Law & Literature II: Interpretation in Action, Yeshiva University (Cardozo)

How does the way we interpret texts affect our behavior in the world? Specifically, how do the methods we choose when reading stories and constitutions influence our methods of approaching legal and moral issues with which we are faced as lawyers? This seminar, which satisfies the upper-class writing requirement and for which there is no prerequisite, explores through the reading of story-tellers, philosophers, and legal theorists, the claim that how we attain textual meaning calibrates our actions in the domain of human rights, constitutional law, and everyday practice. Readings range from the Bible (“older” and “newer”, where a tension between “letter” and “spirit” becomes palpable) to stories from “Antigone” to Shakespeare to Susan Glaspell to Robert Bolt, to descriptions of interpretation in writers such as Plato, Nietzsche, Cardozo, Scalia, and Derrida. There is no final exam, and a final writing project chosen by the student in conjunction with the instructors constitutes the main requirement for the seminar. This information has been collected for the Post-Discipline Online Syllabus Database. The database explores the use of literature by schools of professional education in North America. It forms part of a larger project titled Post-Discipline: Literature, Professionalism, and the Crisis of the Humanities, led by Dr Merve Emre with the assistance of Dr Hayley G. Toth. You can find more information about the project at https://postdiscipline.english.ox.ac.uk/. Data was collected and accurate in 2021/22.