title: Peirce on Habit, Practice, and Theory: The Priority of Practice and the Autonomy of Theory

authors: Black, Joshua David

subjects: Habit

abstract: Charles Peirce’s thought on the relationship between theory and practice has two seemingly inconsistent thrusts. On one hand, Peirce draws theory and practice together. He understands theory as a particular form of practical interaction with the world. On the other hand, he pulls them apart. He seems to insist that theoretical inquiry is not to affect, or be affected by, our other practices. This thesis uses Peirce’s habit-based account of human activity to show that the two sides of his thought are not inconsistent. Rather, Peirce’s apparent division of theory from practice is a consequence of his understanding of theory as a practice.

Peirce often appeals to a habit-based account of human activity. However, this account is not developed in detail in any one text. The first task of this thesis is to gather together Peirce’s remarks on habit and human activity into a single coherent picture. According to this picture, we are made up of a body of habits which is constantly developing as we interact with the world. This body of habits is only partially subject to self-control, but we use this small window to direct ourselves towards our purposes. That in our body of habits which is subject to control is called the ‘foreground’ and that which is not is called the ‘background’. Agents are said to be ‘in harmony’ with their environment when their habits al- low them to achieve their purposes. In the course of articulating this picture points of critical contact with recent philosophy of action are noted.

The second task of this thesis is to show that Peirce understands theoretical inquiry on this model. Theoretical inquiry is the practice directed to the discovery of truth, where truth is understood as ultimate harmony between beliefs (a kind of habit) and the world. It depends on a background of mostly-instinctive habits, including a collection of indubitable common-sense beliefs, and an attunement with the world that enables us to generate explanatory hypotheses.

The third task is to show that Peirce’s division of theory from our other practices is a consequence of his understanding of the special character of truth. According to Peirce the discovery of truth is a ‘long-run’ goal, which demands very different treatment from the ‘short-run’ goals of our other practices. To allow the needs of other practices to interfere in theoretical inquiry would be to take us off the path of truth. On the other hand, to allow theoretical results and reasoning to directly control our other practices would be to substitute reliable instinct for highly fallible reason. In sum, Peirce insists on the autonomy of theory and practice from one another.

text: Peirce on Habit, Practice, and Theory: The Priority of Practice and the Autonomy of Theory Charles Peirce’s thought on the relationship between theory and practice has two seemingly inconsistent thrusts. On one hand, Peirce draws theory and practice together. He understands theory as a particular form of practical interaction with the world. On the other hand, he pulls them apart. He seems to insist that theoretical inquiry is not to affect, or be affected by, our other practices. This thesis uses Peirce’s habit-based account of human activity to show that the two sides of his thought are not inconsistent. Rather, Peirce’s apparent division of theory from practice is a consequence of his understanding of theory as a practice.

Peirce often appeals to a habit-based account of human activity. However, this account is not developed in detail in any one text. The first task of this thesis is to gather together Peirce’s remarks on habit and human activity into a single coherent picture. According to this picture, we are made up of a body of habits which is constantly developing as we interact with the world. This body of habits is only partially subject to self-control, but we use this small window to direct ourselves towards our purposes. That in our body of habits which is subject to control is called the ‘foreground’ and that which is not is called the ‘background’. Agents are said to be ‘in harmony’ with their environment when their habits al- low them to achieve their purposes. In the course of articulating this picture points of critical contact with recent philosophy of action are noted.

The second task of this thesis is to show that Peirce understands theoretical inquiry on this model. Theoretical inquiry is the practice directed to the discovery of truth, where truth is understood as ultimate harmony between beliefs (a kind of habit) and the world. It depends on a background of mostly-instinctive habits, including a collection of indubitable common-sense beliefs, and an attunement with the world that enables us to generate explanatory hypotheses.

The third task is to show that Peirce’s division of theory from our other practices is a consequence of his understanding of the special character of truth. According to Peirce the discovery of truth is a ‘long-run’ goal, which demands very different treatment from the ‘short-run’ goals of our other practices. To allow the needs of other practices to interfere in theoretical inquiry would be to take us off the path of truth. On the other hand, to allow theoretical results and reasoning to directly control our other practices would be to substitute reliable instinct for highly fallible reason. In sum, Peirce insists on the autonomy of theory and practice from one another.

