History in fast-forward. Logic and argumentation are a natural combination. Though the precise origins of logic are hidden in the mists of antiquity, reflection on patterns in legal or philosophical debate may have been one of the driving forces in the genesis of the discipline. But afterwards, the main emphasis over time shifted to consequence relations in an abstract universe of propositions,...

Eclipse of Reason is a 1987 anti-abortion [3] documentary film directed, filmed, and narrated by Bernard Nathanson, an obstetrician in the US. American Portrait Films released the film in 1987 featuring Nathanson?s commentary and footage of an abortion [3] of a four-month-old fetus [4]. The film also featured the testimony of women who had suffered following similar procedures. In Eclipse of Re...

On the face of things, it would seem that suffering can have significant value for creatures like ourselves. It is overwhelmingly plausible from the point of view of both naı̈ve reflection and broadly empirical investigation that suffering is a necessary condition on a certain kind of fitness-preserving causal motivation, and one that assists and supports rational activity. On such a view, suffe...

In this contribution, the prisoner’s dilemma is revisited and taken as an example par excellence for the problems with reductionist reasoning. It is related to recent findings in evolutionary psychology and also set into the broad context of critiques against rationalism as such. It will be argued that rationality goes well beyond traditional logic and reductionist reasoning based on it. Comple...

Having read seven letters and the authors’ reply on the issue as to whether or not statin treatment should be off ered to people at low risk of cardiovascular disease (Nov 24, pp 1814–18), I was marvelling at the process of scientifi c reasoning that could weigh the pros and cons of a contentious issue in such a mature and logical manner. And then came the letter by Nicholas Wald and Malcolm La...

This essay has two primary objectives. First, acknowledging the fact that the philosopher’s fundamental responsibility, due to the conditions of social order in many regions and nations around the world, requires not merely thought but also actions that transform this world into a more equitable and inclusive one, the author proposes to show the reader a simple way (among many other possibiliti...

The behavior of several landscape pattern metrics were tested against various pattern scenarios generated by neutral landscape models, including number of classes, scale-map extent, scale-resolution, class proportion, aggregation level—RULE, and aggregation level—SimMap. The results demonstrate that most of the metrics are sensitive to certain pattern scenarios, yet are not sensitive to others;...