Kevin Dutton

Sartre, a Parisian who was at the height of his philosophical powers during the mid-twentieth century, is famous for his contention that, when it comes to us humans, ‘Existence precedes essence.’

Or, to put it more simply, we are born without purpose so we are free to become whoever we wish to become.

Epicurus called this preference for pleasure over pain hedonism (from the Greek word hedonismus, meaning delight) – and even the most masochistic of us are hedonists at heart.

Harvard University biologist David Haig has spent the last few years systematically debunking the notion that the relationship between a mother and her unborn child is anything like the rose-tinted idyll that one usually finds on the glossy covers of maternity magazines.