purapura whetū tō te whakataukī Ko te whakataukī he kōrero e whakaatu ana i ngā tini āhuatanga o te Māori me te āhua o tōna taiao (Milroy, 2004, wh. 38).  Hei tuinga ake, he kōrero e pupuri ana i ngā tohutohu e tau ai te noho o te tangata ki te whenua.  Ka rerekē te whakatakotoranga o te kupu o te whakataukī o nehe, ki te reo Māori o nāianei.  Ko ngā whakataukī o tāukiuki i titoa i te wā e ora tonu ana ngā whare wānanga o nehe me ōna tohunga.  Ka mutu, ko te reo me ōna kupu kei tērā taumata e rere ana.  Nō reira, he kōrero e whakaata ana i te ao Māori, ko ōna atua, ko ōna tikanga, ko ōna pakanga, ko ōna tātai whakapapa, ko ōna mātauranga, ko ōna tohutohu (Milroy, 2004, wh. 38).  Ka tākaitia ake aua mātauranga ki te kōrero poto noa iho, ka tuku iho ai ki ngā uri whakaheke.

year: 2016