Conference on Dworkin’s Justice for Hedgehogs at Boston U.

Those in New England and the Northeast may want to drop in on the conference that Boston University is holding September 25-26. The topic is Ronald Dworkin's forthcoming book Justice for Hedgehogs. The lineup is power packed: Michael Smith, Shafer-Landau, Scanlon, Sen, David Lyons, Appiah, Kamm, Waldron, and lots more. Details below the fold.

  A CONFERENCE ON RONALD DWORKIN'S FORTHCOMING BOOK  JUSTICE FOR HEDGEHOGS                   

                     "The fox knows many things                
               but the hedgehog knows one big thing."
                            Archilochus                       

                        September 25-26, 2009
                          Boston University

     

     Boston University School of Law will hold a conference on
     Ronald Dworkin's forthcoming book, Justice for Hedgehogs,
     on September 25-26, 2009. Dworkin himself will give the
     keynote address on September 25 and a response on September
     26. The Boston University Law Review will publish the
     papers and proceedings.

      

     OVERVIEW:

     In Justice for Hedgehogs, Dworkin defends the unity of
     value – the one big thing he knows – and argues against
     "several foxy causes:" value skepticism, value pluralism,
     value conflict, and, in particular, the supposed opposition
     between the values of self-interest and those of personal
     and political morality. He argues for the integration of
     ethics (the principles that tell human beings how to live
     well) and morality (the principles that tell them how they
     must treat other people), and for a morality of self-
     affirmation as against a morality of self-abnegation. In
     doing so, he develops accounts of the indispensable
     conditions of living well – dignity, self-respect, and
     authenticity – and of our moral duties to others regarding
     aid and harm. He also argues that law is a branch of
     political morality that is in turn a department of morality
     more broadly understood. The conference will include the
     following panels, taking up issues of the sort sketched
     below.

      

     REGISTRATION/FURTHER INFORMATION:

     All – including not only professors, law students, graduate
     students, and undergraduates but also members of the
     public) are welcome to attend. There is no registration
     fee, but if you plan to attend, please RSVP to:

     CONTACT:       Andrea Larsen
     Email:         MAILTO:alarsen@bu.edu

     If you have administrative questions about the program,
     please contact her. If you have academic questions about it,
     please contact:

     CONTACT:       Professor James E. Fleming
     Email:         MAILTO:jfleming@bu.edu

      

     PROGRAM:

     Friday, September 25

     9:15 a.m.-9:30 a.m.
     Welcome and Introduction

     9:30-10:45 a.m.
     I. Truth and Metaethics

     – Aaron Garrett, Boston University Department of Philosophy
     – Russ Shafer-Landau, University of Wisconsin Department of
       Philosophy
     – Michael Smith, Princeton University Department of
       Philosophy
     – Daniel Star, Boston University Department of Philosophy

     11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
     Keynote Address: Justice for Hedgehogs

     – Ronald Dworkin, New York University School of Law &
       University College London

     12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
     Lunch

     2:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
     II. Interpretation

     – Richard Fallon, Harvard Law School
     – James Fleming, Boston University School of Law
     – David Lyons, Boston University School of Law
     – Lawrence Solum, University of Illinois College of Law
     – Benjamin Zipursky, Fordham University School of Law

     3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m.
     III. Ethics and Free Will

     – Anita Allen, University of Pennsylvania Law School
     – Christine Jolls, Yale Law School
     – Robert Kane, University of Texas Department of Philosophy
     – T.M. Scanlon, Harvard University Department of Philosophy
     – Amartya Sen, Harvard University Departments of Economics
       & Philosophy  

     5:00 p.m.-6:15 p.m.
     IV. Morality: Aid, Harm, and Obligation

     – Kwame Anthony Appiah, Princeton University Department of
       Philosophy
     – John Goldberg, Harvard Law School
     – Frances Kamm, Harvard University Department of Philosophy
       & Kennedy School of Government
     – Kenneth Simons, Boston University School of Law
     – Susanne Sreedhar & Candice Delmas, Boston University
       Department of Philosophy

     6:30 p.m.
     Reception

     Saturday, September 2
6:

     9:30 a.m.-10:45 a.m.
     V. Politics and Justice I

     – Ed Baker, University of Pennsylvania Law School
     – Hugh Baxter, Boston University School of Law
     – Linda McClain, Boston University School of Law
     – Larry Sager, University of Texas School of Law
     – Robin West, Georgetown University Law Center

     11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
     VI. Politics and Justice II

     – Robert Bone, Boston University School of Law
     – Samuel Freeman, University of Pennsylvania Department of
       Philosophy
     – Stephen Macedo, Princeton University Department of
       Politics
     – Frank Michelman, Harvard Law School
     – Robert Sloane, Boston University School of Law
     – Jeremy Waldron, New York University School of Law

     12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.
     Lunch

     Response by Ronald Dworkin

      

     TOPICS:

     Below are sketches of the topics for each panel:  

     I. Truth and Metaethics

     The opening panel will assess Dworkin's arguments for truth
     about value and against various forms of skepticism,
     including his rejection of Archimedean and meta-ethical
     attempts to address questions of ethics, morality, and
     justice from a standpoint outside of our ordinary ways of
     thinking about them.

     II. Interpretation

     This panel will respond to Dworkin's arguments that
     interpretation in general seeks truth and that moral
     reasoning and legal interpretation are enterprises
     involving conceptual interpretation as distinguished from
     collaborative and explanatory interpretation.

     III. Ethics and Free Will

     Herein of Dworkin's arguments concerning the indispensable
     conditions of living well – dignity, self-respect, and
     authenticity – along with his response to the "no free
     will" challenge to ethical and moral responsibility.

     IV. Morality: Aid, Harm, and Obligation

     The issues to be considered include Dworkin's arguments of
     substantive morality concerning duty, harm, and obligation,
     including associative and political obligation.

     V & VI. Politics and Justice

     These two panels will take up Dworkin's arguments about
     political morality, including his account of political,
     legal, and human rights; his interpretive conceptions of
     equality, liberty, and democracy; and his argument about
     the relationship between law and morals.