year: 2013

title: Empowering Ni-Vanuatu women: Amplifying Wantok authority and achieving fair market access

authors: Thomas, Andrina Komala Lini

subjects: URBAN WOMEN IN FORMAL AUTHORITY IN VANUATU

abstract: The Republic of Vanuatu (2004) report on Vanuatu’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) notes that many urban disenfranchised Ni-Vanuatu women live in poverty and have little access to paid employment. The women who do gain paid employment in formal jobs rarely gain access to positions of authority. The United Nations (UN) offered two strategies to improve the position of Ni-Vanuatu women in Vanuatu. The first is informed by CEDAW in Article Eleven on Employment. The “Equity Desk of the Vanuatu Department of Strategic Management” and the “Vanuatu Department of Women’s Affairs Gender Planner” (The Republic of Vanuatu, 2004, pp. 12-13) have been charged with the responsibility of implementing Article Eleven and developing Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) programmes for the public sector. This strategy aims to increase women’s access to paid employment in the formal employment sector and encourage women to achieve positions of authority. The second strategy offered by the UN is the establishment of microfinance projects aimed at providing disenfranchised urban women unable to find employment with a means to own and run microfinance businesses to earn a living. Both these strategies have the overarching aim of improving the well-being of Ni-Vanuatu women.

This study has investigated the extent to which access to formal sector jobs and the implementation of microfinance businesses in the informal sector addresses the well-being of Ni-Vanuatu women. These programmes are being implemented within a complex historical, socio-political cultural and economic environment (Van Trease, 1995). This complexity includes the continuance of Wantok systems of governance in the form of matrilineality (predominant in Vanuatu) and patrilineality (adopted from Christian influences in 1800s and colonial legacy in 1906) (Van Trease, 1987; Facey, 1981; Allen, 1981 & Macdonald-Milne & Thomas, 1981). Matrilineal cultural values bequeath patrimony and legacy of lineage and land inheritance from mothers to daughters. Matrilineal women share power with men in community affairs (Maltali, Sandy & Tamashiro, 2009). In patrilineal communities, patrimony and legacy of lineage and land inheritance is passed from fathers to sons (Van Trease, 1987). Patrilineal mothers and daughters have no lineage, land inheritance, or power-sharing rights (Stege, Maetala, Naupa & Simo 2008). Both Wantok systems are based on communal values practised primarily in the rural sector. Urban centres are organised around a modern-cash and market-economy and a governance framework based on the British Westminster model and the French Head of State model (ILO, 2006). This European generated governance system is underpinned by values informed by liberal competitive individualism and an assumed commitment to meritocracy. It is, however, a system of governance steeped in patriarchal nuances as a direct legacy of the colonial regime now adapted and administered by the Vanuatu’s ruling elite, referred as Vanuatu’s urban patriarchy throughout this thesis. 

The theoretical frameworks used in this research draw on both liberal feminist studies and on an adaptation of subaltern scholarship (Thomas & Humphries, 2010 & 2011). The focus is on the legacy of imperialism and colonisation, the politics of power and hegemony, and the expressions of equal rights, emancipation and empowerment as these pertain to the well-being of women in Vanuatu. 

Three sets of qualitative empirical observations were collected: i) a focus group discussion with 20 employer and employee representatives; ii) 36 conversations with women employed in the formal employment sector who held positions of authority within their respective organisations; and iii) 39 conversations with women who owned a microfinance business. My field notes were analysed thematically using a point and counterpoint framework crafted from my interest in the work of Huxley (cf Baker & James, 2000a & 2000b & Dawson, 2009). The point is informed by a liberal feminist lens (Gamble, 1999 & Heywood, 2000). A counterpoint to this liberal feminist interpretation is generated from a post-colonial feminist perspective through an adaptation of subaltern studies (Thomas & Humphries 2010 & 2011; Gamble, 1999 & Spivak, 1988). I draw on my Matrilineal Wantok Feminist Voice (MWFV) to form a standpoint in the discussion and to frame insights drawn from the ideas associated with the solidarity economy (Allard, Davidson & Matthaei, 2009; Harvey, 2006 & Harding, 2004). 
 
Point/counterpoint/standpoint for the research as a whole
Point: Liberal feminist strategies for the emancipation of women (and the intended improvement and well-being of their families associated with this perspective) encourage women to pursue better living standards, achieve empowerment in the home, and seek formal jobs or other market-based income opportunities. If in formal jobs, women are encouraged to seek positions of authority. For these women, the major transition in orientation is the move from Wantok-related patterns of responsibilities and opportunities to those made available in the formal Western-generated economy. These Western ways, with emphasis on individualized opportunity, appear to offer financial gain and familial influences, particularly to women born into patrilineal lineage descent groups. 

