"Taking Politics Less Seriously"

My talk at an Institute for Liberal Studies seminar on rejecting the fiction that the political world reflects one's will or one's soul is now online. Politics is something that happens to us, something we have to manage and live with as best we can; it has no natural tendency to reflect our wills or our consent, and the insistence that it does only empowers the people who want to falsely impute consent to us and claim to be harming us in our own name.

Hither and yon: religious institutionalism at DePaul

Religious institutionalism conference at DePaul.

Hither and Yon: Toronto

Today: "Freedom of Complex Associations," University of Toronto Ethics Centre.

Hither and yon: CEU, Budapest

 The 20th Annual Individual vs. the State conference 
June 8 – 9, 2012 
Central European University, Budapest (Auditorium) The Tragedy of Liberty?: From Liberation to Self-Destruction and Irrelevance

Friday, June 8,

 9.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.
Panel 1. Is a Liberty-Based State Still Possible?
Chair: Renata Uitz (CEU, Legal Studies Department)

A Non-Utopian Plea for Liberal Democracy and Against Social Engineering
 Shlomo Avineri (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

Republican Liberty, Global Constitutionalism, and the Obsolescence of the State
José Luis Marti (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

 Commentator: Daniel Smilov (University of Sofia, Bulgaria)

 11.30 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.
 Panel 2: Liberty to Whom?
Chair: Nenad Dimitrijevic (CEU Political Science)

 Political liberty: three theories of liberalism for three theories of federalism. A Hegelian turn
Lluís-Ferran Requejo (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

No Longer a Slave But Not Yet Free: Freedom and Social Dislocation
John Christman (Penn State University)

 Commentator: János Kis (CEU, Political Science and Philosophy)

2.30 p.m. – 4.00 p.m.
Panel 3: The Demise of Freedom
 Chair: Judit Sandor (CEU Departments of Political Science, Legal Studies and Gender Studies, and CELAB, Director)

Liberty and its Competitors
 András Sajó (European Court of Human Rights)

Victims’ Rights and Due Process
Károly Bárd (CEU Legal Studies Department)

Commentator: Lech Garlicki (European Court of Human Rights)

 5.00 p.m. – 6.30 p.m. Panel 4: Is Security a Pretext? The Possibilities of Freedom in a Genuine Risk Society
 Chair: Petra Bárd (National Institute for Criminology, Budapest)

 Liberty and Security Revisited: Towards a Liberalism after Neoliberalism
Jan-Werner Muller (Princeton University)

Freedom under a System of Public Laws: From Hobbes through Hayek to Republicanism
David Dyzenhaus (University of Toronto)

 Commentor: Miroslaw Wyrzykowski (Warsaw University)

 Saturday, June 9, CEU Auditorium
 9.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m.

Panel 5: Liberty to All or Pluralistic Freedoms: The Conflict of Values

 Chair: Susanna Mancini (University of Bologna)

 Liberty and the Conflict of Values
 Matthias Mahlmann (University of Zurich)

Rationalism Pluralism and Freedom

Jacob T. Levy (McGill University)

Commentator: Michel Rosenfeld (Cardozo Law School)

 11.30 a.m. – 1.00 p.m.
 Panel 6: Dignity as a Challenge to the Liberal Order

 Chair: Patrick Macklem (University of Toronto)

 Expressivism, Dignity and the Challenge to Liberty
 Christopher McCrudden (Queen’s University, Belfast)

 Waldron on Dignity and Responsibility-rights: Can the Tragedy of Liberty be Avoided?
 Ruzha Smilova (University of Sofia)

Commentator: Wojciech Sadurski (University of Sydney)

2.30 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Panel 7: What Would a Liberty-Based Constitutional Order Look Like?

 Chair: Michael Hamilton (CEU Legal Studies Department)

What Would a Liberty-Respecting Criminal Justice System Look Like?
Eric Blumenson (Suffolk University Law School)

Room for Religious Pluralism? Freedom of Religion Replaced by Institutional Considerations
 Renáta Uitz (CEU Legal Studies Department)

 Commentator: Anna Sledzinska-Simon (University of Wroclaw)

Hither and yon, England edition

Wednesday, January 18: LSE political and legal theory workshop, 5 pm, "Contra Politanism"
Friday, January 20: Southampton political theory workshop, "Contra Politanism," 2 pm
Monday, January 23: Nuffield College Oxford political theory workshop, 2:15 pm, "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom"
Tuesday January 24: Institute for Economic Affairs, "Rationalism and Pluralism," 6:30 pm
Wednesday January 25, Queen Mary, University of London political theory workshop, "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom," 4.30pm, Laws 1.19

Hither and yon: University of Ottawa

October 5, University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Fauteaux Hall room 147B, 4-5:30 with reception to follow.

