title: Wonder and environmental virtue

authors: van Zyl, Liezl

abstract: Wonder is a familiar human emotion. It involves a feeling of delight, admiration, curiosity, and appreciation and is directed towards something that is beautiful, remarkable, mysterious, or unfamiliar. The objects of wonder can include nature and natural entities, works of art, and other cultural objects. In her essay, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (2007) Rosalind Hursthouse puts forward the question of whether there could be a virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder. For an Aristotelian, such a virtue would involve a disposition “to feel wonder the right way, towards the right objects, for the right reasons, to the right degree, on the right occasions, in the right manner, and to act accordingly” (2007: 161). Hursthouse further suggests that the putative virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder is explicitly – though not exclusively – concerned with our relations to nature, and could therefore form an important part of an environmental virtue ethic. Many environmentalists appeal to our sense of wonder, and write about the wonders of nature, but the role of wonder in environmental ethics has not been explored in any detail. My aim in this paper, then, is to consider whether there is an environmental virtue (or set of virtues) that involves being rightly disposed with regards to wonder.

text: Wonder and environmental virtue Wonder is a familiar human emotion. It involves a feeling of delight, admiration, curiosity, and appreciation and is directed towards something that is beautiful, remarkable, mysterious, or unfamiliar. The objects of wonder can include nature and natural entities, works of art, and other cultural objects. In her essay, “Environmental Virtue Ethics” (2007) Rosalind Hursthouse puts forward the question of whether there could be a virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder. For an Aristotelian, such a virtue would involve a disposition “to feel wonder the right way, towards the right objects, for the right reasons, to the right degree, on the right occasions, in the right manner, and to act accordingly” (2007: 161). Hursthouse further suggests that the putative virtue of being rightly disposed with respect to wonder is explicitly – though not exclusively – concerned with our relations to nature, and could therefore form an important part of an environmental virtue ethic. Many environmentalists appeal to our sense of wonder, and write about the wonders of nature, but the role of wonder in environmental ethics has not been explored in any detail. My aim in this paper, then, is to consider whether there is an environmental virtue (or set of virtues) that involves being rightly disposed with regards to wonder.

year: 2017

title: Funding and providing social services: The good, the bad and the third way?

authors: Harris, Paul

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: The funder/provider split in the area of social services is now a long-established reality in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It has been the subject of much debate and criticism see, for example, Boston et at 1996. However, it remains the principal means by which a range of NGO service providers gains access to State funding. At the same time, with the advent of a new Labour-Alliance coalition government in 1999, the possibility arises that one of the social policy reforms the government might consider would be to amend or even to abolish the funder/provider system.

text: Funding and providing social services: The good, the bad and the third way? The funder/provider split in the area of social services is now a long-established reality in Aotearoa/New Zealand. It has been the subject of much debate and criticism see, for example, Boston et at 1996. However, it remains the principal means by which a range of NGO service providers gains access to State funding. At the same time, with the advent of a new Labour-Alliance coalition government in 1999, the possibility arises that one of the social policy reforms the government might consider would be to amend or even to abolish the funder/provider system.

year: 2001

title: Te Nahi o Te Taniwha: Teeth of the Taniwha

authors: Rout, Matthew

abstract: This report outlines the scope of the project He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing, which has been funded by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga—the New Zealand Māori Centre of Research Excellence. Its purpose is to set the direction and design for the research project. To say the creation of such economies will be a complex task is an understatement. Three factors make this task a ‘wicked problem’.

text: Te Nahi o Te Taniwha: Teeth of the Taniwha This report outlines the scope of the project He oranga whānau: mahi ngātahi Whānau livelihoods within the context of work and Māori economies of wellbeing, which has been funded by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga—the New Zealand Māori Centre of Research Excellence. Its purpose is to set the direction and design for the research project. To say the creation of such economies will be a complex task is an understatement. Three factors make this task a ‘wicked problem’.

year: 2022