Colloquium in Legal, Political and Social Philosophy
Professors Ronald Dworkin and Thomas Nagel
Fall 2009, Thursday, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Furman Hall, Lester Pollack Room, 9th floor
245 Sullivan Street at West 4th Street [Google Map]
Each week on Thursday a legal theorist or moral or political philosopher presents a paper to the group, which consists of students, faculty from the Law School and other departments of NYU, and faculty from other universities. The choice of subject is left to the paper’s author, within the general boundaries of the Colloquium’s subjects, and the discussions are therefore not connected by any structured theme for the term as a whole, though in past years certain central topics were canvassed in several weeks’ discussion. The Colloquium aims, not to pursue any particular subject, but to explore new work in considerable depth and so allow students to develop their own skill in theoretical analysis.
Please see the schedule of speakers below. The papers for discussion will be available via the list below one week in advance of a speaker’s appearance, and they will also be distributed at the preceding session.
The seminar is only by professor’s permission. Students wishing to take the colloquium for credit should send their applications (an e-mail letter) to Professor Dworkin’s assistant, Lavinia Barbu, at the address given below during June 1-30. Before you send your application please check with the Academic Services if you are eligible to apply.
Lavinia Barbu
NYU School of Law • Vanderbilt Hall, 416
40 Washington Square South • New York, NY 10012-1009
Voice: 212-998-6252 • Fax: 212-995-4894
barbul@exchange.law.nyu.edu
Fall 2009 Schedule of Presenters
September 3
Please note: only this session will be in Furman Hall, Rm. 216.
János Kis, Central European University and New York University
Constitutional Precommitment Revisited
September 10
Richard Epstein, New York University
Property Rights and the Rule of Law:
Classical Liberalism Confronts the Modern Administrative States
September 17
Ronald Dworkin, New York University
September 24
Peter Singer, Princeton University
and
Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek, University of Lodz, Poland
Secrecy in Consequentialism: A Defence of Esoteric Moralilty
October 1
Michael Smith, Princeton University
Do We Have Reason To Do What We Should Do Morally Speaking?
October 8
David Enoch, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and The University of Texas
A Note to Colloquium Participants
October 15
Liam Murphy, New York University
The Nature of Law
October 22
Benjamin Zipursky, Fordham University
Wrongs, not Accidents: Civil Recourse and Civil Wrongs in the Law of Torts
October 29
Lily Batchelder, New York University
Optimal Tax Theory as a Theory of Distributive Justice
November 5
Thomas Nagel, New York University
Cognition and Value
Note to the Colloquium: These two chapters are from a draft about the consequences of antireductionism for the natural order. Discussion in the colloquium should focus on Chapter V: Value, but I am distributing Chapter IV: Cognition as well, because Chapter V depends on it at various points. T.N.
November 12
Thomas M. Scanlon, Jr., Harvard University
Note to Participants in the NYU Colloquium: My paper for the colloquium on November 12 is the second of the John Locke Lectures that I gave in Oxford last spring. I enclose also a summary of the main points of those lectures, so that you can see where this lectuire fits in. The whole thing is very much a work in progress at this point, and I look forward to learning from your comments. Tim Scanlon
Summary of the 2009 Locke Lectures
Lecture 2: Metaphysical Objections
November 19
A. J. Julius, UCLA
December 3
Jeremy Waldron, NYU