John Hasnas (Georgetown University) - The depoliticization of law

Jacob T. Levy (McGill University) - Non-ideal constitutionalism

Scott Reid (Member of Parliament) - Examining of the roots of Canada's "Living Tree" doctrine

Hither and yon, youtube edition

My talk at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney on "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek's history of liberal thought" has been captured for the ages.

Hither and yon, down under

Rationalism, Pluralism, and Hayek's History of Liberal Thought, The Centre for Independent Studies, Level 4, 38 Oxley St, St Leonards, Sydney 2065, 17 August 2011, 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm

Conference, Between Indigenous and Settler Governance, University of Western Sydney, 18-20 August 2011. Paper: "Indigenous Rights, Modern Political Concepts, and the State."

Hither and yon: Paris

May 31, "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom, "Analyses Normatives contemporaines" series, Centre de Recherche Sens, Ethique, Société (CERSES).

Hither and yon: Theorizing the Commonwealth

Volkswagen Fellowship Symposium: "Theorizing the Commonwealth"
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 9:00am
Room 133, Barker Center
Harvard University


9:00 am
Welcome

9:10 am
Hans Beck
McGill University
Federalism in Ancient Greece: Theories of the Unthinkable

9:55 am
Emma Dench
Harvard University
The Roman Empire: Theory and Practice

Coffee Break

11:00 am
Theo Christov
Northwestern University
The Republican Idea of Europe in the 18th Century

11:45 am
Detlef von Daniels
Universität Witten/Herdecke
Rudiments of Federalism in Kant

12:30 pm
Pierpaolo Polzonetti
University of Notre Dame
Omnes viae ‘Romam’ ducunt: The American Revolution in Mozart’s Vienna

1:15 pm
Lunch Break

2:30 pm
Jacob T. Levy
McGill University
The Accidental Innovation: From Ancient Constitutionalism to Modern Federalism

3:15 pm
James Tully
University of Victoria
On the Idea of a Commonwealth Today

Coffee Break

4:20 pm
Glyn Morgan
Syracuse University
The Failure of the European Alternative

5:05 pm
Alexander Somek
University of Iowa
The Cosmopolitan Constitution

Pre-registration: Detlef von Daniels, detlef.vondaniels@uni-wh.de

Hither and yon, Montreal edition: today at ISA

1:45 PM (TC61)

Cosmopolitanism, Institutions, and Non-Ideal Theory

Room: Parlor Suite 2020, Fairmont


Chair: Catherine Lu (McGill University)

Discussant: Daniele Archibugi (National Research Council)

Luis Cabrera. "Is There a Duty to Support Unjust Institutions above the State?"

Ryoa Chung. "Soft Law, Soft Power and Smart Politics in the NonIdeal World: A Pragmatic Approach to Cosmopolitanism."

Jacob Levy. "Contra Politanism: Against the Moral Teleology of Political Forms"

Laura Valentini. "On the Duty to Create Just Global Institutions: Dilemmas of Non-Compliance"

Institute for Liberal Studies seminar at McGill

On facebook and on the ILS website:

Politics & Society Seminar
(co-hosted with the Montreal Economic Institute and the McGill International Student Network)
March 6, 2010 | 10am - 4pm
McGill University, Location TBA
Join us on Saturday, March 6 at McGill University to hear from leading thinkers about the ideas that shape our society.
Students and faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to attend. Click here to register.
The seminar will begin at 10:00am and conclude at 4:00pm. Each talk will be followed by time for questions and discussion by the participants. The seminar is free for students and faculty, general admission is $20. Lunch will be provided.
The agenda for this seminar is as follows:
10:00am – Registration
10:30am – Welcome
10:45am – Tom Palmer (Atlas Economic Research Foundation) - A Brief, 4,500 Year History of Liberty
12:00pm – Lunch
1:00pm – Jacob Levy (McGill University) - Freedom, Culture and Multiculturalism
2:15pm - Break
2:30pm – Jason Brennan (Brown University) - Civic Virtue Without Politics
3:45pm - Wrap-up and adjournment

Hither and yon:

Tomorrow: "Contra politanism: Against the moral teleology of political forms," Nathanson Centre Legal Philosophy Series, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto.

Hither and Yon

Thursday, October 29: "Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom," at the Program in Ethics and Public Affairs, Princeton.

Friday, November 13: "Contra Politanism," at Osgoode Hall Law School's seminar series "Legal Philosophy between State and Transnationalism."

Hither and yon: UC Berkeley edition

Tomorrow I'll be giving "Federalism and constitutional entrenchment" at the Berkeley political theory workshop, Harris Room (Rm 119), Moses Hall, 3 pm.

Saturday I'll be giving "From Liberal constitutionalism to pluralism" at a Center for British Studies conference on "Modern Pluralism: Anglo-American Debates since 1880", Moses Hall 223, 9:30 am.

Hither and yon, Santa Fe edition

Tomorrow at the Federal Bar Association's Indian Law conference I'll be presenting Three Perversities of Indian Law.

