Food ethics

Current food practices affect humans, animals, and the environment in ways that some regard as morally troubling. In this entry, I will explain the most important of these worries and what has been said in response to them. I will conclude with a brief discussion of one of the most interesting recent topics in food ethics, lab-grown meat, which has been proposed as a silver bullet solution to these worries

Convergence analysis of a multigrid algorithm for the acoustic single layer equation

We present and analyze a multigrid algorithm for the acoustic single layer equation in two dimensions. The boundary element formulation of the equation is based on piecewise constant test functions and we make use of a weak inner product in the multigrid scheme as proposed in \cite{BLP94}. A full error analysis of the algorithm is presented. We also conduct a numerical study of the effect of the weak inner product on the oscillatory behavior of the eigenfunctions for the Laplace single layer operator

Welfarism

Welfarism is a theory of value (or the good) simpliciter. Theories of value are fundamentally concerned with explaining what makes some possible worlds better than others. Welfarism is the view according to which the relative value of possible worlds is fully determined by how individuals are faring—or, in other words, by the facts about well-being that obtain—in these worlds. This entry begins by distinguishing between various forms of welfarism (pure vs. impure welfarism, and then narrow vs. wide welfarism). It then outlines some of the key attractions of welfarism. Finally, it surveys some of the most serious objections to welfarism (including malicious pleasure, the well-being of the wicked, great works of art, the non-identity problem, human extinction, transitivity of betterness, and distribution)

Evaluative Beliefs First

Many philosophers think that it is only because we happen to want or care about things that we think some things of value. We start off caring about things, and then project these desires onto the external world. In this chapter, I make a preliminary case for the opposite view, that it is our evaluative thinking that is prior or comes first. On this view, it is only because we think some things of value that we care about or want anything at all. This view is highly explanatory. In particular, it explains (i) the special role that pleasure and pain play in our motivational systems, (ii) why phenomenal consciousness evolved, and (iii) how the two main competing theories of normative reasons for action—i.e., objectivism and subjectivism—can be reconciled. After explaining why this is so, I respond to the most serious objections to this view, including that it cannot account for temptation and willpower, or for the existence and appropriateness of the reactive attitudes

Strengthening the impact of case studies through the use of a digital medium

This workshop provides an opportunity for delegates to explore their understanding of an aspect of Validated Prior Learning in higher education through the medium of film. The use of case studies is identified as valuable exemplification to support our understanding of complex structures and environments (Bassey 1999). By adopting a framework for exploring key issues in Validated Prior Learning we can draw comparisons across themes in single case studies and between multiple case studies. This may highlight particular structures and environmental features that can contribute to successful quality assurance, lifelong learning and societal integration. It may also identify inhibiting factors. Thus critical success factors for implementing VPL are revealed through case studies. By adopting an innovative digital medium such findings can be revealed more clearly to a wider audience then using traditional dissemination. In this workshop delegates will have opportunities to explore the power of Validated Prior Learning by story planning ahead of disseminating case studies through such tools as Videoscribe

Introduction

From the 1930s until the 1950s, the Waterside Workers Union was at the centre of industrial life in New Zealand. The union was repeatedly in battle with Government and employers over wages and conditions, and had made solidarity its byword, both at home and overseas. The wharfies were at the forefront in the battle against the Cold War, anti-communist drive set in train by the Fraser Government and taken up with gusto by the National Government under Sid Holland. The final battle in 1951 ranks as one of the defining moments of New Zealand's history in the twentieth century, as the forces of labour and capital were pitched against each other in a fight to the finish. In this book, Harold "Jock" Barnes tells the story of these events as they happened, from the day of his arrival on the waterfront in 1935 to the 1951 lockout and the destruction of the old union

Managers of Discontent: Problems of Labour Leadership

The establishment of mass trade unions in the 19th Century made the working class a force to be reckoned with. The subsequent rise of the Labor Party transformed Australian politics. Yet the fruits of both developments have been ambiguous. Unions are institutions firmly located on the terrain of capitalism, devoted to improving the terms on which labour power is sold within the existing class system rather than striving to transform it, while the ALP is devoted at best to modest reforms within the established social and political framework. Given that both operate on this basis, it is not surprising that the full-time representatives of labour's interests come to constitute a conservatising layer which accepts the existing social order and tends to restrain workers from militant struggles which might challenge it. This chapter considers the roots and contours of the trade union officialdom, related phenomena in the ALP, recent trends and the political implications

Social movement unionism since the fall of apartheid: the case of NUMSA on the East Rand

The role that COSATU now plays in the post-apartheid political dispensation is changing. The systemic political and legislative reforms ushered in by the ANC in the 1990s were designed not to usher in a socialist society, but a deracialised and stable capitalism. The essential conditions of labour subordination therefore remain, only now overlain at a national level with a social democratic political structure with a black complexion. This structure has taken the form of a corporatist political arrangement centred on the Tripartite Alliance and NEDLAC. Tripartism has yielded the unions certain historical gains, including the passage of relatively progressive labour relations legislation. As a result of this legislation, trade unions have now achieved what Gramsci (1919) called 'industrial legality', whereby the restrictions on managerial arbitrariness mark a historical advance for trade unions. In many respects, therefore, the institutionalisation of unions that occurred in the 1990s is a significant gain for the black workers of South Africa who were denied any role in the old political order. The question that is tackled in this chapter is whether these gains have come at the price of neutering much of the dynamism that made the federation such an explosive force for change in the 1980s. Specifically, can COSATU and its affiliates continue to be regarded as a model of social movement unionism (SMU), which comprises the following elements: mass mobilisation of members; internal democracy; broad social objectives; alliances with progressive social movements; functional independence from political parties; and recognition of diverse membership? Or, have the processes of bureaucratisation and routinisation evident in most Western unions after their initial explosive growth period now become dominant