title: Relativism, taste discourse, and retraction data: a reassessment

authors: Wyatt, Jeremy

abstract: Predicates of personal taste (PPT), which include words like 'tasty,' 'fun,' and 'cool,' have been at the centre of a set of lively, interdisciplinary debates for the past 20 years. These debates cover an impressive, and sometimes daunting, range of issues, including: disagreement, meaning, context-sensitivity, subjectivity and objectivity, truth, aesthetic and gustatory taste, evaluation, speech acts, and so on. Over the past 20 years, philosophers and linguists have engaged with these issues in developing many interestingly different accounts of what PPT mean and how we should evaluate assertions involving PPT. However, there is a foundational, methodological question that participants in the PPT debates have yet to adequately address: what sorts of evidence should be used in evaluating an account of PPT? In recent years, certain philosophers and linguists have pointed out that since accounts of PPT turn on empirical hypotheses about natural language, a proper evaluation of such an account must involve clearly articulated empirical diagnostics. In this talk, I will explore one of these diagnostics, which involves retraction. After setting out the major analyses of PPT, I'll consider the most influential explanation of why retraction data matter in the PPT debates, which comes from John MacFarlane. I'll identify two significant problems with MacFarlane's explanation and offer what I take to be a better explanation. I'll then draw on this explanation in reframing the significance of extant empirical data on PPT and retraction.

text: Relativism, taste discourse, and retraction data: a reassessment Predicates of personal taste (PPT), which include words like 'tasty,' 'fun,' and 'cool,' have been at the centre of a set of lively, interdisciplinary debates for the past 20 years. These debates cover an impressive, and sometimes daunting, range of issues, including: disagreement, meaning, context-sensitivity, subjectivity and objectivity, truth, aesthetic and gustatory taste, evaluation, speech acts, and so on. Over the past 20 years, philosophers and linguists have engaged with these issues in developing many interestingly different accounts of what PPT mean and how we should evaluate assertions involving PPT. However, there is a foundational, methodological question that participants in the PPT debates have yet to adequately address: what sorts of evidence should be used in evaluating an account of PPT? In recent years, certain philosophers and linguists have pointed out that since accounts of PPT turn on empirical hypotheses about natural language, a proper evaluation of such an account must involve clearly articulated empirical diagnostics. In this talk, I will explore one of these diagnostics, which involves retraction. After setting out the major analyses of PPT, I'll consider the most influential explanation of why retraction data matter in the PPT debates, which comes from John MacFarlane. I'll identify two significant problems with MacFarlane's explanation and offer what I take to be a better explanation. I'll then draw on this explanation in reframing the significance of extant empirical data on PPT and retraction.

year: 2022-08-18

title: All I remember is forgetting

authors: Hobson, Guy Marcus

subjects: Art

abstract: All I Remember is Forgetting is a novel about the complex weaving of memory, relationships and works of art. We observe these through the eyes of Roger Phillips, whom we first encounter washed up and living in his car after the failure of a third serious relationship. Unsuccessfully married twice, Roger has not navigated matrimony as well as he might. Instead he has escaped into a world of painting, photography and sculpture.
    The main driving force behind the narrative is a wooden box containing Roger’s collection of 600 art postcards. These are pictures collected from galleries and museums around the world. Thirty years in the collecting, it took Roger’s second wife, Margot, only fifteen minutes to pitch them all into a landfill north of Auckland. Also missing were his most treasured books. Gone were all the stories from the myths of the Greeks and Romans on which he fed his imagination. So much so, in fact, that he is convinced that Eris, goddess of strife and discord, has been on a mission to ruin his life. While every book held special meaning, it was to each postcard that Roger attached his most personal recollections – the gallery, the surrounding city, the occasion and the person he was with. Each a complex narrative. All the memories of his life were tied to those small pieces of card; suddenly they were lost for ever. Art had always been Roger’s escape, his safe haven, but also his erotica, wrapping him in the beauty and hidden narratives in the lives of artists and their models. The imperfect fragments of Roger’s life show us that love is not best understood through art. Roger fails to see the philosophy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of golden repair. Breakage and mending are part of the history of your life, to be celebrated not disguised.

This is a many-layered exercise in ekphrasis, where dramatic verbal descriptions of works of art are layered with descriptions of Roger’s married life. In some cases both become so entwined that they form an entirely new layer of art. The novel weaves the highs and lows of Roger’s journey; both the pain and the humour. Through the lens of great art and its creators we find mirrors, reflections and the distortion between life and art. We travel from Sheffield and London to Paris and New York, before coming firmly to rest in New Zealand.
   