Federal Bar Association Indian Law Conference

I'll be revisiting the perversities of Indian Law thesis in light of last year's Plains Commerce Bank v Long, in a talk at the Federal Bar Association's Indian Law Conference, April 3, Pueblo of Pojoaque outside Santa Fe.

Here's an utterly unsurprising spoiler: the outcome in Plains Commerce only aggravated the perversity of the incentives facing tribal governments. In the article I said that the Montana exceptions had been whittled away to near-nothingness; in Plains Commerce the Court just shaved a bit more wood off the paper-thin bit that remained. Step by step, the Court continues to make a bad situation worse.

For newcomers to Plains Commerce, I recommend the superb amicus brief from the Solicitor General.

Research Workshop on Thomas Hobbes

March 21-22, 2009, McGill University, Montreal
http://profs-polisci.mcgill.ca/abizadeh/Hobbes-Workshop.htm

This two-day workshop brings together a number of scholars working on Hobbes today to discuss two recent book-length manuscripts: Thomas Hobbes and the Creation of Order by Kinch Hoekstra and The Oscillations of Thomas Hobbes by Arash Abizadeh. Topics include Hobbes's treatment of morals, politics, religion, language, mind, and knowledge.

Format: To maximize the quality of discussion, participants are expected to have read the two manuscripts beforehand. Each panel will begin with two fifteen minute critiques of a section of the manuscript, followed by a brief response by the author and general discussion.

Registration: The workshop is open to everyone, but attendance is by registration and limited in number. Those wishing to attend should RSVP to the workshop coordinator Douglas Hanes, douglas.hanes@mail.mcgill.ca .

Manuscripts: Manuscripts are available on the workshop website for download. Access requires a password, which all participants will receive upon registration.

Program:

Saturday March 21
Arts 160, McGill University

9:55 am Welcome

10:00 am - 11:45 am: Linguistic Convention and Mental Inspection
Chair: Emily Carson (McGill, philosophy)
Commentators: Douglas Jesseph (South Florida, philosophy)
Justin E. H. Smith (Concordia, philosophy)
Author/Respondent: Arash Abizadeh (McGill, politics)

11:45 - 1pm: Lunch Break

1:00 pm - 2:45 pm: The State of Nature
Chair: Dario Perinetti (UQAM, philosophy)
Commentators: Ioannis Evrigenis (Tufts, politics)
Jacob Levy (McGill, politics)
Author/Respondent: Kinch Hoekstra (Berkeley, politics/law)

2:45 pm - 3:00 pm: Coffee Break

3 pm - 4:45 pm: Morals and War
Chair: Catherine Lu (McGill, politics)
Commentators: Michael LeBuffe (Texas A&M, philosophy)
Patrick Neal (Vermont, politics)
Author/Respondent: Arash Abizadeh (McGill, politics)

5 pm: Reception

6:30 pm: Dinner


Sunday March 22
Arts 160, McGill University

9:30 am - 11:15 am: Commonwealth by Acquisition and Institution
Chair: Christina Tarnopolsky (McGill, politics)
Commentators: Michael Green (Pomona, philosophy)
Travis Smith (Concordia, politics)
Author/Respondent: Kinch Hoekstra (Berkeley, politics/law)

11:15 am - 12:30 pm: Lunch Break

12:30 pm - 2:15 pm: Sovereignty and the State's Ideological Program
Chair: TBA
Commentators: Jeffrey Collins (Queen's, history)
Will Roberts (McGill, philosophy/politics)
Author/Respondent: Arash Abizadeh (McGill, politics)

2:15 pm - 2:30 pm: Coffee Break

2:30 pm - 4:15 pm: Justice Made Reasonable? The Reply to the Foole
Chair: Victor Muniz-Fraticelli (McGill, politics/law)
Commentators: Tom Sorell (Birmingham, philosophy)
Ed King (Concordia, politics)
Author/Respondent: Kinch Hoekstra (Berkeley, politics/law)

4:30 pm: Reception


This workshop has been made possible by generous support from the Dean of Arts Development Fund (McGill), Department of Political Science (University of California - Berkeley), Groupe de recherche interuniversitaire en philosophie politique de Montréal (GRIPP), Department of Political Science (McGill), and Department of Philosophy (McGill).

Hither and Yon, local edition: "Lost in the state of nature"

I'll be giving a talk called "Lost in the state of nature: the political theory of the Island," Wednesday, January 21, 7 pm, in the Shatner Building cafe at McGill; the talk will of course be followed immediately by the season premiere of Lost.

Sponsored by the McGill Political Science Students' Association.

RSVP on facebook if you like.

Theories about the conversion of Locke into Bentham may be ventured in comments below...

Hither and yon, Oxford edition

I'll be at the Adam Smith/ 250th Anniversary of Theory of Moral Sentiments at Balliol College and then the "Liberalisms East and West" conference at St. Antony's College this week/ weekend. Very excited about both.