Mar
4
The Examined Life
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
The Winter Quarter here at Ohio University is drawing to a close: the last week of classes is coming up, then there is a week of final exams and then a week for Spring Break. I have been remarkably fortunate this term: I taught a seminar on Plato’s Theaetetus that has been, in the twenty [...]
Mar
4
Paul Halsall
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
For those who know and like Paul Halsall–among whom I count myself–it will come as a shock to learn that he was arrested last year on charges of selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. Reports of the incident make it sound as though he was set up. I have no way of knowing for [...]
Mar
4
It’s not an Exclusive Disjunction
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
About nine or ten years ago my good friend Paul Halsall (until recently an assistant professor of history at the University of North Florida) said that in his opinion all Republicans are either stupid or evil. At first I thought he was just kidding. I’m not a member of the party, mind you, but he [...]
Mar
4
Wrongful Life
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
If you thought that last story was something, don’t miss this part of the AP story:
Ohio and several other states have previously rejected a different type of claim, called “wrongful life,” in which the disabled child is the plaintiff.
Is it just me, or couldn’t the plaintiff in this case take care of the, um, “decision” [...]
Mar
4
Wrongful Birth
March 4, 2006 | Leave a Comment
In a 4-3 decision the Ohio state supreme court has ruled that doctors may be sued for “wrongful birth” if they fail to detect certain birth defects by means of genetic screening. The decision limited the liability to costs associated with pregnancy and birth–so-called “pain and suffering” damages and the costs associated with raising the [...]
