This blog post examines how advances in science and technology influence legal judgments and why scientific techniques like radiocarbon dating are becoming increasingly important as evidence, using specific examples. As science and technology rapidly advance and their influence expands into various aspects of daily life, the need for expert scientific knowledge in courtrooms is steadily...
How does the risk premium influence investment decisions?
This blog post examines how the risk premium—the reward for accepting risk—changes investor choices and portfolio composition, and how it redefines the balance between profitability and stability. In economics, the composition of various financial assets held by an individual is called a portfolio. Each asset possesses unique characteristics related to profitability, risk, and liquidity...
Is childbirth truly a choice that leaves more pain than happiness?
This blog post examines the asymmetry between the happiness and pain brought by childbirth from a philosophical perspective, deeply exploring how the ethical meaning differs between what exists and what does not. Marriage often leads naturally to having children, yet children may suffer harm by being born into this world. They may contract unwanted illnesses or endure the hardships of...
What changes does the emergence of new warfare demand of nation-state-centered democracy?
This blog post examines how the new warfare, brought about by globalization and the rise of non-state actors, is shaking the framework of nation-state-based democracy and what kind of shift it demands. Modern democracy has developed within the political community of the nation-state, centered on nationalism, national identity, and the citizenship rights that accompany nationality. However...
How do transaction costs determine firm boundaries and organizational forms?
This blog post examines the role of transaction costs in shaping firms’ decisions to buy from the market or produce internally, and specifically analyzes how these choices form firm boundaries and organizational structures. The methodology of neoclassical economics, which explains economic phenomena starting from the choices of rational economic agents seeking to maximize their...
Why did the tradition of Roman law commentary undergo a new scholarly transformation in 12th-century Bologna?
This blog post examines how the tradition of Roman law commentary, originating in 12th-century Bologna, led to a new scholarly transformation. It traces the flow from the authority of the Digesten, changes in interpretive methods, to Leibniz’s critical approach. Serious study of the Corpus Juris Civilis began in the 12th century, centered in Bologna. At that time, this legal text was...
Why were U.S. growth and inequality more influenced by changes in education than by technology?
This blog post examines the trends of growth and inequality that shook the U.S. economy in the 20th century, providing an in-depth analysis of how changes in education, rather than technology, shaped the labor market and wage structure. The U.S. economy of the last century can be divided into several distinct periods. From the 1930s until the late 1970s, income inequality moderated...
Is the beauty of high heels truly worth trading for health?
This blog post explores the beauty effects created by high heels alongside the hidden health burdens they carry, prompting us to consider what choices we should make. Women and high heels are inseparable. For a long time, they have been considered an inseparable pair. High heels not only give women an elegant and sophisticated impression but also make their legs appear longer and...
Why could ancient Greek sculpture be the ‘pinnacle of beauty’ for Hegel?
This blog post examines the meaning of ancient Greek sculpture, which Hegel regarded as the consummation of artistic beauty, and explores the philosophical background of how the unity of content and form achieved this pinnacle of beauty. Hegel’s theory of art belongs to typical philosophical aesthetics, despite containing rich and sophisticated statements on specific works, because...
Why does seafloor melting occur intensively beneath small ice shelves?
This blog post examines in detail how high sea temperatures and ocean currents in the West Antarctic region concentrate warm water beneath small ice shelves, accelerating melting, and what this phenomenon signifies for ice shelf changes across the entire Antarctic. The Antarctic continent holds an enormous amount of ice, enough to raise global sea levels by approximately 57 meters if it...