Samson: was he Man or Myth?

Casanova: real man or myth?

©FSRH J Fam Plann Reprod Health Care 2009: 35(3) Lovers throughout the ages One of the great fascinations of the study of medical history is the personalities that emerge from documents and manuscripts. When I ask a group to name a really famous lover from the pages of history, the cry “Casanova” heads the list virtually every time and, on some occasions, ends with him. There is a great gap bet...

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Abductive Practical Reasoning

In this paper we present an approach to abductive reasoning in law by examining it in the context of an argumentation scheme for practical reasoning. We present a particular scheme, based on an established scheme for practical reasoning, that can be used to reason abductively about how an agent might have acted to reach a particular scenario, and the motivations for doing so. Plausibility here ...

Samson Wright, the Man and his Research

Who was that masked man?

Stephen Gaukroger’s new biography of Descartes is a major accomplishment. Gaukroger offers the reader an overview of Descartes’ life and works, with healthy doses of intellectual background thrown in for good measure. It should have a major impact on Cartesian studies, both within the history of philosophy and within the history of science. As Gaukroger’s full title makes clear, this is suppose...

Who Was That Masked Man?

Each year more than 1,400 children die as motor vehicle passengers, and an additional 280,000 are injured. Despite these horrifying figures, parents are still allowing their children to ride unrestrained. More disturbing is the fact that of children who are buckled up, roughly half are restrained incorrectly—increasing the risk of serious or fatal injuries. Tragically, most of these injuries co...