Reasonable Man Research Articles

Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest (review)

Reviewed by: Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest Jeanne T. Heidler (bio) Keywords Felix Grundy, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Law Democracy's Lawyer: Felix Grundy of the Old Southwest. By J. Roderick Heller, III. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2010. Pp. 357. Cloth, $45.00.) Continuing the rich tradition of biography as illustrative of time and place as well as people, J. Roderick Heller, III has produced a vivid portrait of an important American statesman of the nation's formative years. Often portrayed as a foil, an ally, or both for leaders such as the Great Triumvirate of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, Felix Grundy emerges from this exhaustively researched and well-written biography as an important political leader and groundbreaking attorney in his own right. It is a worthy endeavor. Though a talented and jovial man with few enemies and many friends, Grundy never rose above the secondary tier of the period's American statesmen. Possibly his unwavering devotion to family hindered his rise. In any case, he has become obscure, and Heller strives to rescue him from that undeserved state while ably explaining why Americans should know this fascinating figure. Grundy's life mirrored his country's. Heller traces Grundy's boyhood on the Virginia and Kentucky frontiers where he suffered considerable hardship, including the loss of two brothers in clashes with Native Americans. In describing this frontier existence, Heller paints a colorful picture of the pioneering entrepreneur of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Grundy's parents were exemplars of that spirit even as they doted on Felix, their youngest son. His accomplished mother, Elizabeth Burkham Grundy, continued to run the family businesses after the untimely death of her husband and insisted that young Felix acquire a good education, a rarity in the American wilderness of the eighteenth century. It gave him a notable advantage as he embarked on a successful legal career, earned a reputation for outstanding oratory, and became an accomplished member of the Kentucky and Tennessee legislatures and of Congress where he always upheld George Washington's dictum of legislative [End Page 299] supremacy. As a War Hawk freshman representative in 1811-1812, he worked well with former rival Henry Clay to bring about war with Great Britain, an example of Grundy's greatest political gift. A talent for talk was matched by his principled advocacy for the common man, but it was his habit of treating opponents as fairly as allies that won him friends and admirers throughout the country as he became notable as an honest broker and a reasonable man. Heller makes a valuable contribution with his able assessment of Grundy's legal career. Most western lawyers dreamed of the day they could escape the rigors of riding their circuit, but Grundy relished the work. He became one of America's best criminal defense attorneys, with an uncanny ability to choose and then persuade jurors. While honing his craft, Grundy developed a profound empathy for frontiersmen often deprived of swift and fair justice by remote courts. As a legislator, he worked to create local courts to correct that inequity. In addition to his portrait of Grundy, Heller provides excellent insights on the legal, political, and financial history of the period. Transcending traditional interpretations of western anger at Britain as merely stemming from a desire to defend American honor, he explains how British policies posed a material threat to the economy of the region by stifling trade out of New Orleans. His account of local and national bank policies during the Kentucky Insurance Company controversy is more than cogent, and his nuanced analysis of Grundy's complicated relationship with Andrew Jackson, an alliance that made neither man very comfortable, provides a convincing argument that Grundy's resulting loss of independence possibly cost him the national prestige he deserved. Sadly, as Grundy was beginning to reassert some of that independence lost to Jackson, he died in 1840. As with all books, this one has flaws. Easily avoidable factual errors occasionally detract from the narrative, as when Heller describes Willie Blount as William Blount's nephew (they were half-brothers) or when he relates the discredited story that...

