To a non-lawyer, references to law reports can appear confusing and complicated. This brief article attempts to explain how to decode such references and thus get to the reports. Those wishing to pursue the matter further are referred to more detailed explanations. This article deals primarily with English case law and is up to date as of December 1987.

In the wake of the Supreme Court Decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Minkoff, Vullikanti, and Marshall (2024) argue that the unraveling of the constitutional right to abortion t...

Scholars have long puzzled about how to reconcile the proposal in Republic V that women should share the education and work of men, including ruling, with the deeply misogynistic comments found in the Republic and throughout Plato’s corpus. Even those who doubt that the proposal represents a sincere recognition of the women’s equality with men must provide a plausible explanation for this radical departure from the norms of Plato’s day. Taking inspiration from Annie Larivée’s application of Michèle Le Doeuff’s notion (...) of déshérence to the Republic and the Politicus, I argue that a new appreciation of the importance of childrearing motivates the reimagination of women’s work in the Republic. On this reading, the transformation of childrearing from a private undertaking of mostly women to a shared responsibility of the city as a whole protects young children from moral corruption at the hands of uneducated and morally inferior mothers and nurses. (shrink)

This paper aims to cast doubt upon a certain way of analysing prudential value (or good for ), namely in the manner of a ‘buck-passing’ analysis. It begins by explaining why we should be interested in analyses of good for and the nature of buck-passing analyses generally (§I). It moves on to considering and rejecting two sets of buck-passing analyses. The first are analyses that are likely to be suggested by those attracted to the idea of analysing good for in (...) a buck-passing fashion (§II). The second are the buck-passing analyses of good for proposed by John Skorupski (§III), Henry Sidgwick (§IV), and Stephen Darwall (§V). Along the way the paper shows that Michael Smith’s and Peter Railton’s analyses of other concepts—analyses that could be (and have been) taken to be analyses of good for —are similarly unsuitable as analyses of it. The paper concludes by suggesting that the fact that none of the buck-passing accounts of good for considered here is satisfactory, coupled with an appreciation of the various problems that a buck-passing analysis of good for would have to avoid, suggests that we should be sceptical about the prospects of finding such an analysis and should look for one of a different type. (shrink)

The Family Planning Association Northern Ireland (F.P.A.N.I.) has recently been successful in holding the state accountable for its duty to safeguard women’s reproductive health and welfare, and clarify the circumstances in which abortion is lawful. By demanding that the Minister for Health investigate abortion provision and produce abortion guidance, F.P.A.N.I. hope to improve the quality of abortion services and alleviate the situation of those women who are legally entitled to abortion in Northern Ireland but cannot access it there. This action (...) has challenged a public failure which impacts most negatively on those women who cannot easily escape its effects. Although the case succeeded in shaming the state for such a failure, the judicial review strategy could not challenge the legal ethos which denies women a say over their reproductive lives. This case commentary argues that pro-choice strategic litigation needs to positively and generally assert women’s reproductive rights at the same time as it seeks to accommodate the needs of the most vulnerable. (shrink)

_ Source: _Volume 40, Issue 1, pp 104 - 115 It is intended in this study to present initial reliability and validity data for the Russian adaptation of the Multidimensional Inventory of Religious/Spiritual Well-being, as being related to personality factors and psychopathology. Therefore, the first version of the MI-RSWB-R was applied to a sample of 192 non-clinical subjects, together with the NEO Five Factor Inventory and the Symptom-Check-List. The original six-factor structure of the scale could be replicated for the MI-RSWB-R, (...) which also provides satisfying psychometric properties. In accordance with previous research the RSWB total score was linked to more favorable personality traits such as Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness, which was paralleled by substantial negative correlations with increased psychopathology. Our findings support the reliability and structural validity of the MI-RSWB-R as a standardized instrument for addressing the spiritual dimension in Russian populations. Further research in clinical surroundings is now recommended. (shrink)

To base oneself upon a scientific philosophy is often of great importance in framing and solving major problems in natural science, including the science of the universe at large. Moreover, one's approach to the solution of specific problems arising in natural science depends to an extent upon one's philosophy. This situation points the way to the elimination of certain preconceived notions and erroneous convictions of researchers, that is, those due to an inadequate knowledge of philosophy or to the influence of (...) a weak philosophy. (shrink)

This article contains the proof of equivalence boolean algebra and syllogistics arc2. The system arc2 is obtained as a superstructure above the propositional calculus. Subjects and predicates of syllogistic functors a, E, J, O may be complex terms, Which are formed using operations of intersection, Union and complement. In contrast to negative sentences the interpretation of affirmative sentences suggests non-Empty terms. To prove the corresponding theorem we demonstrate that boolean algebra is included into syllogistics arc2 and vice versa.

One of the most important philosophical principles in contemporary natural science is the principle of the universality of evolutionary development , which was argued with much force and depth in F. Engels's The Dialectics of Nature. For the more than a century that has passed since Engels's sweeping synthesis of knowledge in the natural sciences, his revelation of the unity of the processes of evolution in inanimate and animate nature, including the inevitably and law-governed appearance of its "highest flower, the (...) thinking mind," where appropriate conditions for that appearance arise, this principle of development has assisted in the achievement of many impressive advances. The general outlines of the evolutionary process of nature, in its infinite diversity, are now emerging in ever sharper relief, although our knowledge of that process still contains many rather serious lacunae. It is significant to note that the progress of natural science leads not only to modifications but often even to radical revisions of many notions about the evolution of nature, including those that seemed unchallengeable. (shrink)

After the First Conference, the situation with regard to the relation between natural scientists and philosophers improved considerably in the sense that, as we can see, philosophers, by their work on questions of methodology, are helping natural scientists more and more, while natural scientists are giving increasing attention to the results of the work of philosophers, and are becoming interested in the philosophical conclusions following from their research and in general problems of philosophical significance.