title: Looking across languages: Anglocentrism, cross-linguistic experimental philosophy, and the future of inquiry about truth

authors: Wyatt, Jeremy

abstract: Analytic philosophers have defended a wide range of views about ‘the ordinary concept of truth’ and the meaning of ‘the truth predicate.’ Moreover, they often appeal to their views about these matters in arguing for particular accounts of the metaphysics of truth. We have two main aims in this talk. The first is to explain why experimental philosophy has an indispensable role to play in analytic debates about truth that are focused on these topics. The second is to explain why, when it is employed in inquiry about truth, it is vital for experimental philosophy to involve cross-linguistic analysis. Our hope is that this discussion will point the way to a more fruitful, broad-minded, and scientifically respectable approach to inquiring about truth.

text: Looking across languages: Anglocentrism, cross-linguistic experimental philosophy, and the future of inquiry about truth Analytic philosophers have defended a wide range of views about ‘the ordinary concept of truth’ and the meaning of ‘the truth predicate.’ Moreover, they often appeal to their views about these matters in arguing for particular accounts of the metaphysics of truth. We have two main aims in this talk. The first is to explain why experimental philosophy has an indispensable role to play in analytic debates about truth that are focused on these topics. The second is to explain why, when it is employed in inquiry about truth, it is vital for experimental philosophy to involve cross-linguistic analysis. Our hope is that this discussion will point the way to a more fruitful, broad-minded, and scientifically respectable approach to inquiring about truth.

year: 2022-12-06

title: Evidence for suppressed mid-Holocene northeastern Australian monsoon variability from coral luminescence

authors: Lough, J.M.

abstract: Summer monsoon rainfall in northeastern (NE) Australia exhibits substantial interannual variability resulting in highly variable river flows. The occurrence and magnitude of these seasonal river flows are reliably recorded in modern inshore corals as luminescent lines. Here we present reconstructed annual river flows for two ~120 year mid-Holocene windows based on luminescence measurements from five cores obtained from three separate coral colonies. We were able to cross-date the luminescence signatures in four cores from two of the colonies, providing confidence in the derived reconstruction. Present-day NE Australian rainfall and river flow are sensitive to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, with La Niña (El Niño) events typically associated with wetter (drier) monsoon seasons. Thus, our replicated and annually resolved coral records provide valuable insights into the northern Australian summer monsoon and ENSO variability at a key period (6 ka) when greenhouse gas levels and ice sheet cover were comparable to the preindustrial period but orbital forcing was different. Average modern and mid-Holocene growth characteristics were very similar, suggesting that sea surface temperatures off NE Australia at 6 kyr were also close to present values. The reconstructed river flow record suggests, however, that the mid-Holocene Australian summer monsoon was weaker, less variable from year to year (possibly indicative of reduced ENSO variability), and characterized by more within-season flood pulses than present. In contrast to today, the delivery of moisture appears to have been dominated by eastward propagating convective coupled waves associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation.

text: Evidence for suppressed mid-Holocene northeastern Australian monsoon variability from coral luminescence Summer monsoon rainfall in northeastern (NE) Australia exhibits substantial interannual variability resulting in highly variable river flows. The occurrence and magnitude of these seasonal river flows are reliably recorded in modern inshore corals as luminescent lines. Here we present reconstructed annual river flows for two ~120 year mid-Holocene windows based on luminescence measurements from five cores obtained from three separate coral colonies. We were able to cross-date the luminescence signatures in four cores from two of the colonies, providing confidence in the derived reconstruction. Present-day NE Australian rainfall and river flow are sensitive to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, with La Niña (El Niño) events typically associated with wetter (drier) monsoon seasons. Thus, our replicated and annually resolved coral records provide valuable insights into the northern Australian summer monsoon and ENSO variability at a key period (6 ka) when greenhouse gas levels and ice sheet cover were comparable to the preindustrial period but orbital forcing was different. Average modern and mid-Holocene growth characteristics were very similar, suggesting that sea surface temperatures off NE Australia at 6 kyr were also close to present values. The reconstructed river flow record suggests, however, that the mid-Holocene Australian summer monsoon was weaker, less variable from year to year (possibly indicative of reduced ENSO variability), and characterized by more within-season flood pulses than present. In contrast to today, the delivery of moisture appears to have been dominated by eastward propagating convective coupled waves associated with the Madden-Julian Oscillation.

year: 2014

title: Frozen rights?: The right to develop Maori treaty and aboriginal rights

authors: Joseph, Robert

subjects: Maori

abstract: Bishop Manuhuia Bennett often asked the question: "What did Maori call New Zealand before the arrival of the Pakeha [Europeans]?" After a deliberate pause, he would then simply utter: "Ours".

text: Frozen rights?: The right to develop Maori treaty and aboriginal rights Bishop Manuhuia Bennett often asked the question: "What did Maori call New Zealand before the arrival of the Pakeha [Europeans]?" After a deliberate pause, he would then simply utter: "Ours".

year: 2011