Reflections on the Onnagata

Reflections on the Onnagata James R. Brandon We should not forget the historical reason the onnagata became part of kabuki theatre: in 1629 government officials banned professional actresses from kabuki stages. The onnagata was a political expedient and did not need justification on artistic grounds until the ban on actresses was repealed in the late nineteenth century. Then theatre scholars, performers, and culture managers were required to come up with reasons why the onnagata should continue. The result was the creation of unsubstantiated myths: only a male actor can suggest the essence of a woman, only a man possesses the physical strength to wear a heavy wig and multiple kimono, and so on. These are not really artistic explanations; they are rationalizations for why the social institution of male-playing-female should continue undisturbed in the modern era when it was no longer needed or required. Are we expected to believe that the reason men took over kabuki's female roles was because men are physically (and mentally?) stronger than women? I don't think so. Today's onnagata actors live immensely privileged lives as idolized kabuki stars. Quite naturally they and their supporters are adamant about keeping female actors out of their profession. It is well known that Chinese opera has allowed female actors to play female roles in recent years and the art form has not collapsed. Why not kabuki? Briefly, because too much is invested in commercial kabuki to disturb the status quo. I have never been persuaded by assertions that onnagata were "more feminine than women." But it occurs to me that this could be so, [End Page 122] in the sense that the onnagata actor deploys only female gender acting techniques, whereas, as we know, real Japanese women may, and often do, express strident, blatant, obnoxious behavior that is not, within Japanese culture, considered proper "feminine" behavior. I am not much concerned with theories of the onnagata, I suppose because of the essentializing nature of such discussions. But I am interested in the characteristics of onnagata acting. The young male kabuki actor is taught by his seniors and his teachers specific physical actions to suggest/indicate/show/present a female kabuki role on stage: pull back and lower the shoulders, keep the knees together, cup the fingers into the palms, and wear straw sandals (zōri) shorter than the foot. All of these simple (gender?) actions make the male body appear smaller in the eyes of the audience. And this is necessary if one accepts that, on average, the male-sexed body is larger, taller, and stronger than the female-sexed body. Therefore, if the male body is presenting a female kabuki role, it helps for the male actor to assume actions and postures that suggest the smaller female body. Consequently, the onnagata actor does in fact attempt to suggest a "real" female-sexed body through these physical patterns (kata), despite all theories to the contrary. Can the female-sexed actor (actress) play a female kabuki role? Of course she can. She can learn to perform what the onnagata performs. To the extent that we think the female and male bodies are different, there will be some subtle (and perhaps not so subtle) differences in their art. And that is all right. It is grossly reductionist to suggest that the mere change in the performer's sex turns "kabuki" into "not kabuki." A score of performance attributes—of movement, posture, and voice, of music, staging, and costuming, of timing and flow of energy, of characterization and dramatic plot—characterize a kabuki performance and distinguish it from, say nō, or bunraku, or shingeki. The onnagata is just one of many elements that characterize kabuki. Further, there exists no single, unified art form called kabuki. There are dozens of varieties or versions. The kabuki acted by the Ichikawa family and that acted by the Onoe family are so different that actors of one family will not act in plays belonging to the other family. Broad differences exist between kabuki as performed in Kyoto-Osaka (Kansai kabuki) and kabuki as perfected in Edo. There is Grand Kabuki (ō kabuki), seen in major theatres today under Shōchiku Corporation sponsorship...

Intergenerational Justice: How Reasonable Man Discounts Climate Damage

Moral philosophers and economists have evaluated the intergenerational problem of climate change by applying the whole gamut of theories on distributive justice. In this article, however, it is argued that intergenerational justice cannot imply the application of moral ideal theories to future generations. The formal principle of equality simply requires us to treat like cases as like. If intergenerational justice is to have any meaning, it would require future generations to receive the same treatment under the law and the same treatment from the authorities, as far as cases are like. In the context of climate change, the reasonable man standard from tort law is of particular relevance. There is no justification to handle pollution across generational boundaries according to norms which differ from the (international) laws for handling pollution across national borders. It is argued that this implies, for example, that a zero social rate of time preference should be used in cost-benefit analysis of climate policy: climate damage experienced by future generations should be discounted neither for their higher expected wealth, nor purely for their being remote.

Politics, Economic Provisioning, and Suffrage in St. Louis: What Women Said, What Men Heard

