Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory

WORKSHOP IN LAW, PHILOSOPHY, AND POLITICAL THEORY (Law 210.2A)

Fall Semester 2018

All classes meet in 141 Law Building (unless otherwise noted*), Fridays from 12:00pm-3:15pm. To request a copy of papers contact: amatullahas@berkeley.edu.

Course description:

This course is a workshop for discussing work-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. In Fall 2018, the theme will be free speech. The list of invited speakers is below.

The format of the course is as follows. For the sessions with guest presenters, lunch will be served starting at 12:00. We’ll begin at 12:15. A designated 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 non-enrolled students, faculty, and visitors who wish to participate in the workshop discussion. We’ll stop for a break at 2 and those not enrolled in the course will leave. Enrolled students will continue the discussion with the guest from 2:10 to 3:00.

This is a cross-listed/room-shared course. Law Students enroll through the Law School (Law 210.2A), the Philosophy Department (Philosophy 290-6), or the Political Science Department (PS 211). The first class will meet on Friday, August 24.

Students enrolled or interested in enrolling should visit the bCourses site:
https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/courses/1472098

August 24	Introduction Professors: Joshua Cohen R. Jay Wallace	Introductory meeting (for enrolled students only)
August 31	Seana Shiffrin Professor of Philosophy Pete Kameron Professor of Law and Social Justice UCLA School of Law	“Lying and Freedom of Speech” Chapter Four from Speech Matters: On Lying, Morality, and the Law
September 7	Jennifer Rothman Professor of Law Joseph Scott Fellow Loyola Law School	“The Black Hole of the First Amendment,” an excerpt from The Right of Publicity: Privacy Reimagined for a Public World for a copy of the excerpt: *email amatullahas@berkeley.edu*
September 14	Henry Brady Dean and Class of 1941 Monroe Deutsch Professor of Political Science and Public Policy UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy	“Freedom to Speak, Socio-Economic Inequality, and the Internet” Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and the People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age (Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry E. Brady, and Sidney Verba, 2018) Chapters 5 and 6 Why these chapters-and what to consider?
September 21	Heather Whitney Esq. PhD candidate Department of Philosophy New York University	“Search Engines, Social Media, and the Editorial_Analogy”
September 28	Ilya Somin Professor of Law Antonin Scalia Law School George Mason University	“Foot Voting vs. Ballot Box Voting: Why Voting With Your Feet is Crucial to Political Freedom” Chapter excerpt from: Free to Move: Foot Voting *and Political Freedom*
October 5	Robert Post Sterling Professor of Law Yale Law School	Abstract “Right to be Forgotten” (discussion paper)
Right to be Forgotten-background paper This article presents a longer and more detailed version of the argument in Robert Post’s main text (discussion paper); Part II in particular contains a history and sociology of the virtual public sphere that is left out of the shorter article. The shorter version will be the official topic of the workshop session with Prof. Post, but he has suggested we make the longer version available for those who would like additional background and detail.
October 12	Sigal Ben-Porath Professor Graduate School of Education University of Pennsylvania	“LOL I will never be fired: Campus Free Speech in the Era of Social Media”
October 19	Leslie Kendrick Vice Dean and Professor of Law School of Law University of Virginia	“Another First Amendment”
October 26	T. M. Scanlon Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity, Emeritus Department of Philosophy Harvard University	“A Framework for Thinking about Freedom of Speech, and Some of its Implications”
November 2	Erwin Chemerinsky Dean Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law School of Law UC Berkeley	“Free Speech on Campus: What Campuses Can or Can’t Do”
November 9	Tim Wu Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law Columbia Law School	“‘The First Amendment as Loser’s Revenge'”
November 16	Susan J. Brison Eunice and Julian Cohen Professor for the Study of Ethics and Human Values Professor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy Dartmouth	“Free Speech Skepticism”
November 30	Conclusion	(for enrolled students only)

Workshop Archives

WORKSHOP IN LAW, PHILOSOPHY, AND POLITICAL THEORY (Law 210.2A) Fall Semester 2018

WORKSHOP IN LAW, PHILOSOPHY, AND POLITICAL THEORY (Law 210.2A)

Fall Semester 2018