On June 17 and 18, 50 legal scholars and philosophers from around the world will gather on campus to attend this year’s Law and Philosophy Workshop. The subject:  broad questions about the nature of law and the philosophical issues underlying its different areas.

“We are very pleased that this year’s event is being held at Queen's,” says Professor Jean Thomas, who is one of the conference’s organizers together with Professor Chris Essert. “Studying this subject means to think deeply and critically about what the law is, what justifies it, how it functions, and so on. If one is to study something, those are all foundational questions that underlie the endeavour.”

The aim of the workshop is to promote work that connects legal philosophy with other branches of philosophy and to create a space for the critical examination of different viewpoints about law.  To do this, attendees will be discussing seven different papers distributed in advance. For each session, the authors of each paper will first make a short presentation on what they have written. Afterwards a chosen commentator will kick-off discussion and the authors will respond to questions. The program is diverse and will feature debate on everything from the question of whether law “exists” to the morality of snitching.

Essert describes the law as one of the most central parts of human life and as a justificatory institution. “Thinking about the philosophical issues that law raises is not only super interesting in its own right but also provides judges, legislators, lawyers and legal academics with a wealth of considerations that help them to think about important legal issues, as well as to help them understand how and why they think what they think.”