Introduction In February of 1919, State Representative Charles P. Comer, a 39-yearold unmarried lawyer from a St. Louis brewery ward, voted against granting presidential suffrage to women. Despite the defiant gesture, expected of a man identified by national suffrage leaders as an especially vehement opponent of woman suffrage (Catt and Shuler 1923: 349), presidential suffrage passed that day in the Missouri House by 123 votes to eight.(1) Only four months later, Missouri joined the rush of state legislatures called to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women equal suffrage on all electoral levels. On July 2, Representative Comer voted aye, explaining to his fellow (male) legislators that, I've played poker long enough to know when to lay down my hand (Catt and Shuler 1923: 349). The St. Louis women, upper class and progressive, who cheered from the galleries, had been battling the likes of Charles Comer for nine years.(2) One of the enduring questions in history is why any group would choose to share political power with another group, thus diluting its own power. The granting of suffrage to American women in 1919 is one of those events in which we seek answers. I focus here on the diversity of women's visible economic provisioning functions, arguing that the granting of suffrage had political benefits to the men in power; at the same time, the political risks were being lessened because women were starting to look like men economically. Charles Comer decided to join the majority. One would like to ask why he thought the game was lost. Was he suddenly convinced, as some historians have suggested, by the role of women in World War I? (for example, Barck and Blake 1947: 264-266). Was he impressed by the support finally voiced by President Woodrow Wilson or former President Roosevelt? (Catt and Shuler 1923: 258, 177). Did increasing awareness of the consequences of prohibition dry up opposition to suffrage along with the St. Louis breweries? Some states refused the pressure to call sessions to consider ratification. Why not Missouri, which had defeated suffrage in the 1913, 1915, and 1917 General Assemblies and in a 1914 referenda, and that had been considered a black state--nearly hopeless in its opposition--by suffrage leaders only months earlier? (Victory Map 1918). The Missouri case and, in particular, events in St. Louis help illuminate the reasons men in power were willing to grant the vote to women. By looking at a specific locale, we can see more clearly the economic and political workings that led even a black state's legislators to join the band-wagon. Papers and books over the years have often focused on what women said, on their changing strategies, related to the vote. This article uses the matter of economic provisioning to get at what men heard: what they took from women's strategies and what they saw women doing, politically and economically, to back up the talk. I will present background on what women were indeed doing, politically and economically, in St. Louis, as well as look at the political climate in which men operated. I will assess the reasons men might have been willing to grant suffrage in light of what they heard in St. Louis. Charles Comer might have had second thoughts about--or been wary of--denying the growing economic power he would have seen in the women of St. Louis. From his law office near the Old Courthouse, he would note the businesses that depended on their female typists, stenographers, and other clerical help. For that matter, he knew first-hand the inconvenience of the current strike by the girls on both St. Louis telephone companies: the Kinloch telephone exchange was barely working on July 2, 1919, and the Bell exchange was slow. (3) From his bachelor rooms at the Missouri Athletic Club on the northwest corner of Fourth and Washington Avenues, he might have seen a steady stream of immigrant and native women heading to the shirtwaist, shoe, and cigar factories each morning. …

Gender role attitudes and characteristics of stay-at-home and employed fathers.

Research on fathers has increased substantially over the last several decades, but research comparing the gender-typed characteristics and gender role attitudes of stayat-home and employed fathers is still in its infancy. Stay-at-home (n 35) and employed (n 49) fathers completed measures on gender-typed characteristics and gender role attitudes. Stay-at-home fathers also rated the importance of various reasons they stayed home. Compared to employed fathers, stay-at-home fathers reported similar levels of traditional feminine and masculine characteristics, but less traditional gender role attitudes. Wanting to be a stay-at-home father was rated the most important reason for staying home. The more important the female partner was in influencing the decision to stay home, the lower the levels of masculine characteristics and the more enjoyment men reported in being a stay-at-home father. Future research should focus on comparisons of paternal involvement in stay-at-home and other fathers, the reasons men decide to become or not to become stay-at-home fathers, and the factors that influence those reasons, such as their partners’ attitudes and experiences with prejudice and discrimination.

Virtue, progress and practice

Reader in Applied Philosophy, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, MMU Cheshire, Crewe, UK and Visiting Professor of Philosophy as Applied to Medicine, University of Buckingham, Uk Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA Associate Professor, Department of General Practice, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Director, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics, Toronto, ON, Canada Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Professor of Values in Health Care, Associate Director, Social Dimensions of Health Institute, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

Editor’s note

Editor’s note

Personality and Situational Correlates of Self‐reported Reasons for Intimate Partner Violence among Women versus Men Referred for Batterers' Intervention

This study examines personality and situational correlates of self-reported reasons for intimate partner violence (IPV) among women and men court-ordered to batterers' intervention as IPV offenders. Women endorsed self-defense and men retaliation as their primary reasons for IPV. Both also endorsed emotion dysregulation as a reason for much of their violence. Women's partner violence was largely, but not exclusively, situationally motivated. Women's reasons for violence also related significantly to self-reported borderline personality symptomology. Men's reasons for IPV related primarily to their self-reported antisocial and borderline personality traits, not to situational factors. Thus, the IPV of some women and some men may be considered "characterological," in that it reflects something about the individual's character or personality. Control or domination of one's partner was not a primary reason for violence among women or men, despite the assumption on which many batterer intervention programs are based, that IPV is primarily a power and control tactic. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

Urban-Rural Migration and Health and Quality of Life in Homeless People

Homelessness can impact one's use of health and social services. Our paper provides a descriptive analysis of the nature, prevalence and impacts of migration amongst homeless people in two cities. We examine experiences of 120 homeless men in Vancouver and Kelowna in relation to their mobility and its impact(s) on housing stability, health status and behaviours, health and social services. Data were collected for a three year period in which homeless participants traveled from one location (either Kelowna or Vancouver) to live in other cities or towns. Men's reasons for moving, types of services/benefits received in each place, reasons for leaving, and what impact(s) (positive or negative) moving had on their ability to receive services and the effects on their health and quality of life are presented. Our work suggests that differences may exist in reasons for moving to, or leaving a city, and these factors may influence housing, health and behaviours.