Counterpoint: Viewed through the adaptation of subaltern perspectives that I have applied to the liberal feminist remedies for the enhancement of well-being for the women of Vanuatu, it appears that the women of Vanuatu are involved in multiple and simultaneous complex master/slave relationships (Kohn, 2005 & Honderich, 1995). These relationships are exemplified in salaried/professional occupations held by women, between the women and their employers and work-place cultures, between women and rural and urban patriarchal hegemonies, and between women and the cash and market economy. While EEO activities can be seen to make a difference in the lives of some women, taken together, these interventions are reducing the overall well-being for Ni-Vanuatu women more generally. For the Vanwods microfinance women entrepreneurs, master/slave relationships could be discerned between the Vanwods MFI’s social control of the Mamas, the Vanuatu Government’s imposition of high business licence fees to the Mamas, the Mamas and their greater dependence on the cash and market economy, and the Mamas and their relationship with rural and urban patriarchal hegemonies (Thomas & Humphries, 2010 & 2011). These forms of systemic subservience interpreted from the women’s narratives provide a caution against the uncritical adoption of Western liberal feminist ideals (DeVault, 1990). It is matrilineal women; however, who appear to suffer the most from their move into the urban centres as there they must contend with an urban patriarchal hegemony, an impediment which they had not encountered in their former rural communities governed in accordance with matrilineal Wantok values.

Standpoint: The research findings suggest that all women in this study worked long hours, experiencing discrimination and oppression, received low pay, and experienced increased financial obligations as a result of their engagement in formal and informal jobs. As well as being increasingly dependent on inadequate and unsustainable livelihoods in the urban areas, family and Wantok social relations were challenged and diminished as a consequence of their necessary commitment to their jobs and the demands of urban living. Access to traditional forms of authority and sustenance was undermined. 

I conclude that, overall, the implementation of CEDAW-EEO programmes along with the establishment of microfinance projects devised for the emancipation of the disenfranchised women of Vanuatu, while apparently proving beneficial from a liberal feminist interpretation in granting urban women with access to incomes, property and power-sharing, may provide an element of liberation for women of patrilineal descent groups but add new dimensions of patriarchal inhibitors for women of matrilineal descent groups who take up employment under the Westminster rules of governance. The remedies taken as a whole, while promising improved well-being through market-based income generation, remove women from the Wantok kinship social support networks embedded in their indigenous Wantok governance frameworks causing complex problems and hardships for them. Drawing on my Matrilineal Wantok Feminist standpoint position, I suggest that the Solidarity Economy, which combines aspects of market access while still engaging in the traditional systems of social organization, offers an alternative organisational and economic framework for developing and enhancing community well-being in both the rural and urban areas of Vanuatu.

text: Empowering Ni-Vanuatu women: Amplifying Wantok authority and achieving fair market access The Republic of Vanuatu (2004) report on Vanuatu’s implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) notes that many urban disenfranchised Ni-Vanuatu women live in poverty and have little access to paid employment. The women who do gain paid employment in formal jobs rarely gain access to positions of authority. The United Nations (UN) offered two strategies to improve the position of Ni-Vanuatu women in Vanuatu. The first is informed by CEDAW in Article Eleven on Employment. The “Equity Desk of the Vanuatu Department of Strategic Management” and the “Vanuatu Department of Women’s Affairs Gender Planner” (The Republic of Vanuatu, 2004, pp. 12-13) have been charged with the responsibility of implementing Article Eleven and developing Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) programmes for the public sector. This strategy aims to increase women’s access to paid employment in the formal employment sector and encourage women to achieve positions of authority. The second strategy offered by the UN is the establishment of microfinance projects aimed at providing disenfranchised urban women unable to find employment with a means to own and run microfinance businesses to earn a living. Both these strategies have the overarching aim of improving the well-being of Ni-Vanuatu women.

This study has investigated the extent to which access to formal sector jobs and the implementation of microfinance businesses in the informal sector addresses the well-being of Ni-Vanuatu women. These programmes are being implemented within a complex historical, socio-political cultural and economic environment (Van Trease, 1995). This complexity includes the continuance of Wantok systems of governance in the form of matrilineality (predominant in Vanuatu) and patrilineality (adopted from Christian influences in 1800s and colonial legacy in 1906) (Van Trease, 1987; Facey, 1981; Allen, 1981 & Macdonald-Milne & Thomas, 1981). Matrilineal cultural values bequeath patrimony and legacy of lineage and land inheritance from mothers to daughters. Matrilineal women share power with men in community affairs (Maltali, Sandy & Tamashiro, 2009). In patrilineal communities, patrimony and legacy of lineage and land inheritance is passed from fathers to sons (Van Trease, 1987). Patrilineal mothers and daughters have no lineage, land inheritance, or power-sharing rights (Stege, Maetala, Naupa & Simo 2008). Both Wantok systems are based on communal values practised primarily in the rural sector. Urban centres are organised around a modern-cash and market-economy and a governance framework based on the British Westminster model and the French Head of State model (ILO, 2006). This European generated governance system is underpinned by values informed by liberal competitive individualism and an assumed commitment to meritocracy. It is, however, a system of governance steeped in patriarchal nuances as a direct legacy of the colonial regime now adapted and administered by the Vanuatu’s ruling elite, referred as Vanuatu’s urban patriarchy throughout this thesis. 

