Can the Skeptic Search for Truth?

Sextus Empiricus associates the Pyrrhonian stance with the activity of inquiry or investigation. In this paper, I propose to examine the skeptic’s involvement in that activity because getting an accurate understanding of the nature and purpose of skeptical inquiry will make it possible to delineate some of the distinctive traits of Pyrrhonism as a kind of philosophy. I defend the minority view among specialists according to which (i) Sextus describes both the prospective Pyrrhonist and the full-fledged Pyrrhonist as inquirers into truth, and (ii) the full-fledged Pyrrhonist can, without inconsistency, engage in truth-directed inquiry.

The functions and failings of the Abortion Supervisory Committee: A Critique of the New Zealand Supreme Court Decision in Right to Life New Zealand Inc v The Abortion Supervisory Committee

<p>In 2012 the Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled on Right to Life New Zealand Inc v The Abortion Supervisory Committee. The case was brought by way of application for judicial review, with Right to Life New Zealand Inc arguing that the Supervisory Committee had made an error of law in interpreting its functions under the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977. A majority of the Court held that the Supervisory Committee does not have the power to review decisions made by certifying consultants in individual cases. However, both the text and the purpose of the Act support the minority view, that the Supervisory Committee must seek information about individual cases in order to fulfil its functions under the Act. It appears that the majority judgment was motivated by policy concerns due to an arguable change in Parliamentary intent since 1977. The majority should have acknowledged the policy values that guided its decision or accorded with the minority view rather than straining the statutory wording. Either of those actions would have better prompted Parliament to reform the law to reflect modern circumstances.</p>

The functions and failings of the Abortion Supervisory Committee: A Critique of the New Zealand Supreme Court Decision in Right to Life New Zealand Inc v The Abortion Supervisory Committee

<p>In 2012 the Supreme Court of New Zealand ruled on Right to Life New Zealand Inc v The Abortion Supervisory Committee. The case was brought by way of application for judicial review, with Right to Life New Zealand Inc arguing that the Supervisory Committee had made an error of law in interpreting its functions under the Contraception, Sterilisation, and Abortion Act 1977. A majority of the Court held that the Supervisory Committee does not have the power to review decisions made by certifying consultants in individual cases. However, both the text and the purpose of the Act support the minority view, that the Supervisory Committee must seek information about individual cases in order to fulfil its functions under the Act. It appears that the majority judgment was motivated by policy concerns due to an arguable change in Parliamentary intent since 1977. The majority should have acknowledged the policy values that guided its decision or accorded with the minority view rather than straining the statutory wording. Either of those actions would have better prompted Parliament to reform the law to reflect modern circumstances.</p>

On the authorship and publication dates of Theraphosa and Theraphosidae (Araneae, Mygalomorphae): a clarification

The genus Theraphosa was established by Thorell (1870) as the type genus of the simultaneously published family Theraphosidae, the most diverse group of mygalomorph spiders. This authorship and publication date have long been accepted by the majority of authors. However, there has been a long-standing minority view that the genus name should be attributed to Walckenaer (1805), and the publication date of the family name changed to 1869. A thought-provoking recent publication has examined this case. Based on a limited selection of the relevant literature, the authors struggled to make sense of their sources and prematurely concluded that the minority opinion might indeed be correct. They overlooked the potentially destabilising implications of this reattribution. This paper revisits the evidence in the light of a much wider range of relevant publications, places it in its important historical context and, on the basis of the current rules of nomenclature, concludes that the traditional consensus has indeed been correct. Thus, Theraphosa Thorell, 1870 is the type genus of Theraphosidae Thorell, 1870 and a nomen protectum, while Theraphosa Schinz, 1823 is a nomen oblitum, mostly limited to the German textbook literature of the early 19th century. Teraphosa Eichwald, 1830 and Teraphosa Gistel, 1848 are junior synonyms of Avicularia Lamarck, 1818 (syn. nov.). Theraphosa Walckenaer, 1805 is a suprageneric name of the class-series (synonymous to Mygalomorphae) and not available at the genus level.

Forecasting the Impact of Automation on Jobs

Chapter 2 digs more deeply into the outlook for job destruction and job creation, and adds some theory and data to Chapter 1’s anecdotes about how machines can replace human workers. It reports an emerging consensus among leading scholars that automation is already contributing to the polarization, or hollowing out, of the labor market by destroying more middle-skill jobs than it is creating. And it reports on the more concerning prediction—still a minority view though more than plausible—that machines are destined to produce overall net job losses as they continually whittle away at humans’ comparative advantages. The chapter arrives at a working premise for the rest of the book that straddles those two forecasts: We are facing a future of less work—at least less work for those with ordinary human skills and without advanced education, and perhaps less work overall. While that straddle might seem untenable, either forecast is similarly bleak for most workers—if we do not respond constructively; and when it comes to the shape of a constructive response, both forecasts point largely in the same direction.

