Philosophyhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/13042024-03-28T11:17:29Z2024-03-28T11:17:29Z2021'Atrocity Suppression': an alternative to 'Humanitarian Intervention'Mawe, Timothyhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/123982023-04-04T10:48:20Z2021-11-11T00:00:00Zdc.title: 'Atrocity Suppression': an alternative to 'Humanitarian Intervention'
dc.contributor.author: Mawe, Timothy
dc.description.abstract: The concept of humanitarian intervention has been around for centuries but came to particular prominence in the mid-1990s on foot of Genocides in Rwanda and at Srebrenica, Bosnia. The shocking brutality and scale of these events and the steadfast failure of the international community to defend the victims propelled the issue of humanitarian intervention to the centre of international relations discourse and fostered a growing conviction that atrocities ought to ‘never again’ be allowed to proceed unhindered. Enhanced support for humanitarian intervention was reflected in the short-term in the form of interventions in Kosovo, East Timor, and Sierra Leone and in the articulation of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
The dawn of the twenty-first century, thus, promised to herald a new era in which humanitarian intervention would be undertaken in a more consistent and principled manner than ever before. Such lofty expectations have quickly receded, however, and when it has come to confronting large-scale crises and taking effective remedial action – in Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar – the option of putting force to work in defence of afflicted populations has, as before, been eschewed.
Whereas the prospect of intervention has continued to be stymied by the age-old impediment of apathy, engagement has also been considerably constrained by a newfound antipathy towards the idea of armed rescue itself. If previously, forcible intercession had been considered a laudable notion constrained by inertia, self-interest, and concerns about legality, in the twenty-first century it has increasingly come to be seen as flawed in its own right. Such has been the disillusionment with the concept that it has scarcely been mooted as a possible solution to recent crises in Yemen and Myanmar.In this thesis, I argue that the terminology of ‘humanitarian intervention’ has played a key role in the erosion of support for armed rescue. I contend that the singular terminology of ‘humanitarian intervention’ has come to be used to denote several different models of action and that these models have become confused by virtue of semantic association. I argue, in particular, that the ‘classical’ model of humanitarian intervention, concerned with interceding in major atrocities, has come to be conflated
with various ‘contemporary’ models of humanitarian intervention. In this way, classical humanitarian intervention has come to be tarnished by the failings and divisiveness of interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya.
Considering the need to differentiate classical humanitarian intervention as a unique concept, and responding, moreover, to the opposition of the humanitarian sector to the association of the word ‘humanitarian’ with military endeavour, I propose that a new name be coined to delineate the classical idea. I, thus, introduce ‘atrocity suppression’ and articulate the key benefits that will accrue from its adoption.
2021-11-11T00:00:00Z6 ways you and your family can take action now on climate changeMintz-Woo, Kianhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/117532023-04-04T12:43:27Z2021-08-17T00:00:00Zdc.title: 6 ways you and your family can take action now on climate change
dc.contributor.author: Mintz-Woo, Kian
dc.description.abstract: Six ways individuals can contribute to climate mitigation: reduce meat-eating, watch food waste, limit driving/flying, talk about climate with others, upgrade appliances, and donate to environmental groups.
dc.description: Six ways individuals can contribute to climate mitigation: reduce meat-eating, watch food waste, limit driving/flying, talk about climate with others, upgrade appliances, and donate to environmental groups
2021-08-17T00:00:00ZA case study of an experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic: online elicitation of subjective beliefs and economic preferencesHarrison, Glenn W.Hofmeyr, AndreKincaid, HaroldMonroe, BrianRoss, DonSchneider, MarkSwarthout, J. Toddhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/123932023-04-04T12:42:04Z2021-12-18T00:00:00Zdc.title: A case study of an experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic: online elicitation of subjective beliefs and economic preferences
dc.contributor.author: Harrison, Glenn W.; Hofmeyr, Andre; Kincaid, Harold; Monroe, Brian; Ross, Don; Schneider, Mark; Swarthout, J. Todd
dc.description.abstract: We convey our experiences developing and implementing an online experiment to elicit subjective beliefs and economic preferences. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated closures of our laboratories required us to conduct an online experiment in order to collect beliefs and preferences associated with the pandemic in a timely manner. Since we had not previously conducted a similar multi-wave online experiment, we faced design and implementation considerations that are not present when running a typical laboratory experiment. By discussing these details more fully, we hope to contribute to the online experiment methodology literature at a time when many other researchers may be considering conducting an online experiment for the first time. We focus primarily on methodology; in a complementary study we focus on initial research findings.
2021-12-18T00:00:00ZA Commentary on Anna Stilz, "Nations, States, and Territory" and Lea Ypi, "A Permissive Theory of Territorial Rights"Pinheiro Walla, Alicehttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/27082023-04-04T12:41:50Z2014-10-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: A Commentary on Anna Stilz, "Nations, States, and Territory" and Lea Ypi, "A Permissive Theory of Territorial Rights"
dc.contributor.author: Pinheiro Walla, Alice
dc.contributor.editor: Nine, Cara
2014-10-01T00:00:00ZA flexible, sloppy blob? Ontology, AI, and the role of metaphysicsRoss, Donhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/151852023-11-09T16:15:25Z2023-01-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: A flexible, sloppy blob? Ontology, AI, and the role of metaphysics
dc.contributor.author: Ross, Don
dc.description.abstract: Ladyman and Ross argue that analytic metaphysics is a misguided enterprise that should give way to a naturalized metaphysics that aims to reconcile everyday and special-scientific ontologies with fundamental physics as the authoritative source of knowledge on the general structure of the universe. Le Bihan and Barton (argue, as against this, that analytic metaphysics remains useful as a basis for the body of work in AI known as “applied ontology.” They stop short of claiming, however, that analytic metaphysics is useful as metaphysics. I consider a basis for making the stronger claim: Smith's project for building what he claims to be metaphysical foundations for applied ontology (and for AI generally). Ultimately, the stronger claim is rejected; but in the course of this dialectic new aspects of the naturalistic metaphysical project come to light, including relationships between it and the traditional metaphysical project of providing foundations for philosophical semantics of truth and reference.
