It has been an unusually busy end of summer/start of fall, plus APSA and administrative duties in the Department. I am hoping to update this blog with some threads I've been pursuing, on the themes of charity and 'liberality.' Coming soon!
For now, I just want to announce my paper seminar at the Kadish Workshop which can be accessed via Zoom. It will be this Friday at noon (California time). Details are below, including a link to the paper. Everyone is welcome to these workshops.
Workshop in Law, Philosophy, and Political Theory (Fall 2023) Sponsored by the Kadish Center for Morality, Law, & Public Affairs and the Philosophy and Political Science Departments at U.C. Berkeley presents The Grotian Rights Revolution Daniel Lee University of California, Berkeley
Friday, September 22nd, 12:15-2:00 p.m. In-Person Room 141
Zoom is available for those who cannot attend in Person Zoom link to join: https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/94938490108 |
Daniel Lee is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a specialist in political theory and the history of political thought and studies how the techniques of legal reasoning in the legal science of Roman and canon law have shaped the core concepts of modern political science – sovereignty, statehood, citizenship, and rights. Professor Lee is the author of two books: Popular Sovereignty in Early Modern Constitutional Thought (Oxford, 2016) and The Right of Sovereignty: Jean Bodin on the Sovereign State and the Law of Nations (Oxford, 2021). He is currently completing a new title, Divisions of Law (also for Oxford University Press), and now beginning a new project called The Science of Right, an intellectual history of jurisprudence and deontic logic from Grotius to Hohfeld. Before joining the Berkeley faculty in 2015, Professor Lee taught political theory at the University of Toronto and Columbia University. |
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The Grotian Rights Revolution
●●●●● Abstract ●●●●●
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) holds a place of honor in the modern history of rights. In this paper, I’ll explore why he remains so prominent in this history, and that is what I call ‘the Grotian rights revolution.’ This ‘rights revolution’ consisted of three parts – (1) the sudden shift from strict ‘remedies’ to elastic ‘rights’ in early-modern legal and moral science; (2) the proto-Hohfeldian distinction between permissive liberty-right [jus], strict claim-right [jus stricte dictum], and legal powers [potestas]; (3) the recognition that claims of merit [which Grotius variously rendered as dignitas; waerdigheid; αξία] are ‘imperfect’ rights that can burden others and even require them to perform virtuous acts of charity, as correlative ‘imperfect’ duties. While Grotius originally developed his theory of rights to craft a so-called ‘legal right to wage war’ – or a jus ad bellum – as a means to get what is one’s due, Grotius imagined rights, in general, as artifacts of the transactional and adversarial culture of litigation in a Roman court. That litigious culture is, in my view, remains encoded in the genetics of modern liberal politics. |
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The theme for the Fall 2023 Workshop is "Current Work on the History of Political, Legal, and Moral Philosophy. Please join us for our session with Daniel Lee, who will discuss his paper "The Grotian Rights Revolution." The full workshop schedule and more information can be found below.
All sessions for Fall 2023 will be held in person and online via Zoom. Students enrolled in the course will attend the seminar in person in room 141, Law Building. For non-enrolled students, faculty, and visitors, attendance is either in person or via Zoom. Please note that to attend the meeting on Zoom you must be signed into a Zoom account. For instructions on how to use Zoom follow the link here. The Zoom link to attend this session is here.
Lunch is provided at Steinhart Courtyard (on the second level across from the Office of the Registrar) before the seminar from 11:45 to 12:15. However, there is no drinking or eating in the seminar room after 12:15. |
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●●●●● About the Workshop ●●●●● The first part of the workshop from 12:15 to 2:00 pm is open to all faculty, students, staff, and visiting scholars at UC Berkeley. The final hour of the workshop is for enrolled students only. Participants are expected to read the paper in advance.
For more information about the Kadish Center Workshops, visit the Kadish Center website here.
For an overview of Berkeley's research and teaching in Politics, Philosophy, and Law, visit our website here. |
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