Book Review: Author: Al Khanif; Title: Religious Minorities, Islam, and The Law: International Human Rights and Islamic Law in Indonesia; Publisher: Routledge, 2021

This book examines religious minority rights in Islam in Indonesia from the international and local human rights perspectives. Its main contribution lies in the effort to find Indonesia's uniqueness in managing minority rights in religion. This study leads the author to a rich discussion of how international human rights through its activists spread the need for freedom of every citizen and how advocates of religious orthodoxy ​​respond to it. In contrast to analysts who use the dichotomous view of the acceptance or rejection of international human rights values, the author sees complexity in the process of spreading these values. It can be said that there is a process of modifying the values ​​of secularism in human rights and localization to make these values ​​an integral part of society. In this line of view, the author calls the Indonesian state a quasi-theistic secular state which means that Indonesia is a secular country but friendly and tries to guarantee freedom of religion and worship. In the case of minority rights in Islam, the state prioritizes harmony in society and supports the orthodox views of the majority. The minority view must be assimilated with the orthodox teachings of Islam to get a place to live. The quasi-theistic secular state continues to experience contestation and has undergone a long construction process based on the narration of the peaceful entry of Islam and the relatively moderate character of Indonesian Islam. At a certain level, this state concept has developed to be an identity and norms that become a reference for how to treat religious minorities. The author thus succeeded in showing that Indonesia is an example of a country that can develop its own identity and norms of religious life that are different from that of the Western secular state system.

Attempt to Monopolisation and Digital Markets: Enforcement Gap

Rapid technological development, particularly in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, has led to a significant change in the industrial structure as well. Regulatory bodies world over are struggling to adjust to these changing scenarios. There is a widespread discussion regarding the need to regulate technology-driven markets such as e-commerce, telecommunication, etc. The practices used by some business giants are going against the neoclassical economic theory that profit maximisation is the goal of every firm. Firms are opting growth over profit. A large number of investigations were opened in India against business giants. Some of them were able to find contraventions of the Competition Act, 2002 (the Act). However, a large number of investigations were closed due to the lack of cognizance of collective dominance in law or inability to prove dominance in the traditional economic sense. It can be seen from the current jurisprudence of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) that there are constraints in handling competition issues in technology-driven industries mainly on account of the extant legal framework which does not recognise the need of assessing an appreciable adverse effect on competition where the dominance of the firm is not apparent. Although, the Act takes into account attempt to cartelisation as a contravention of the Act, it does not envisage an attempt to monopolise as a contravention of the Act. The past and current jurisprudence of the CCI indicates that CCI’s view is also undergoing radical change. This paper discusses the concept of “attempt to monopolise” as given in the Sherman Act and its applicability in the Indian context. The paper reviews the American antitrust literature existing on this subject and analyses the key factors which constitute antitrust violations under the clause “attempt to monopolise”. While the majority view emphasises on proving dangerous probability of success while determining an attempt to monopolise, as per the minority view, “attempt” connotes conduct and not a state of being. Unlawful intent can be inferred from the conduct as a proof of an “attempt”. The law does not require completion of a crime, it requires conduct. Thus, an attempt to monopolise is a conduct offence. This paper argues that borrowing the attempt to monopolise concept from the Sherman Act, 1890 will be helpful for the CCI in handling antitrust cases in technology-driven industries such as e-commerce, telecommunications, transport, etc. It will go a long way in achieving competitive markets, increased consumer choice and welfare in the long-run.

The Epistemic Approach to the Problem of Consciousness

According to the epistemic view of the hard problem of consciousness, we are ignorant at least for the time being of something important and relevant when it comes to the hard problem, and this fact has a significant implication for its solution. This chapter outlines one version of the view before considering two objections. The first is that, while we may be ignorant of various features of the world, we are not ignorant of any feature that is relevant to the hard problem. The second is that, even if the epistemic approach is true, properly understood it is not an answer to the hard problem; indeed, it is no contribution to that problem at all. The chapter concludes with some brief reflections on why the epistemic approach, despite its attractiveness, remains a minority view in contemporary philosophy of mind.

Diverse views among scientists on non-native species

Conservation scientists have traditionally viewed non-native species (NNS) as potential threats to native biodiversity. Here, we question whether alternative views of NNS exist in the scientific community that stand in contrast to the dominant narrative that emerges from the literature. We asked researchers from the biological, social, and environmental sciences to participate in an anonymous poll regarding the perceived values and threats of NNS. Some 314 individuals responded, approximately half of whom were biologists and half were social or environmental scientists. We grouped responses into three statistical clusters defined by shared responses. We then analyzed the correlation of responses to individual questions and membership of clusters with predictor variables age, gender, and field of work. Overall, a majority of respondents in our sample supported statements that the species-component of biodiversity should include all species (55%) or some types of non-native species (an additional 32%), which contrasts with the manner in which major biodiversity assessments and indicators are constructed. A majority of respondents in our sample (65%) also supported that measurement of the impact of invasive species should be based on the net biological, social, and economic effects, which also represents a marked departure from current methods that focus only on the adverse effects of a subset of NNS considered as invasive. Field of work and age were correlated with clusters and numerous individual responses. For example, biologists were three-times more likely than non-biologists to support a definition of species richness that included only native species. Two clusters (Cluster 1 and Cluster 3), mainly composed of non-biologists and biologists, respectively, differed in their support for statements that NNS would provide useful ecosystem services in the future (66% and 40%, respectively). Thus, a key result of this study is that a variety of normative stances regarding NNS is present within the scientific community. Current international indicators of progress (e.g., Aichi Targets) capture only a “nativist” set of values, which, if our sample is representative of the scientific community, appears to be a minority view. Therefore, we argue that indicators should be modified to integrate the diversity of views that exist within the scientific community.

Reflexivity, Ethics, and Divergent Perspectives: A Transformational Journey of Social Work Educators

Using classroom vignettes, this article portrays the experiences of four White social work educators with minority-view inclusion and conflict management that is a result of divergent perspectives in the classroom. The use of reflexivity is explored as a strategy for understanding educators' biases and assumptions in teaching. In addition, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics is applied as it refers to helping social work students learn to think critically to meet the needs and rights of clients and to address social inequalities, diversity, privilege, and oppression. The authors provide recommendations based on their experiences and reflections.