Do not believe everything that Roger tells you, but remember the words of Oscar Wilde: it is only through art that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

text: All I remember is forgetting All I Remember is Forgetting is a novel about the complex weaving of memory, relationships and works of art. We observe these through the eyes of Roger Phillips, whom we first encounter washed up and living in his car after the failure of a third serious relationship. Unsuccessfully married twice, Roger has not navigated matrimony as well as he might. Instead he has escaped into a world of painting, photography and sculpture.
    The main driving force behind the narrative is a wooden box containing Roger’s collection of 600 art postcards. These are pictures collected from galleries and museums around the world. Thirty years in the collecting, it took Roger’s second wife, Margot, only fifteen minutes to pitch them all into a landfill north of Auckland. Also missing were his most treasured books. Gone were all the stories from the myths of the Greeks and Romans on which he fed his imagination. So much so, in fact, that he is convinced that Eris, goddess of strife and discord, has been on a mission to ruin his life. While every book held special meaning, it was to each postcard that Roger attached his most personal recollections – the gallery, the surrounding city, the occasion and the person he was with. Each a complex narrative. All the memories of his life were tied to those small pieces of card; suddenly they were lost for ever. Art had always been Roger’s escape, his safe haven, but also his erotica, wrapping him in the beauty and hidden narratives in the lives of artists and their models. The imperfect fragments of Roger’s life show us that love is not best understood through art. Roger fails to see the philosophy of kintsugi, the Japanese art of golden repair. Breakage and mending are part of the history of your life, to be celebrated not disguised.

This is a many-layered exercise in ekphrasis, where dramatic verbal descriptions of works of art are layered with descriptions of Roger’s married life. In some cases both become so entwined that they form an entirely new layer of art. The novel weaves the highs and lows of Roger’s journey; both the pain and the humour. Through the lens of great art and its creators we find mirrors, reflections and the distortion between life and art. We travel from Sheffield and London to Paris and New York, before coming firmly to rest in New Zealand.
   
Do not believe everything that Roger tells you, but remember the words of Oscar Wilde: it is only through art that we can shield ourselves from the sordid perils of actual existence.

year: 2021

title: Assessment of impacts of mechanical spat harvesting on the surf clams of Te Oneroa a Tōhē

authors: Ross, Philip M.

abstract: Much of the mussel spat used to seed mussel aquaculture farms throughout New Zealand is sourced from Te Oneroa a Tōhē (90 Mile Beach) in Te Hiku (far north of New Zealand). The mussel spat washes ashore attached to seaweed and hydroids where it is collected by spat harvesters and transported to mussel farms around the country to be on-grown. The collection of Te Hiku spat and seaweed was originally done by hand. However, the methods used have evolved over time and mussel spat is now primarily collected using mechanical loaders operating in the surf zone. Local iwi, hapu and the wider community have recently voiced their concerns about the impacts of this harvesting method. Specifically, there are concerns about the impact of loaders operating on top of toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) and tuatua (Paphies subtriangulata) beds or other shellfish inhabiting in the intertidal and subtidal areas of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Consequently, research into the ecological impacts of mechanical spat harvesting was conducted to address the concerns of the community and inform the management of the Te Hiku spat fishery. 
This research aimed to examine the ecological impacts of a ‘worst case scenario’ by (1) simulating an intensity of spat harvesting activity much greater than would be anticipated in the ‘real world’ and (2) conducting the research at high density tuatua beds where impacts would potentially be greatest. Adult toheroa were not targeted in the experiment to avoid unnecessary impacts on already depleted toheroa populations. At each of three sites on Te Oneroa a Tōhē, nine spat harvesting loaders were repeatedly driven in and out of the surf, over shellfish beds, for 75 minutes leading up to the low tide. Once loader activity ceased, a sampling team made up of mana whenua, local primary school children, spat harvesters and staff from MPI, Te Ohu Kaimoana and the University of Waikato collected clams from the intertidal area. Collections were made from both impact and control (non-impact) sites, where (a) the number of crushed shells was quantified and (b) the self-righting and burying abilities of tuatua from impact and control areas were compared to provide an estimate of sub-lethal effects. 
There was no detectable impact of mechanical spat harvesting loaders on tuatua (or the juvenile toheroa that were present in the sampled tuatua beds) when these surf clams were either fully or partially buried in sands of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Rates of shell damage were less 2 than 6.1% and were similar in impact and control areas indicating much of the observed shell damage was caused by the sediment corers that were used to extract samples from the beach. Similarly, being driven over by loaders did not affect the ability or speed at which tuatua were able to right and bury themselves in the sediment. When standing on end these clams appear robust to the forces exerted by loaders upon the sediment surface. However, beach cast clams (both tuatua and toheroa), lying on top of the sediment on their sides are vulnerable to crushing by vehicles. This includes juvenile clams that ‘float’ to the beach surface where multiple loader passes liquefy the surface sediment. Mortality in these beach cast clams was not well captured by the sampling methodology used in this study, but was observed at two of the three sites sampled. It was not possible to quantify this type of mortality during this study. However, the number of clams crushed on the beach surface was small relative to the high abundances of clams within the sediment and the impact is not considered ecologically significant at the scale the individual shellfish beds or the entire beach. 
Overall, there was nothing observed during the course of this experiment to suggest that mechanical harvesting is having a significant ecological effect on the toheroa or tuatua of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Mechanical spat harvesting did result in some clam mortality during the course of this experiment, and it is likely that some mortality will occur in the future when clams are present on the beach surface. However, the level of mortality observed, and anticipated, is unlikely to compromise the viability of either clam species. 
To minimise clam mortality caused by spat harvesting, loader operators should endeavour to avoid areas where large numbers of surf clams are either beach cast or are observed washing around in the shallow subtidal. It would also be prudent, because of the depressed state of toheroa populations on Te Oneroa a Tōhē, for spat harvesters to have up-to-date information about the location of toheroa beds and avoid them where possible. 
It should be noted that concerns have been raised as to whether the driving of loaders during this study was equivalent to real world operations. However, the collection of operational data during this experiment, the proposed installation of GPS trackers on all loaders and the use of observers will allow for monitoring and enforcement of operating procedures established in the industry code of practise.