An empirical investigation into the relationship between changes in the business cycle and the incidence of suicide

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between changes in the business cycle (as indicated by the incidence and duration of unemployment) and the incidence of suicide.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical utility model with savings and consumption is used, while time series micro‐level suicide data and probit analysis is used to empirically test the implications of the model.FindingsWith declining economic activity and the corresponding increase in unemployment the propensity to commit suicide rises among men for numerable reasons. The authors hypothesize that there is a negative impact with respect to the decline in economic activity and as the intensity increases with respect to the declining business cycle, female's suicides will tend to accelerate.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the primary limitations of this study is the amount of control variables to which the authors had access. There are many factors that would influence an individual when determining whether or not to take their own life. Religious convictions, the presence of children, income, educational attainment, occupational attainment, pre‐unemployment income, and how long one had been married or divorced (or unmarried) are all variables that could influence the likelihood of a suicide. The center of disease control (CDC) public use files, however, do not include these variables; thus, the authors were unable to control for their impact.Practical implicationsThe authors believe that these findings merit greater public awareness and increases in various forms of public and private support for recently unemployed individuals, being particularly attentive to the effect of higher than normal rates and durations of unemployment and the differences based on gender. These findings also establish another sound rationale for public policies to encourage the increase of personal savings during times of employment to make weathering periods of unemployment easier.Social implicationsIn times of increased incidence and duration of unemployment, the tendency of legislators and other public policy makers presumably would be to establish programs targeted to address the population with the highest rates of unemployment‐related suicide – White males. It can be argued, however, that since the increased incidence and duration of unemployment have a greater effect on increasing the rate of suicide in women, public policies and programs targeting the specific needs and issues of those unemployed women with an increased risk of suicide would be more cost‐effective, preventing or reducing those incremental suicides and mitigating their negative economic, social, and familial impacts.Originality/valuePrevious studies used descriptive statistics, contingency tables, and the traditional statistical regression techniques in their empirical analysis; this study deviates from the norm by the use of probit analysis. Using the probit technique allowed the authors to focus their analysis on the probabilities of suicide with regard not just to the business cycle itself but also to the intensity of the business cycle.

Understanding the Decision to Marry Versus Cohabit: The Role of Interpersonal Dedication and Constraints and the Impact on Life Satisfaction

The current study explored men's and women's reasons for choosing to marry rather than to cohabit using a national data set (n = 786) of adults who were currently married or had been married previously. Using commitment theory participant's open-ended reasons for choosing to marry were coded into categories of either interpersonal dedication or constraint commitment. A variety of demographic, attitudinal, and relationship history variables were then used to predict commitment type. The influence of commitment type during the decision to marry on life satisfaction was also explored. Results indicate that current marital status (being married vs. being divorced or separated) and cohabiting before marriage were the strongest predictors of interpersonal dedication reasons for marriage for both men and women. Level of conventionality and parents' marital status also emerged as significant predictors of constraint commitment. Finally, marrying for reasons related to interpersonal dedication significantly predicted higher life satisfaction for men but not for women.

Introduction: Human–Animal Studies and the Eighteenth Century

The Introduction to the Special Issue of The Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation titled "Animal, All Too Animal" appears at a time when debates about human reason, language, and consciousness central to postructuralist theories of the nineties are beginning to be supplemented by—and even confronted with—a recognition that humans always existed among nonhuman creatures. As this introduction describes, "Animal, All Too Animal" explores the Englightenment's rearticulation of enw and more intimate relationships with nonhumans; this history is not only populated by men of reason and women of feeling, but by the birds, dogs, apes, and horses with whom humans of different genders, ethnicities, and classes enjoyed—or suffered—increasing intimacies, and distances.

