The social and political organization of our world is changing at a fast pace. Societies are becoming ever more diverse and popular allegiances are multiplying. States are witnessing the erosion of their sovereignty, while having to contend with increasingly complex transnational crime and threats to national and international security. Modern normative commitments to human rights and the rule of law that have formed since the Enlightenment and through the political revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries are now being challenged from countless new directions. Such deep transformations generate a host of novel and significant philosophical questions for scholars to answer.
The annual seminar series ‘Legal Philosophy Between State and Transnationalism’ is designed to address emerging issues at the intersection of transnationalism, law, and philosophy in a sustained and systematic manner. The featured speakers expose and explore ways in which our existing ideas about what law is, and about what law should be, may need modification, or possible rejection, as we reassess the place and role of legality in today’s world.
In its first four years, the series offered 24 high-end debates that brought together leading international theorists and philosophers engaged in cutting-edge research on the correlation between the state, law, morality, politics, and other modes of societal ordering. Video recordings of seminars are available for each of the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012 editions. The 2012-2013 series builds on the success of these first three years and includes distinguished speakers such as Antony Duff, Nir Eisikovits, Nomi Claire Lazar, David Lefkowitz, Dan Markel, Massimo Renzo, and Detlef Von Daniels (click here for the 2012-2013 program).
The series is jointly organized by Osgoode Hall Law School and the Department of Philosophy, and is associated with the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. It reflects York University’s broad and growing international strength in legal, moral, and political philosophy, socio-legal theory, and transnational studies. It will be of interest to anyone – from lawyers to philosophers, sociologists to political scientists – working in these areas.
Please consult the links in the left column for details about dates, room changes, topics, pre-circulated papers, and speakers. For any further inquiries about the series, contact the co-convenors, Prof. François Tanguay-Renaud and Prof. Michael Giudice.