The theoretical frameworks used in this research draw on both liberal feminist studies and on an adaptation of subaltern scholarship (Thomas & Humphries, 2010 & 2011). The focus is on the legacy of imperialism and colonisation, the politics of power and hegemony, and the expressions of equal rights, emancipation and empowerment as these pertain to the well-being of women in Vanuatu. 

Three sets of qualitative empirical observations were collected: i) a focus group discussion with 20 employer and employee representatives; ii) 36 conversations with women employed in the formal employment sector who held positions of authority within their respective organisations; and iii) 39 conversations with women who owned a microfinance business. My field notes were analysed thematically using a point and counterpoint framework crafted from my interest in the work of Huxley (cf Baker & James, 2000a & 2000b & Dawson, 2009). The point is informed by a liberal feminist lens (Gamble, 1999 & Heywood, 2000). A counterpoint to this liberal feminist interpretation is generated from a post-colonial feminist perspective through an adaptation of subaltern studies (Thomas & Humphries 2010 & 2011; Gamble, 1999 & Spivak, 1988). I draw on my Matrilineal Wantok Feminist Voice (MWFV) to form a standpoint in the discussion and to frame insights drawn from the ideas associated with the solidarity economy (Allard, Davidson & Matthaei, 2009; Harvey, 2006 & Harding, 2004). 
 
Point/counterpoint/standpoint for the research as a whole
Point: Liberal feminist strategies for the emancipation of women (and the intended improvement and well-being of their families associated with this perspective) encourage women to pursue better living standards, achieve empowerment in the home, and seek formal jobs or other market-based income opportunities. If in formal jobs, women are encouraged to seek positions of authority. For these women, the major transition in orientation is the move from Wantok-related patterns of responsibilities and opportunities to those made available in the formal Western-generated economy. These Western ways, with emphasis on individualized opportunity, appear to offer financial gain and familial influences, particularly to women born into patrilineal lineage descent groups. 

Counterpoint: Viewed through the adaptation of subaltern perspectives that I have applied to the liberal feminist remedies for the enhancement of well-being for the women of Vanuatu, it appears that the women of Vanuatu are involved in multiple and simultaneous complex master/slave relationships (Kohn, 2005 & Honderich, 1995). These relationships are exemplified in salaried/professional occupations held by women, between the women and their employers and work-place cultures, between women and rural and urban patriarchal hegemonies, and between women and the cash and market economy. While EEO activities can be seen to make a difference in the lives of some women, taken together, these interventions are reducing the overall well-being for Ni-Vanuatu women more generally. For the Vanwods microfinance women entrepreneurs, master/slave relationships could be discerned between the Vanwods MFI’s social control of the Mamas, the Vanuatu Government’s imposition of high business licence fees to the Mamas, the Mamas and their greater dependence on the cash and market economy, and the Mamas and their relationship with rural and urban patriarchal hegemonies (Thomas & Humphries, 2010 & 2011). These forms of systemic subservience interpreted from the women’s narratives provide a caution against the uncritical adoption of Western liberal feminist ideals (DeVault, 1990). It is matrilineal women; however, who appear to suffer the most from their move into the urban centres as there they must contend with an urban patriarchal hegemony, an impediment which they had not encountered in their former rural communities governed in accordance with matrilineal Wantok values.

Standpoint: The research findings suggest that all women in this study worked long hours, experiencing discrimination and oppression, received low pay, and experienced increased financial obligations as a result of their engagement in formal and informal jobs. As well as being increasingly dependent on inadequate and unsustainable livelihoods in the urban areas, family and Wantok social relations were challenged and diminished as a consequence of their necessary commitment to their jobs and the demands of urban living. Access to traditional forms of authority and sustenance was undermined. 