Yearning, Learning, and Conceding: Reasons Men and Women Change Their Childbearing Intentions

People's childbearing intentions change over the course of their reproductive lives. These changes have been conceptualized as occurring in response to the realization that an individual is unlikely to achieve his or her intended fertility, because of constraints such as the "biological clock" or lack of a partner. In this article, we find that changes to child-bearing plans are influenced by a much wider range of factors than this. People change their plans in response to the wishes of their partners, in response to social norms, as the result of repartnering, and as the result of learning about the costs and benefits of parenthood; there are also differences between the factors that influence men's and women's decision-making. In a departure from existing studies in this area, we use a flexible analytical framework that enables us to analyze increases in planned fertility separately from decreases. This allows us to uncover several complexities of the decision-making process that would otherwise be hidden, and leads us to conclude that the determinants of increases in planned fertility are not simply equal and opposite to the determinants of decreases.

“All Parts of the Union I Considered My Home”: The Federal Imagination of The Algerine Captive

“All Parts of the Union I Considered My Home”The Federal Imagination of The Algerine Captive Keri Holt (bio) My ardent wish is that my fellow citizens may profit by my misfortunes. If they peruse these pages with attention they will perceive the necessity of uniting our federal strength to enforce a due respect among other nations. Let us, one and all, endeavor to sustain the general government. . . . Our first object is union among ourselves. For to no nation besides the United States can that antient saying be more emphatically applied: BY UNITING WE STAND, BY DIVIDING WE FALL. —Royall Tyler, The Algerine Captive (1797) Toward the middle of Royall Tyler’s The Algerine Captive, an unusual exchange takes place. Having been captured and bound into slavery in Algiers, Updike Underhill—the novel’s wayward Yankee protagonist—agrees to meet with a “Mahometan priest” who wishes to debate matters of faith. At first glance, the stage seems set for a conflict between East and West. Underhill enters the room with confidence, ready to defend “the sacred truths of our holy religion against the insidious attack of the mussulman priest” (131). The Mollah greets him with equal assurance, convinced of his ability to persuade “the Christian purified by Calvin” that the teachings of Mahomet also represent “sacred truths” (131). The scene that follows, however, fails to produce the expected clash. Instead of presenting Christianity and Islam as fundamentally at odds with one another, the dialogue characterizes these two religions as different yet compatible expressions of belief. As the two men converse, Underhill presents a series of points intended to “prove” the superiority of Christianity, namely that it is “divinely inspired,” “supported by miracles,” and blessed by “wonderful increase.” To each of these statements, the Mollah responds with a similar assertion, [End Page 481] countering Underhill’s arguments with the repeated claim, “so is ours.” “Your argument I allow to be forcible,” he tells Underhill, “but grant us also the use of it” (132). Yet in highlighting these similarities, the Mollah never completely equates the two religions. Throughout the dialogue, he stresses that Christianity and Islam are distinct systems of belief—defined by different texts, prophets, histories, and doctrines. Instead of characterizing these differences as points of contention, however, the Mollah encourages Underhill to see Christianity and Islam in compatible terms, as alternate expressions of similar beliefs. The dialogue ends with the Mollah urging Underhill to “read the alcoran”: “Read, then, this spotless book. There you will learn to love those of our faith and not hate those of any other. . . . In a word, you will learn the unity of God, which, notwithstanding the cavil of your divines, your prophet, like ours, came into the world to establish and every man of reason must believe” (135–36). By arguing that the experience of reading the Koran will produce a sense of unity rather than division, the Mollah makes a striking point. Throughout the eighteenth century, early American writers tended to characterize the Islamic world as “heretical” and “barbarous,” representing the antithesis of American governance and ideals—a view that persists today.1 In sharp contrast to this oppositional relationship, the dialogue between the Mollah and Underhill suggests that engaging with the “heretical” texts and practices of Islam can actually produce relationships of tolerance and cooperation, rather than conflict. By the end of the scene, Underhill feels pressured, not to convert, but to broaden his religious views to include a wider range of ideas and practices, thus expanding his sense of what “every man of reason” can and should find acceptable (135). As it turns out, this dialogue is just one of a number of moments where the novel encourages Underhill (and the reader) to develop a more tolerant and productive view of political, cultural, and aesthetic differences. Throughout the text, Underhill’s encounters with different people, places, and practices lead him to see the world as a space that is enhanced, rather than destabilized, by variety. Likewise, the novel relies on an equally diverse range of styles and genres to represent Underhill’s various adventures—moving back and forth between the conventions of picaresque satire, sentimental captivity narratives, travelogues, historiography, and dramatic...

