Advanced investigation of the rhetorical dimensions of various modes of discourse. Specific topics to be announced.

During recent decades, “law and humanities” has emerged as a sub-field of sorts. What does scholarship in this area consist in and engage with? What characterizes “interdisciplinary” study of this sort? In this seminar, we will explore various approaches to the language of law with an eye to understanding what is at stake in doing so and, depending on student interest, will consider how such approaches can be extrapolated to other kinds of work. We will approach language as speech act, dialogue, and performance. We will consider issues of law as text, rule practice and, of course, “discourse.” Drawing on texts of philosophy, history, and law, we will focus on critiques of legal knowledge and judgement. Students will be asked to share knowledge across their disciplines. (At least one session will be a quick-and-dirty introduction to the U.S. legal system – students with background in law will be expected to contribute to familiarizing others with it.) Essays and short pieces will supplement or illustrate readings from the following texts: REQUIRED Nietzsche, Friedrich, Twilight of the Idols Parker, Kunal, The Turn to Process: American Legal, Political and Economic Thinking 1870- 1970 (2023) Daston, Lorraine, Rules: A Short History of What We Live By (2023) Hosle, Vittorio, (trans. Rendall) The Philosophical Dialogue (2013) Heidegger, Country Path Conversations (U of Indiana 2016) RECOMMENDED Austin, How to Do Things with Words Foucault, Discipline and Punish Hart, The Concept of Law

Repeat Rules