Maori Values Can Reinvigorate a New Zealand Philosophy Piripi Whaanga A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy. Philosophy Department Victoria University of Wellington 2012 CONTENTS CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................7 Thesis method ........................................................................................................................................11 Thesis chapter division ...........................................................................................................................12 CHAPTER ONE: PRE-PAKEHA MAORI VALUES .............................................................................................17 Tikanga of mauri .....................................................................................................................................17 Virtues as ethics .....................................................................................................................................20 Values are a balancing act ......................................................................................................................25 Kinship is a value ....................................................................................................................................32 The value of the past ..............................................................................................................................33 Maori conception of inner form of life ...................................................................................................35 Divinity in the world ...............................................................................................................................37 Divine sharing .........................................................................................................................................40 Evolutionary ethics .................................................................................................................................41 How do humans move from philosophic principles to knowing this world? ..........................................44 Place of tradition ....................................................................................................................................48 Karakia as mediating values ...................................................................................................................53 CHAPTER TWO: THE EFFECT OF PAKEHA VALUES ON MAORI VALUES .......................................................58 Who is my neighbor?..............................................................................................................................58 Hara is not like sin ..................................................................................................................................64 Maori atua as domain ‘gods’ ..................................................................................................................67 Functioning as a value ............................................................................................................................70 How to reconcile ideologies ...................................................................................................................72 Vested interests .....................................................................................................................................77 CHAPTER THREE: MAORI AND PAKEHA VALUES INTERACT ........................................................................82 Competing worldviews ...........................................................................................................................82 Resource claims: the moral and legal issues ..........................................................................................91 Inter-racial marriage .............................................................................................................................100 2 Surveyed beliefs or how New Zealanders see themselves and others .................................................105 CHAPTER FOUR: TOWARDS A HARMONIOUS NEW ZEALAND PHILOSOPHY.............................................110 Educate ourselves ................................................................................................................................111 A Discourse Ethics Guide ......................................................................................................................112 Relationship refines us .........................................................................................................................115 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................117 REFERENCES: ............................................................................................................................................120 MAORI LANGUAGE APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................126 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Nga mihi aroha ki oku Maatua, Iharaira Titoko Whaanga raua ko Ellen Margurite (nee) O’Gorman. I wish to acknowledge my parents, Doxy and Rita who had a heart for all people. Much respect to Jay Shaw for encouraging that heart in me and countless other students. Thanks to the whanau Whaanga for home. Love to my wife for supporting my ‘mature student’ endeavours. These thoughts of mine are dedicated to the mokopuna of Aotearoa. ABSTRACT This thesis explores Maori values that can be seen in traditional Maori philosophy and attempts to define those values and how they are recognizable in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The thesis argues that through techniques such as discourse ethics where people agree to talk through differences, Maori values could be seen and incorporated in common New Zealand concepts, such as giving each other a ‘fair go’, for the betterment of the people and the land. This thesis argues for a new philosophy, a New Zealand philosophy. What we value, we protect and teach so that it encourages, what we might call, an attitude of ethical behaviour in all people regardless of class, ethnicity or gender. This ethical attitude is itself part of the Maori value. However in Aotearoa, as around the world, there are differing normative behaviours because of the plurality of value systems. Sometimes dispute settlement techniques are needed to find ways to live together in harmony. My approach incorporates two international methods in a New Zealand perspective. These are: Jurgen Habermas’s ‘Discourse Ethics’ based on his participatory conception of life where more ‘having your say’ not less, can solve the problems of contemporary living; and the ancient social science of Dharmasastra of Indian Philosophy which is the concept of dharma as support for the world. Where ‘Discourse Ethics’ invites communicative action, the concept of dharma goes further than Western normative codes by connecting human ethical ideals with a philosophical attitude towards the nature of the world, a type of moral code. I apply both these philosophic strategies to the quest for a moral conversation and moral justification between the world views of Maori and non Maori (Pakeha) to achieve cultural harmony both within and across cultures in this country. This moral conversation is the bed-rock of a New Zealand philosophy. Chapter one outlines the traditional sources of Maori values and how they were linked to tikanga, a Maori concept expressed as the nature and function of a thing. This tikanga concept can be compared to the ‘good’ of a thing in Greek Philosophy. I then expand on this tikanga concept to show how the values encapsulated a Maori world view as a traditional philosophy of cosmological order. I discuss the place of tradition as a source of Maori knowledge and the importance of karakia (rituals) as mediation to connect tikanga (function) with the world view that is expressed through the practise of values. 4 In Chapter Two I introduce a discussion on the values that the Europeans (Pakeha or non-Maori) brought with them as colonists and the effect these had on Maori philosophy. To illuminate these Pakeha and Maori values, I use Patterson and Perrett’s comparison of Maori philosophy with that of the Western tradition of Plato and Aristotle, as well as Patterson’s ‘Maori Values’1 and his later development of a ‘Pacific Philosophy.’2 I critique Patterson and Perrett’s findings with contemporary tohunga (Maori ritual experts) regarding the use of karakia (rituals) to mediate values. It is in the realm of the metaphysical that karakia (as ritual mediation) meets with a major influence on Western values, Christianity. I support the argument that it has been a predominantly one-sided process of adaptation, with Maori having done most of