Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory
Law 210.2A – Fall Semester 2023
All sessions for Fall 2023 will be held in person in room 141 Law Building on Fridays from 12:15 pm-2:00 pm (until 3:00 pm for enrolled students only). Papers for upcoming talks are available to download in the table below. Alternatively, copies of papers may be requested by contacting Jennifer McBride at jrmcbride@berkeley.edu.
The full Fall 2023 workshop schedule is available for download here.
Course Description:
This course is a workshop for discussing works in progress in moral, political, and legal theory. The workshop creates a space for students to engage directly with philosophers, political theorists, and legal scholars working on normative questions toward the goal of fostering critical thinking about concepts of value and developing analytical thinking and writing skills. Another aim is to bring together people from different disciplines and perspectives who have strong normative interests or who speak to issues philosophers and theorists should know something about.
The theme for the Fall 2023 workshop is “Current Work on the History of Political, Legal, and Moral Philosophy.”
This semester the workshop is co-taught by Kinch Hoekstra and Josh Cohen.
The format of the course is as follows. A designated student commentator will lead off with a 15-minute comment on the paper. The presenter will have 5-10 minutes to respond and then we will open up the discussion to the group. The first part of the course will be open to all, including non-enrolled students, faculty, and visitors who wish to participate in the workshop discussion. We’ll stop for a break and those not enrolled in the course will leave. Enrolled students will continue the discussion with the guest for the last 50 minutes.
This is a shared seating course between the Law School (Law 210.2A), the Philosophy Department (Philosophy 290), and the Political Science Department (PS 211).
Zoom is available for those who cannot attend in Person.
Zoom link to join: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94938490108(opens in a new tab)
| Aug. 25 |
Introduction (Enrolled Students Only) |
Instructors: Professor Josh Cohen joshua_cohen@apple.com |
| Sept. 1 | Stephen Darwall(opens in a new tab), Philosophy, Yale University |
The Beginnings of Analytic Metaethics and the Analytic/Continental Divide |
| Sept. 8 | Andreja Novakovic(opens in a new tab), Philosophy, UC Berkeley |
Hegel’s Answer to the ‘Academy’ Question: Is it Permissible to Deceive a People? |
| Sept. 15 | Dhananjay Jagannathan(opens in a new tab), Philosophy, Columbia University |
A Defense of Aristotelian Justice |
| Sept. 22 | Daniel Lee(opens in a new tab), Political Science, UC Berkeley |
The Grotian Rights Revolution |
| Sept. 29 | William Clare Roberts(opens in a new tab), Political Science, McGill University |
Ideology and Social Opacity: Tracy, Marx, and the Fate of Enlightenment |
| Oct. 6 | Olivia Bailey(opens in a new tab), Philosophy, UC Berkeley |
Sophie de Grouchy and Adam Smith on Sympathy, Economic Inequality, and the Corruption of Moral Sentiments |
| Oct. 13 | Susanne Sreedhar(opens in a new tab), Philosophy; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Boston University |
Thomas Hobbes on Sex Difference and Gender Equality |
| Oct. 20 | Melvin Rogers(opens in a new tab), Political Science; Political Theory, Brown University |
The Darkened Light of Faith: An Introduction |
| Oct. 27 | Shannon Stimson(opens in a new tab), Government, Georgetown University |
Lions in Winter: Sir William Petty, Oliver Cromwell, and Thomas Hobbes on Taxation, Unity, and the Constitution of the Seventeenth-Century State |
| Nov. 3 |
Eric Nelson(opens in a new tab), Government, Harvard University (Please note that Prof. Nelson will be appearing on Zoom only) |
Philo and the Early-Modern Rehabilitation of “Democracy” |
| Nov. 10 |
Veteran’s Day – No Workshop |
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| Nov. 17 | Bryan Garsten(opens in a new tab), Political Science and Humanities, Yale University |
The Liberalism of Refuge |
| Nov. 24 | Thanksgiving – No Workshop | |
| Dec. 1 | Murad Idris(opens in a new tab), Political Science; Political Theory; Arab and Muslim American Studies, University of Michigan |
Violence, Colonialism, and Capitalism in an Islamist Key |