2023-01-01T00:00:00ZA forward-looking approach to climate change and the risk of societal collapseSteel, DanielPhillips, CharlyGiang, AmandaMintz-Woo, Kianhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/156862024-03-27T08:19:28Z2024-03-08T00:00:00Zdc.title: A forward-looking approach to climate change and the risk of societal collapse
dc.contributor.author: Steel, Daniel; Phillips, Charly; Giang, Amanda; Mintz-Woo, Kian
dc.description.abstract: This article proposes a forward-looking approach to studying societal collapse risks related to climate change. Such an approach should indicate how to study emerging collapse risks and suggest strategies for adapting to them. Our approach is based on three postulates that facilitate a forward-looking approach: (1) collapse, if it occurred, would be a lengthy process rather than an abrupt event; (2) significant collapse risks already exist in some places; and (3) diminishing returns on adaptation to intensifying climate impacts are a key driver of collapse risks. The first two postulates suggests that collapse risks can be studied in process, while the third points to strategies for adaptation pathways that avoid unsustainable diminishing returns. Applying diminishing returns to climate change adaptation, rather than sociopolitical complexity or resource extraction, is also a novel theoretical contribution to collapse literature.
2024-03-08T00:00:00ZA new defence of probability discountingMintz-Woo, Kianhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/120182023-04-04T12:41:08Z2016-10-04T00:00:00Zdc.title: A new defence of probability discounting
dc.contributor.author: Mintz-Woo, Kian
dc.description.abstract: This chapter argues that, for decisions under risk, Simon Caney's rights-based approach overgeneralises and that rights-based theories structurally face similar problems. It makes a new moral case for probability discounting on the grounds that moral responsibility for outcomes scales with credence in outcomes.
2016-10-04T00:00:00ZA philosopher’s guide to discountingMintz-Woo, Kianhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/113342023-04-04T12:41:25Z2021-04-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: A philosopher’s guide to discounting
dc.contributor.author: Mintz-Woo, Kian
dc.description.abstract: This chapter introduces several distinctions relevant to what is called the “discounting problem”, since the issue is how (future) costs and benefits are discounted to make them comparable in present terms. The author defends the claim that there are good reasons to adopt Ramsey-style discounting in the context of climate change: the Ramsey rule is robust, flexible, and well-understood. An important distinction involved in discounting—“descriptivism” and “prescriptivism”—is discussed. It is argued that, even if we adopt prescriptivism, and accept that this means there is need for moral experts in parameter assignments, there is a significant issue. The type of moral expertise required for the discounting problem will not involve knowledge of moral theory—thus making moral philosophy unhelpful in terms of making particular parameter assignments, despite these being substantive moral judgments.
2021-04-01T00:00:00ZAddiction is socially engineered exploitation of natural biological vulnerabilityRoss, Donhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/97612023-06-26T14:04:40Z2020-03-14T00:00:00Zdc.title: Addiction is socially engineered exploitation of natural biological vulnerability
dc.contributor.author: Ross, Don
dc.description.abstract: Interdisciplinary study of addiction is facilitated by relative unification of the concept. What should be sought is not formal unification through literal analytic definition, which would undermine practical flexibility within disciplines and intervention practices. However, leading controversies around whether addiction should be conceived as a ‘disease’, and over whether addiction is ‘chosen’ behavior, are made more difficult to resolve by failure to apply philosophical reflection on these general concepts. Such reflection should be sensitive to two kinds of constraint: coherence in description of empirical, including neuroscientific, observation, and utility in framing normative goals in treatment and policy design. Following review of various interpretations of addiction, disease, and choice across contributing disciplines, it is concluded that addiction is most plausibly viewed as a disease at the scale of public health research and policy, but not personal (e.g. clinical) management and intervention. Addicts must make choices to recover, and in that respect addiction is a ‘disorder of choice’. However, it is concluded that the most relevant sense of ‘disorder’ arises at the social rather than the personal scale.
2020-03-14T00:00:00ZAn economics-based road classification system for South AfricaRoss, DonTownshend, Matthewhttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/67972023-04-04T12:41:27Z2018-07-01T00:00:00Zdc.title: An economics-based road classification system for South Africa
dc.contributor.author: Ross, Don; Townshend, Matthew
dc.description.abstract: Many road authorities, including those in South Africa, are unable to reliably identify and prioritise the maintenance of two essential road categories: roads that are required to satisfy citizens’ constitutional right to access basic services; and roads that maximise potential economic growth. This issue stems from reliance on the current set of classification systems, which lack the requisite detail to determine a road’s significance in connecting communities to basic service facilities, the volume and type of economic activity it supports, and overlaps between these functions. This paper therefore presents an economics-based road classification system customised for the South African road network. The new system disaggregates roads into four classes: Basic Access Roads; Strategic Roads; Tactical Roads; and Surplus Roads. The characteristics and maintenance priority level of each road class are addressed, along with an identification methodology that authorities can use to include this information within their asset management systems to improve expenditure and investment outcomes.
2018-07-01T00:00:00Z