Sleeping in the Street
Back to law school. Final exam. Torts. The year is 1909. Professor Smith sets out for your consideration the following exam question: Father, with his sleeping child in his arms, negligently lies down in the street and goes to sleep. The driver of a wagon sees them there asleep. He intends to avoid them, but […]
Contemplating the Obvious
We’ve all experienced instances where an obvious sign has been missed. Notwithstanding our most careful scrutiny, something obvious gets neglected or ignored. It’s present, it’s visible, but we cannot recognize it. Psychologists have a name for this––inattentional blindness. “Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention that is not associated with […]
Parsing Persistence
Lawsuits do require a fair degree of “persistence.” But what does this word mean? Webster defines persist as “to go on resolutely or stubbornly in spite of opposition, importunity, or warning.” There’s even a noun form for one who persists––persister. The word persist derives from the latin persistere, literally,“per”—through, steadfastly––and “sistere”––to stand; that is, to […]
A New Way of Seeing
Science has yet to explain chronic pain. While it has long been known that many injured in car accidents never recover, the precise explanation for this remains unclear. A growing body of medical literature demonstrates that PTSD may play a role. “Our results showed that high level of catastrophizing and PTSD are predictors of chronic […]
Show the Way
The spoken word (unlike the written which can be reread) must be completely understood as it’s being heard. There’s no room for even a single gap. If the listener does not understand––even momentarily––the listener will stop listening. Unlike the written word, the spoken word is heard, not seen. That means visualization of what’s being described […]
A New Form of Speaking?
Has anyone studied in depth how electronic communication—emails and texting––is changing language? The obvious difference is that it’s not verbal, but written. This means that the physical clues we pick up from being in the presence of someone––body language, mannerisms, speech patterns, tone of voice, etc.––are absent. But exchange of physical gestures is not the […]
Learning and Healing
Webster defines health as follows: “The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit; especially: freedom from physical disease or pain.” The World Health Organization defines health in these terms: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Both definitions define health […]
Invisible Facts
Matter, we are told, has three primary states—solid, liquid, and gas. Today of course scientists recognize many more states of matter, including plasma as well as the more recently discovered states of matter such as superfluid, quantum spin liquid, string-net liquid, and many others. However, the basic framework into which the facts of a contested […]
First Principles: Free Speech
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”—so reads the First Amendment of the Constitution. Free speech is […]
On Nature as a Work of Divine Art
If nature is a work of divine art, it follows that one of the most elemental tasks of any legal system would be to protect that work. There’s the natural world, the physical space which we inhabit. Contained within are living things, both plant and animal. Some may also suggest that the earth itself is […]