text: Assessment of impacts of mechanical spat harvesting on the surf clams of Te Oneroa a Tōhē Much of the mussel spat used to seed mussel aquaculture farms throughout New Zealand is sourced from Te Oneroa a Tōhē (90 Mile Beach) in Te Hiku (far north of New Zealand). The mussel spat washes ashore attached to seaweed and hydroids where it is collected by spat harvesters and transported to mussel farms around the country to be on-grown. The collection of Te Hiku spat and seaweed was originally done by hand. However, the methods used have evolved over time and mussel spat is now primarily collected using mechanical loaders operating in the surf zone. Local iwi, hapu and the wider community have recently voiced their concerns about the impacts of this harvesting method. Specifically, there are concerns about the impact of loaders operating on top of toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) and tuatua (Paphies subtriangulata) beds or other shellfish inhabiting in the intertidal and subtidal areas of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Consequently, research into the ecological impacts of mechanical spat harvesting was conducted to address the concerns of the community and inform the management of the Te Hiku spat fishery. 
This research aimed to examine the ecological impacts of a ‘worst case scenario’ by (1) simulating an intensity of spat harvesting activity much greater than would be anticipated in the ‘real world’ and (2) conducting the research at high density tuatua beds where impacts would potentially be greatest. Adult toheroa were not targeted in the experiment to avoid unnecessary impacts on already depleted toheroa populations. At each of three sites on Te Oneroa a Tōhē, nine spat harvesting loaders were repeatedly driven in and out of the surf, over shellfish beds, for 75 minutes leading up to the low tide. Once loader activity ceased, a sampling team made up of mana whenua, local primary school children, spat harvesters and staff from MPI, Te Ohu Kaimoana and the University of Waikato collected clams from the intertidal area. Collections were made from both impact and control (non-impact) sites, where (a) the number of crushed shells was quantified and (b) the self-righting and burying abilities of tuatua from impact and control areas were compared to provide an estimate of sub-lethal effects. 
There was no detectable impact of mechanical spat harvesting loaders on tuatua (or the juvenile toheroa that were present in the sampled tuatua beds) when these surf clams were either fully or partially buried in sands of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Rates of shell damage were less 2 than 6.1% and were similar in impact and control areas indicating much of the observed shell damage was caused by the sediment corers that were used to extract samples from the beach. Similarly, being driven over by loaders did not affect the ability or speed at which tuatua were able to right and bury themselves in the sediment. When standing on end these clams appear robust to the forces exerted by loaders upon the sediment surface. However, beach cast clams (both tuatua and toheroa), lying on top of the sediment on their sides are vulnerable to crushing by vehicles. This includes juvenile clams that ‘float’ to the beach surface where multiple loader passes liquefy the surface sediment. Mortality in these beach cast clams was not well captured by the sampling methodology used in this study, but was observed at two of the three sites sampled. It was not possible to quantify this type of mortality during this study. However, the number of clams crushed on the beach surface was small relative to the high abundances of clams within the sediment and the impact is not considered ecologically significant at the scale the individual shellfish beds or the entire beach. 
Overall, there was nothing observed during the course of this experiment to suggest that mechanical harvesting is having a significant ecological effect on the toheroa or tuatua of Te Oneroa a Tōhē. Mechanical spat harvesting did result in some clam mortality during the course of this experiment, and it is likely that some mortality will occur in the future when clams are present on the beach surface. However, the level of mortality observed, and anticipated, is unlikely to compromise the viability of either clam species. 
To minimise clam mortality caused by spat harvesting, loader operators should endeavour to avoid areas where large numbers of surf clams are either beach cast or are observed washing around in the shallow subtidal. It would also be prudent, because of the depressed state of toheroa populations on Te Oneroa a Tōhē, for spat harvesters to have up-to-date information about the location of toheroa beds and avoid them where possible. 
It should be noted that concerns have been raised as to whether the driving of loaders during this study was equivalent to real world operations. However, the collection of operational data during this experiment, the proposed installation of GPS trackers on all loaders and the use of observers will allow for monitoring and enforcement of operating procedures established in the industry code of practise.

year: 2020