Suchergebnisse

The question this contribution sets out to address is whether or not law can be regarded as a science. This notion is readily accepted by many, yet it is submitted that a proper theoretical justification for such an assumption is usually missing. The traditional primary sources of law, South African case law and legislation, distinguish between legal practice and legal science, but the basis of the distinction is not clear. However, an entire body of literature in the philosophy of science has developed around the question of when a discipline will amount to science. Various demarcation criteria proposed in the philosophy of science are considered. These include that science uses the scientific method, is susceptible to falsification, is puzzle-solving within a paradigm or renders beneficial results. None of these criteria offers a satisfactory solution to the problem. The proposition by a group of philosophers including Herman Dooyeweerd, Marinus Stafleu and DFM Strauss, that the answer to the demarcation question is to be found in modal abstraction, is then considered. Modal abstraction amounts to a consideration of reality (persons, things, theories and rules) from one or more defined point(s) of entry. It is an artificial and learnt manner of thinking as it approaches reality from the perspective of one of the modalities of being. For example, juridical abstraction would mean that a cow is considered as the object of someone's proprietary rights. An abstract idea of the cow's characteristics, from a juridical point of view, is formed and the rules of property law are applied. A number of South African legal philosophers, amongst others Van Zyl, Van der Vyver and LM du Plessis, have followed this approach. The South African legislature has also attempted to define the terms "science" and "research", mainly for funding purposes. These definitions are considered and the conclusion is that they do not provide the clear-cut answers one would expect. It will be argued that the nature of activities will determine whether an endeavour is scientific or not. The conclusion is that an alignment of the demarcation criterion developed by Strauss and others and the statutory definitions can provide a workable demarcation criterion. This "test" is then applied to the activities of law students, academics, practitioners and judicial officers to determine when they will be practising "science".

Denying Biology: Essays on Gender and Pseudo‐Procreation Warren Shapiro and Uli Lanham. eds. MD: University Press of America, 1996. 250 pp.

Since initiating the journal Social Indicators Research in 1974, Alex C. Michalos has been a pioneer in social indicators and quality-of-life research. This collection of nineteen articles provides an overview of nearly 30 years of work, including papers drawn from diverse sources and papers never published before. Topics range over quality of life investigations connected to the problems of combining social, economic and environmental indicators, measuring the status of women in Canada, housing and migration, health and human well-being, older peoples' well-being, leisure activities and health, impact of public services, police services, criminal victimization, feminism and ethnic relations on the quality of life. The final paper, on multiple discrepancies theory (MDT), is the author's unique contribution to an empirically testable new foundation for theories of utility, satisfaction and happiness

From Society in America / Harriet Martineau -- From Intermarriage / Alexander Walker -- From On the curability of certain forms of insanity, epilepsy, catalepsy, and hysteria in females / Isaac Baker Brown -- From The subjection of women / John Stuart Mill -- From Psychopathia sexualis : a medico-forensic study / Richard von Krafft-Ebing -- From Sex in education : a fair chance for the girls / Edward H. Clarke -- "Sex in mind and in education" / Henry Maudsley -- From The descent of man and selection in relation to sex / Charles Darwin -- From The functions and disorders of the reproductive organs / William Acton -- From The evolution of sex / Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson -- From The sexual instinct and its morbid manifestations : from the double standpoint of jurisprudence and psychiatry / B[enjamin] Tarnowsky -- From Fat and blood : an essay on the treatment of certain forms of neurasthenia and hysteria / S. Weir Mitchell -- From Primal law / J.J. Atkinson -- From Studies in the psychology of sex : sexual inversion / Havelock Ellis -- From An anti-suffrage monologue / Marie Jenney Howe -- From The sexes in science and history : an inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man / Eliza Burt Gamble -- From Married love : a new contribution to the solution of sex difficulties / Marie Stopes -- From Woman and the new race / Margaret Sanger -- From Studies in feminine inversion / Stella Browne -- From New introductory lectures on psycho-analysis / Sigmund Freud

International terrorism became a major concern to Nigeria with the emergence of the Boko Haram Islamist group from around 2009, and the escalation of attacks on the country by the sect. The group has bases in neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. This made the governments of Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Mohammadu Buhari to be involved in negotiations, dialogues, shuttle diplomacy, and the usage of other tools of foreign relations with these contiguous countries. The Multinational Task Force (MNTF) was established in 1993 by Lake Chad Basin Commission and had to be resuscitated and invigorated by the governments of Jonathan and Buhari. However, the insurgency lingered despite these concerted efforts. This paper attempts to investigate why several foreign and security policy initiatives of the Nigerian government have failed to find lasting solutions to the insurgency. Secondary data, qualitative research methods, and content analysis were used as a methodology in this research. Findings showed that inefficiencies of government, poverty, and porous borders made it easier for Boko Haram terrorists to recruit members from these neighbouring countries. It was also revealed that this insurgency has made Nigeria lose foreign direct investment (FDI) because some Multinational Corporations (MNCs) relocated from the country. Therefore, the study advocates a wider approach that incorporates economic programs that would reduce poverty among the local populace and stronger border controls, among others.