To honor the laureate of the Holberg Prize for 2007, New York University will host a seminar on April 10 focusing on the concepts central to the work of Ronald Dworkin, who will provide comment on each presentation.
3/31/2008 :: In the words of the Holberg Prize Academic Committee, “Dworkin has developed an original and highly influential legal theory grounding law in morality, characterized by a unique ability to tie together abstract philosophical ideas and arguments whit concrete everyday concerns in law, morals and politics.”
Ronald Dworkin holds a degree in law from the Harvard Law School. His first book, Taking Rights Seriously, was published in 1977, and is an attempt at refuting the concepts of legal positivism. Dworkin has since published numerous books and articles on morality and law, and his name has over the past thirty years become inextricably linked to the philosophy of law. He is currently Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law at New York University and Jeremy Bentham Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London.
The Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund was established in 2003 by the Norwegian Parliament, and aims to raise the status of the academic fields of the arts and humanities. Upon accepting the award, Mr. Dworkin elaborated on the connection between the humanities and law:
“Law is sometimes conceived as an almost mechanical trade. The Holberg Prize corrects that mistake by placing law in the context of humanities as a whole, recognizing that legal interpretation is as much an art as literary of historical of theological interpretation is.”
Previous laureates of the Holberg Prize are Julia Kristeva, Jurgen Habermas and Shmuel Eisenstadt.
In addition to Ronald Dworkin, the following outstanding academics will participate in the seminar at New York University on April 10:
Janos Kis (Central European University, Budapest)
Liam Murphy (New York University)
Lawrence Sager (University of Texas, Austin)
Thomas Scanlon (Harvard University)
Kathleen Sullivan (Stanford University)
Cass Sunstein (University of Chicago)
The program to the seminar is available at the Holberg Prize website.
When: Thursday, April 10 at 10am
Where: Furman Hall, Lester Pollack Colloquium Room. 245 Sullivan Street, 9th Floor
Info: Reservations required, visit the NYU registration site. For more information, call (212) 998-6410
Mats Silberg / Royal Norwegian Consulate General