El Corte Epistemológico en Una Teoria Filosófica Sobre la Politica

The philosophical point of view of Rawls is here analysed; and how Rawls’s philosophical position implies an epistemological cut with the classical conceptions that were joining the social contract to a determined natural idea of man or of society. In his proposal, the idea of Justice, in a society, is established in the fact that men accomplish a social pact fireely in itself, with another reasonable men, using various goods, and possessing equal politic rights. Rawls prefers not to choose the disjunctive “freedom or equality”; but for the option enunciated like “freedom and justice”. Equality is not a value as such in itself, yet contingent upon the idea of Justice. Nevertheless this justice from his social point of view is a politic justice. This is constituted freely for the associates, with equal rights, in a pact. His conception is not revolutionary in order to solve injustices right now historically established, but a progressive conception that utilizes the freedom to advance toward a fair equality, and here is now examined.

Men Who Seek Protection Orders Against Female Intimate Partners

Whereas intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetrated by men against women has been studied at length, relatively little attention has been given to violence perpetrated by women against their male intimate partners. This study represents one of relatively few attempts to better understand the experiences of male IPV victims. Specifically, this study explored the characteristics of men who obtain and withdraw a protection order against a female intimate partner, in comparison to those men who obtain and do not withdraw the order. We also looked at the reasons men cite for obtaining and withdrawing a protection order and the types of relief granted by the court. Findings from this study revealed that men who requested protection from abuse (PFA) against female intimate partners experienced a pattern of victimization prior to their requests for protection, including physical, psychological, or emotional abuse. Although, each of these men sought and was granted a “no abuse, stalk, or threaten” order, few of them were able to obtain temporary custody of children they had in common with the defendant, nor were they successful in getting defendants evicted from the home or getting the court to order defendants to relinquish their firearms. A comparison of men who withdrew their PFAs to those who did not withdraw them suggested that men who did not withdraw their PFAs perceived their abusive situations as being more serious. Implications for future research are discussed.

Living with Hindsight Bias

The reasonable man, through the Law and Economics movement, has recently taken up the features of homo economicus, the rational, self-interested maximizer of economic theory. It is increasingly apparent that most people, most of the time, do not evaluate their own utility or make decisions in the way economic models predict. Our reasonable man and homo economicus are looking more aspirational every day. This paper examines how heuristics and biases influence ex post jury evaluations of whether a defendant arrived at the same assessment of risks as a reasonable person would, or whether a party should have made a different decision to prevent an adverse outcome. In particular, this paper will discuss the hindsight bias, one area where recent insights into rationality and decision-making raise especially severe concerns about jury judgments. This paper will ask why we trust ex-post evaluations when it is apparent that judges and juries will systematically produce holdings based on assessments that don’t, and possibly can’t, replicate the historical judgments they are evaluating in a way that legitimates second-guessing those decisions. This paper will argue that, despite valid concerns, drastic changes in jury deliberation and scope of responsibility are inadvisable. In addition, it will explain how the purported irrationality of hindsight bias suffers from a lack of clarity about what constitutes rationality or irrationality in a jury system. Finally, it will argue that incremental changes should be made through procedural improvements. The legal system’s adaptation to the hindsight bias can set a precedent for further improvements inspired by developments in behavioral science. Unlike the wholesale importation of homo economicus by Law and Economics, the legal system needs to evaluate potential reforms in light of the complex and interrelated goals and safeguards built into the system.

Feminine Figures and the “Fatherhood”: Rhetoric and Reason in Locke’s First Treatise of Government

Traditionally neglected, Locke’s First Treatise of Government has taken on new significance with feminist interpretations that recognize the importance of its sustained engagement with patriarchal power. Yet feminist interpreters, both critics and admirers alike, read Locke as a champion of the “man of reason,” a figure seemingly immune to the influences of passions, imagination, and rhetoric. These interpreters wrongly overlook Locke’s extended engagement with the power of rhetoric in the First Treatise, an engagement that troubles the clear opposition of masculine reason and its feminine exclusions. Taking Locke’s rhetoric seriously, I argue, makes the First Treatise newly important for what it shows us about Locke’s practice of political critique. In following the varied and novel effects of Locke’s feminine figures, we find a practice of political critique that depends on a mutually constitutive relation between rhetoric and reason.

Reasons men decline to take up screening for prostate cancer

Reasons men decline to take up screening for prostate cancer

Imprisonment and Excessive Femininity:Reading Ulrike Meinhof's Brain

It's a question of submitting feminine disorder, its laughter, its inability to take the drumbeats seriously, to the threat of decapitation. If man operates under the threat of castration, if mascu...