Law and Philosophy Commons^™

“You Keep Using That Word”: Why Privacy Doesn’T Mean What Lawyers Think, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

This article explores how the need to define privacy has impeded our ability to protect it in law.

The meaning of “privacy” is notoriously hard to pin down. This article contends that the problem is not with the word “privacy,” but with the act of trying to pin it down. The problem lies with the act of definition itself and is particularly acute when the words in question have deep-seated and longstanding common-language meanings, such as liberty, freedom, dignity, and certainly privacy. If one wishes to determine what words like these actually mean to people, definition is the wrong tool …

This Earthly Frame: The Making Of American Secularism, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.”

Feminist Relational Theory, Christine M. Koggel, Ami Harbin, Jennifer Llewellyn

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Accounts of human beings as essentially social have had a long history in philosophy as reflected in the Ancient Greeks; in African and Asian philosophy; in Modern European thinkers such as Mary Wollstonecraft, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx; in continental philosophy; in pragmatism; in Indigenous thought, and in contemporary communitarian theories. It can be said, then, that the language of relational theory has taken a variety of forms. That relational theory is broad and captures various threads in the history of philosophy is captured in the main title of this special issue, Relational Theory. That this special …

Why Secular Society Desperately Needs The Recognition Of Religious Holidays, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals.

How Should The Law Adjust To The Rittenhouse Verdict?, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Stop Calling Kyle Rittenhouse A Hero. He Killed Two Unarmed People, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Maybe Deficits Do Matter After All, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

No, This Isn’T Facebook’S ‘Big Tobacco’ Moment, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

November 1, 2021: The Migration Of New Content To Bruceledewitz.Com, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Migration of New Content to bruceledewitz.com“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Here's What's At Stake In Texas Abortion Case Before U.S. Supreme Court, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

The The Universe Is On Our Side: Restoring Faith In American Public Life, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Books

In The Universe Is On Our Side, Bruce Ledewitz argues that there has been a breakdown in American public life that no election can fix - Americans struggle to even converse about politics and the usual explanations for our condition have failed to make things better. Ledewitz posits that America is living with the consequences of the Death of God, which Friedrich Nietzsche presumed would be momentous and irreversible.For a long time, God acted as the story of the meaning of our lives. America's future requires that we begin a new story by each of us asking a question posed …

No, Joe Biden And The Dems Are Not Collapsing, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

October 13, 2021: The Case For Joe Biden, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Case for Joe Biden“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

October 8, 2021: Tune In To The Grimes Lecture I Delivered Yesterday At Bethany College, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Tune in to the Grimes Lecture I Delivered Yesterday at Bethany College“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

October 3, 2021: A Response To My Column Criticizing The National Vote Compact--What Ledewitz Missed, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “A Response to My Column Criticizing the National Vote Compact--What Ledewitz Missed“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Addressing The Harms Of Pornography, Gillian Allison

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Within this paper I look at the existing philosophical work on pornography, from scholars like Catherine MacKinnon, Ronald Dworkin, and Rae Langton to show the current state of the pornography debate that I intend to enter by presenting my own argument about the morality of pornography. I argue that while pornography is harmful, these harms are best resolved through increased sexual education and the popularization and production of more inclusive pornography. The harms pornography causes are so great because pornography is where a lot of people learn about sex. Pornography was never designed to depict an average sexual experience. If …

What Is "United" About The United States?, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

Jack Balkin’s The Cycles of Constitutional Time aims, among other things, to preserve and promote what Jack regards as “democracy and republicanism,” understood as “a joint enterprise by citizens and their representatives to pursue and promote the public good.” My question is whether and how this normative project is possible in a world full of perceptions of social, political, and moral phenomena akin to the white dress/blue dress internet controversy of 2015. Even if Madison had the better of Montesquieu in 1788 (and that is questionable), the United States has grown dramatically since the founding era, in a patchwork, and …

The 2021 Race For Pa. Supreme Court: The Questions The Candidates Have To Answer, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

September 28, 2021: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Race--I Don't Trust The Democrats And I Am Afraid Of The Republicans, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Race--I don't trust the Democrats and I am afraid of the Republicans“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

September 20, 2021: Two Recent Columns--The Texas Anti-Abortion Statute And Justice Wecht And The Death Of God, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Two Recent Columns--the Texas Anti-Abortion statute and Justice Wecht and the Death of God“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

September 2, 2021: The Steal In The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The steal in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

September 16, 2021: Forgiveness, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Forgiveness“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Did Pa. Supreme Court Justice David Wecht Herald The Death Of God?, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

I Am Resigning From The Pro-Life Movement, Bruce Ledewitz

Ledewitz Papers

Published scholarship collected from academic journals, law reviews, newspaper publications & online periodicals

September 11, 2021: Twenty Years Later, 9/11 Is Finally Over, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Twenty Years Later, 9/11 is finally over“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

September 10, 2021: Secular Repentence, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Secular Repentence“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Steal In The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, Explained, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Doj’S Refusal To Defend Mo Brooks Was Wrong; Prosecuting Trump Would Be Worse, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

August 20, 2021: Defend Mo Brooks; Don't Prosecute Donald Trump--This Week's Column In The Pa Capital-Star, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Defend Mo Brooks; Don't Prosecute Donald Trump--this week's column in the Pa Capital-Star“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

August 15, 2021: What Has Gone Wrong And What Can We Do About It?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “What Has Gone Wrong and What Can We Do About It?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.