The Colloquium in Legal and Political Philosophy enters its second year this fall with an exciting new lineup of speakers. A joint initiative between the Faculty of Law and the Departments of Philosophy and Political Studies, the course is convened jointly by Professors Jean Thomas and Grégoire Webber. With strong representation from students in all departments, the colloquium is a fantastic opportunity to foster and develop interdisciplinary learning and scholarship.

Thomas, the sole instructor for seminar students this year, describes the course as lively and fun with much collegial debate on the issues. “Students in the colloquium seminar will get a rich and intensive experience of the most current thinking by pre-eminent scholars in legal and political philosophy. My role is to facilitate students’ ability to articulate and strengthen their intuitive positions into a strong argument, as well as to foster a rewarding and exciting discussion. The opportunity for students to put their questions about a paper directly to its author, and to follow up on his or her response, is unique and makes the experience exciting and rewarding.”

Public sessions with guest speakers take place about once every two weeks during the term with Thomas as co-chair. Speaking at these sessions will be Cheshire Calhoun from the University of Arizona, Anna Stilz from Princeton, Brian Tamanaha from Washington University in St. Louis, Michelle Dempsey from Villanova, Liam Murphy from NYU and Wil Waluchow from McMaster. Each presentation is followed by an hour and a half of questions and discussion, with enrolled students having priority. 

“The assessment in the seminar is mainly oriented to student participation in class discussions and to the critical response pieces the students write,” says Thomas. “These are short and focused, and are designed to teach students to concentrate closely on one aspect of, or one move in, the paper’s argument and to evaluate it. Students receive not only grades but also detailed feedback on this work and they develop skills in critical thinking, understanding and evaluating an argument, and assessing the validity of its premises.”

Thomas says that the course is growing. “This year we have increased the number of enrolled students because of strong demand from students in the departments of Philosophy and Politics. This demand is partly the result of the introduction of the MA/LLM in Legal and Political Thought.