Polytheism is a strange view to hold in modernity. Connected as it is in the popular imagination with archaic, animistic, magical, prescientific systems of thought, we don’t hesitate much before casting it into the dustbin of history. Even if we are not monotheists, we are likely to think of monotheism as the obviously more plausible position. The traditional arguments for the existence of God, which have been enormously influential in Western philosophy of religion, do not necessarily rule out polytheism but (...) they are clearly formulated with monotheism in mind. While there could be multiple first causes, intelligent designers, or beings than which nothing greater can be conceived, the simplest and most natural... (shrink)

This paper examines the seasonality of induced abortion in North Carolina between 1980 and 1993. Distinct seasonal patterns are found, with a peak in February and a valley in September. These patterns correspond to the implicit seasonality of conceptions associated with the seasonality of birth pattern. One notable difference from the general pattern is among unmarried women aged 18 and younger. They have the February peak and an additional peak in August that may be associated with the summer vacation from (...) school. (shrink)

The works of Nietzsche's middle period tend to be neglected by Nietzsche scholars. Already, Michael Ure's first book, Nietzsche's Therapy was a welcome exception, and he continues his exploration in this new book, a study of the work Nietzsche called his most personal, The Gay Science.Nietzsche is right to call GS personal, and Ure is right to emphasize it. Its preface explains that Nietzsche wrote the text while recovering from long illness, and many of the first edition's 342 aphorisms allude (...) to his personal experiences. Calling it a "philosophical autobiography", as Ure does, is perhaps an overstatement. Nietzsche wrote one of those—Ecce Homo—and wild as that book is... (shrink)

This paper applies models of the onset of adolescent sexual intercourse using national data from Denmark and the USA. The model gave excellent fits to data on Danish Whites and a good fit to American Whites, but the model-fits for American Blacks and Hispanics were not as good. The weakness of the latter model fits may reflect either real processes that the model does not capture or problems in the reliability of adolescent sexuality data.