title: Can virtuous people emerge from tragic dilemmas having acted well?

authors: van Zyl, Liezl

subjects: virtue ethics

abstract: A tragic dilemma is thought to arise when an agent, through no fault of her own, finds herself in a situation where she must choose between two courses of action, both of which it would be wrong to undertake. I focus on tragic dilemmas that are resolvable, that is, where a reason can be given in favour of one course of action over another, and my aim is to examine whether Hursthouse's virtue-ethical account of right action succeeds in avoiding two problems presented by tragic dilemmas. The first of these is that they produce the seemingly contradictory conclusion that an agent, in doing what she ought to do, acts wrongly, making it appropriate for her to feel guilt. The second is the paradox of moral luck, which consists in the conflict between the intuition that an agent cannot be held responsible for actions that are not fully voluntary, and the fact that she may nevertheless believe that she has done something morally reprehensible. I argue that if we accept Hursthouse's separation of action guidance and action assessment, her account succeeds in solving the problem of contradiction. However, it does not completely avoid the problem of moral luck. I argue, against Hursthouse, that the virtuous agent can emerge from a tragic dilemma having acted well, and that this is the conclusion we must arrive at if we want to avoid the problem of contradiction and of moral luck.

text: Can virtuous people emerge from tragic dilemmas having acted well? A tragic dilemma is thought to arise when an agent, through no fault of her own, finds herself in a situation where she must choose between two courses of action, both of which it would be wrong to undertake. I focus on tragic dilemmas that are resolvable, that is, where a reason can be given in favour of one course of action over another, and my aim is to examine whether Hursthouse's virtue-ethical account of right action succeeds in avoiding two problems presented by tragic dilemmas. The first of these is that they produce the seemingly contradictory conclusion that an agent, in doing what she ought to do, acts wrongly, making it appropriate for her to feel guilt. The second is the paradox of moral luck, which consists in the conflict between the intuition that an agent cannot be held responsible for actions that are not fully voluntary, and the fact that she may nevertheless believe that she has done something morally reprehensible. I argue that if we accept Hursthouse's separation of action guidance and action assessment, her account succeeds in solving the problem of contradiction. However, it does not completely avoid the problem of moral luck. I argue, against Hursthouse, that the virtuous agent can emerge from a tragic dilemma having acted well, and that this is the conclusion we must arrive at if we want to avoid the problem of contradiction and of moral luck.

year: 2007

title: Examining the effects of policy design on affordable unit production under inclusionary zoning policies

authors: Wang, Ruoniu

abstract: Problem, research strategy, and findings: Evidence suggests that inclusionary zoning (IZ) correlates with affordable housing and mixed-income communities; however, what effect the policy design has on affordable housing productivity remains unclear. In this study we investigated the relationship between policy features and average annual affordable unit production under IZ by using the IZ data set, which includes adoption year, standardized characteristics, and outcomes in terms of affordable unit counts for 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Although the data set does not fully capture affordable unit production for all IZ policies or those produced from in-lieu payments, this study is by far the largest scale empirical examination of IZ outcomes. Findings indicated that jurisdictions with policies that were mandatory, older, covered the entire jurisdiction, or had more complex income requirements designed to reach lower income levels had significantly higher production of affordable units. The top 15% of high-producing policies disproportionately consisted of policies that created affordable rental units, covered the entire jurisdiction, and had more complex income requirements. In addition, longer affordability terms were not associated with lower affordable unit productivity in our regression models.
Takeaway for practice: Our analysis identified common traits in IZ policies that produced at least one affordable unit as well as high-producing policies. These commonalities generally support enacting more stringent IZ policies with some flexibility in terms of the income levels served for greater affordable unit productivity. Limitations revealed in the data set suggested that local jurisdictions should better track affordable units to gain more information about what works. Considering that IZ policy design varies greatly, planners and policymakers must consider local housing market conditions relative to findings in this study as well as state and local regulatory environments when designing IZ policies.

text: Examining the effects of policy design on affordable unit production under inclusionary zoning policies Problem, research strategy, and findings: Evidence suggests that inclusionary zoning (IZ) correlates with affordable housing and mixed-income communities; however, what effect the policy design has on affordable housing productivity remains unclear. In this study we investigated the relationship between policy features and average annual affordable unit production under IZ by using the IZ data set, which includes adoption year, standardized characteristics, and outcomes in terms of affordable unit counts for 27 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Although the data set does not fully capture affordable unit production for all IZ policies or those produced from in-lieu payments, this study is by far the largest scale empirical examination of IZ outcomes. Findings indicated that jurisdictions with policies that were mandatory, older, covered the entire jurisdiction, or had more complex income requirements designed to reach lower income levels had significantly higher production of affordable units. The top 15% of high-producing policies disproportionately consisted of policies that created affordable rental units, covered the entire jurisdiction, and had more complex income requirements. In addition, longer affordability terms were not associated with lower affordable unit productivity in our regression models.
Takeaway for practice: Our analysis identified common traits in IZ policies that produced at least one affordable unit as well as high-producing policies. These commonalities generally support enacting more stringent IZ policies with some flexibility in terms of the income levels served for greater affordable unit productivity. Limitations revealed in the data set suggested that local jurisdictions should better track affordable units to gain more information about what works. Considering that IZ policy design varies greatly, planners and policymakers must consider local housing market conditions relative to findings in this study as well as state and local regulatory environments when designing IZ policies.

year: 2022

title: Can large taonga bivalves speed up recovery in degraded estuaries?

authors: Prinz, Natalie

abstract: THE QUESTION:
Will there introduction of adult, long-lived bivalves with differing functional traits speed up recovery of degraded soft sediment habitats in estuaries?
RESULTS:
Average bivalve survival after one year was 18% in + tuangi plot sand 59% in + hanikura plots. Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) after one month was enhanced by 116% in treatments containing tuangi compared to control treatments. After one year those were similar to ambient levels, still showed higher SOC than control plots.

text: Can large taonga bivalves speed up recovery in degraded estuaries? THE QUESTION:
Will there introduction of adult, long-lived bivalves with differing functional traits speed up recovery of degraded soft sediment habitats in estuaries?
RESULTS:
Average bivalve survival after one year was 18% in + tuangi plot sand 59% in + hanikura plots. Sediment oxygen consumption (SOC) after one month was enhanced by 116% in treatments containing tuangi compared to control treatments. After one year those were similar to ambient levels, still showed higher SOC than control plots.

year: 2023