Course Description:

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 in/or close to New York. 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. Each week’s paper is distributed at least a week in advance, and participants are expected to have read it.

The Colloquium will meet as usual in the Fall Term of 2007 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM each Thursday from September 6 through December 6 except Thanksgiving, in Lester Pollack Room, 9th floor, Furman Hall, 245 Sullivan Street @ West 4th Street.

Papers will be presented by Professors Mark Kelman of Stanford, Richard Pildes of NYU, Loren Lomasky of Virginia, Sharon Street of NYU, Leslie Green of Oxford, Moshe Halbertal of NYU, Lisa Austin of Toronto, Margaret Gilbert of California, Liam Murphy of NYU, Rainer Forst of Frankfurt, John Dunn of Cambridge, Ronald Dworkin of NYU and David Golove of NYU.

Students enrolled in the Colloquium meet separately with Professor Dworkin for an additional two-hour seminar on Wednesday. One hour is devoted to a review of the preceding Thursday’s Colloquium discussion, and one hour in preparation for the Colloquium of the following day. Students are asked to write short papers weekly, and each student is asked to make two or more oral presentations to the seminar during the term. Each student is asked to expand one of his /her weekly papers, or oral presentations, for a final term paper.

Please note: the Colloquium will not be offered during Fall 2008.

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