Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory – Fall 2018

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)

 

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