I conclude that, overall, the implementation of CEDAW-EEO programmes along with the establishment of microfinance projects devised for the emancipation of the disenfranchised women of Vanuatu, while apparently proving beneficial from a liberal feminist interpretation in granting urban women with access to incomes, property and power-sharing, may provide an element of liberation for women of patrilineal descent groups but add new dimensions of patriarchal inhibitors for women of matrilineal descent groups who take up employment under the Westminster rules of governance. The remedies taken as a whole, while promising improved well-being through market-based income generation, remove women from the Wantok kinship social support networks embedded in their indigenous Wantok governance frameworks causing complex problems and hardships for them. Drawing on my Matrilineal Wantok Feminist standpoint position, I suggest that the Solidarity Economy, which combines aspects of market access while still engaging in the traditional systems of social organization, offers an alternative organisational and economic framework for developing and enhancing community well-being in both the rural and urban areas of Vanuatu.

year: 2013

title: Local values and the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services in Aotearoa-New Zealand: a case study of Tauranga’s planning regime

authors: Peat, Helen Ann

subjects: Environmental planning

abstract: Aligning wetlands restoration planning mechanisms with public perceptions and values can help gain support for and assistance with restoration. Using Tauranga as a case study, this thesis is an exploratory study that applies the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework to examine the extent to which New Zealand's planning regime incorporates local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services.

This thesis used multiple qualitative research methods in a two-pronged process. A narrative literature review and systematic statutory analysis in phase one helped identify values associated with wetland ecosystem services and how New Zealand’s, and more specifically Tauranga’s, resource management system promotes and enables the restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. A case study approach with analysis of primary and secondary data in phase two helped identify what Tauranga local residents value as important wetland ecosystem services and the extent to which the local policy mechanisms reflect these values. 

Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and summaries of submissions, this thesis identifies six dimensions that represent values towards wetland ecosystem services and their restoration in Tauranga. Other than one dimension that consists of a single value on education from the cultural services category of the MEA framework, the remaining five dimensions comprise services from within and between the framework categories. These dimensions are wetlands as nutrient- and mineral-rich areas that support biodiversity and provide habitat; that regulate water, act as natural flood plains and sequester carbon to help protect against climate change and natural hazards; that maintain Māori cultural practices; that remove nutrients and contaminants in water; and provide recreational and aesthetic experiences. Therefore, identified dimensions could form the basis of educational programmes and toolkits that promote wetlands restoration.

The systematic policy analysis and cross-comparison with the results of the thematic analysis found that Tauranga’s planning regime partially provides for each of the six dimensions. However, the nuances and complexities of the values, including the interconnected nature of wetlands values and services, are not captured. This means Tauranga’s planning regime does not fully incorporate local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. Bridging the gap between wetlands restoration provisions and wetland ecosystem service values is likely to be supported by enacting the current resource management reforms. Enacting the reforms would help reduce the number of policies and plans, implement regional spatial planning, and develop outcomes-based policy mechanisms that encompass ecological, social, cultural and spiritual values, including those associated with wetlands.

text: Local values and the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services in Aotearoa-New Zealand: a case study of Tauranga’s planning regime Aligning wetlands restoration planning mechanisms with public perceptions and values can help gain support for and assistance with restoration. Using Tauranga as a case study, this thesis is an exploratory study that applies the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) framework to examine the extent to which New Zealand's planning regime incorporates local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services.

This thesis used multiple qualitative research methods in a two-pronged process. A narrative literature review and systematic statutory analysis in phase one helped identify values associated with wetland ecosystem services and how New Zealand’s, and more specifically Tauranga’s, resource management system promotes and enables the restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. A case study approach with analysis of primary and secondary data in phase two helped identify what Tauranga local residents value as important wetland ecosystem services and the extent to which the local policy mechanisms reflect these values. 

Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and summaries of submissions, this thesis identifies six dimensions that represent values towards wetland ecosystem services and their restoration in Tauranga. Other than one dimension that consists of a single value on education from the cultural services category of the MEA framework, the remaining five dimensions comprise services from within and between the framework categories. These dimensions are wetlands as nutrient- and mineral-rich areas that support biodiversity and provide habitat; that regulate water, act as natural flood plains and sequester carbon to help protect against climate change and natural hazards; that maintain Māori cultural practices; that remove nutrients and contaminants in water; and provide recreational and aesthetic experiences. Therefore, identified dimensions could form the basis of educational programmes and toolkits that promote wetlands restoration.

The systematic policy analysis and cross-comparison with the results of the thematic analysis found that Tauranga’s planning regime partially provides for each of the six dimensions. However, the nuances and complexities of the values, including the interconnected nature of wetlands values and services, are not captured. This means Tauranga’s planning regime does not fully incorporate local values in the promotion and restoration of wetlands and their ecosystem services. Bridging the gap between wetlands restoration provisions and wetland ecosystem service values is likely to be supported by enacting the current resource management reforms. Enacting the reforms would help reduce the number of policies and plans, implement regional spatial planning, and develop outcomes-based policy mechanisms that encompass ecological, social, cultural and spiritual values, including those associated with wetlands.

year: 2022