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Law & Humanities Blog

The Legacy and Mystery of Primo Levi

Posted: 24 May 2011 10:02 AM PDT

Carlin Romano writes about Primo Levi's legacy here for the Chronicle of Higher Education. More on the meaning of Mr. Levi's art and the difficulty of writing about his work here in a 2002 Chronicle article by Julia M. Klein.

Egalitarianism In History and Contemporary Thought

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:12 AM PDT

Joel I Colon-Rios, Victoria University of Wellington, and Martin Hevia, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella School of Law, have published From Redistribution to Recognition in El derecho a la egualidad: a portes para un constitucionalismo iqualitario (Roberto Gargarella y Marcela Alegre eds.; Lexis/Nexis, forthcoming).


This paper examines the 'second wave' of egalitarianism, which moved away from the traditional focus on economic injustices and redistribution claims, to an emphasis in cultural injustices and the politics of recognition. The first part of the paper introduces the 'first wave' of egalitarian thought, through a brief examination of the work of John Rawls and of the scholarship on luck egalitarianism. The second part, resting on the work of Charles Taylor, explores the historical roots of the politics of recognition. The third part focuses in the debate between Iris Marion Young and Nancy Fraser, which exemplifies the promises and limits of the second wave of egalitarian thought.
Download the abstract from SSRN at the link.
NB: Text is in Spanish.

Law's Nature

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:06 AM PDT

Frederick Schauer, University of Virginia School of Law, has published On the Nature of the Nature of Law. Here is the abstract.



What is it for something to have a nature? And what is it for law to have a nature? Analysis of the concept of law has often been taken to be a search for the essential features of law, but it is not clear that the nature of a phenomenon or artifact is better explained by its essential features than by its common ones. And it is not clear that necessary truths have more explanatory value than typical truths. Especially – but not necessarily – if we recognize the possibility that law is a cluster concept, the value of explaining the widespread but not strictly necessary features of law in explaining law itself becomes more apparent. The jurisprudential project of differentiating law from other social phenomena is an important one, but the distinction may be a fuzzy one and not susceptible either to sharp demarcation or to specification of essential features of law that will assist in differentiation. But if we inquire into what typically or usually or almost always characterizes law rather than what necessarily characterizes it, we may make genuine progress in distinguishing law from the social phenomena to which it is adjacent but with which it is not congruent. This paper, prepared for the McMaster University Conference in May, 2011, on "The Nature of Law: Contemporary Perspectives," explores these issues.
Download the paper from SSRN at the link.

What's Satire Got To Do With It?

Posted: 24 May 2011 08:00 AM PDT

Lauren Feldman, American University, Anthony Leiserowitz, Yale University, and Edward W. Maibach, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Commication, have published The Impact of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report on Public Attentiveness to Science and the Environment. Here is the abstract.



Prior research on the political effects of late-night comedy programs has demonstrated that by piggy-backing political content on entertainment fare, such programs provide a, "gateway," to increased audience attention to news and public affairs, particularly among less politically engaged audiences. Given the heightened coverage of science and environmental topics on Comedy Central's satirical news programs, "The Daily Show," and, "The Colbert Report," this paper considers whether a similar process could be at work relative to public attention to science and the environment. An analysis of nationally representative survey data finds that audience exposure to, "The Daily Show," and, "The Colbert Report," goes hand-in-hand with attention paid to science and environmental issues, specifically global warming. Moreover, the relationship between satirical news use and attentiveness is most pronounced among those with the least amount of formal education, who might otherwise lack the resources and motivation to pay attention to scientific and environmental issues. In this way, satirical news is an attention equalizer, reducing traditional gaps in attentiveness between those with low and high levels of education.
Download the paper from SSRN at the link.
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