Law, Democracy and Disagreement

1. Introduction
SS 2021

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA, MPHIL

Senior Researcher at the Center for Law,
Behaviour and Cognition (CLBC)
 Course Structure I

u 11 lectures, held once a week, every Thursday, 14h-16h, on-line, via Zoom
u The course is on a basic subject (Grundlagenfach) held in English.
u Normal duration: 2 hours
u 80% presence is required (= you can miss two meetings without justification)
u Available certificates:

à “Grundlagenschein” gem. §39 Abs. 3 Nr. 2 SPO

à “Promotionsschein“ gem. §3 Abs. 2 PromO
à ”Fremdsprachenschein“ gem. §7 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 JAG
à “International Course Catalogue/Humanities/Faculty of Law”
DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction
 Course Structure II

u Assessment: group presentation + an assigned paper of 4,000 – 5,000 words, to be written in

English.
- Topics, instructions and deadline for the paper will be made available towards the end of
the course.

- Students enrolled in the “International Course Catalogue/Humanities” are released

from the paper, but not from the presentation. All other students must submit the paper
and make a presentation.

Contact e-mail: felipe.oliveiradesousa@rub.de

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Course Structure III

u The password for Moodle is

LawDemDis

u Moodle is going to be the main platform of contact outside the meetings.

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Syllabus

Date Topic
1. 22.04.2021 Introduction
2. 29.04.2021 Law and Disagreement: the problem of law’s authority
3. 06.05.2021 The Debate about Rights: Liberalism v. Communitarianism
4. 20.05.2021 Free Speech: what it is and why it is important
5. 10.06.2021 Pornography and Law
6. 17.06.2021 Hate Speech
7. 24.06.2021 Abortion
8. 01.07.2021 Euthanasia
9. 08.07.2021 Social media and Fake News in the Age of Polarized Politics
10. 15.07.2021 The Value of Tolerance/Civility
11. 22.07.2021 Conclusion

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Course Structure IV

u Course is divided into four slots, marked topic-wise:

u First slot (meetings 2 and 3) deals with philosophical discussions on law and
disagreement and the notion of rights in both liberal and non-liberal traditions;

u The other three slots explore more specific topics: (i) Free Speech; (ii) Law, Life and
Death; (iii) Law and Political Polarization;

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 On Debates/Presentations

u They will be organized in groups;

u They will be held on a weekly basis and will take the form of a debate;
u Active participation of other students is expected (e.g. asking questions, adding critical remarks and
comments, reading the texts and so on);
u The use of presentational devices (e.g. PowerPoint) as well as of examples and cases is encouraged;
u There is a total of 54 registered students and there will always be two groups weekly;
* The nine debates will be always between groups of 3 students.

u Basic Rule: Every student of each group must speak!

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Procedure I

u The selection of groups has been done on a random selection basis;

u Group-selection: the selection will be posted in Moodle after the lecture;
* Please check Moodle after the lecture to locate your group!
u In Moodle, you can also find each other‘s emails to organize your group-work;
u Further instructions might be given via email to the members of the relevant groups (e.g.
which group has to argue for or against a given controversial proposition belonging to the
topic of discussion);
* Please check your emails on a regular basis!
u Division of roles: it is up to each group to decide this;
DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction
 Procedure II

u Duration: Each group will be given around 30 minutes to present their case;

u Format: After the two groups present their arguments and claims, a debate starts, first
among members of the two groups (e.g. to raise and counter objections), and then
involving the whole class;

u The debate format is not supposed to be very rigid. Its primary goal is to enable critical
thinking on the matters at hand and explore opposing arguments for the relevant views;

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Why debates/presentations?

u To develop the capacity to engage in lively argumentative discussions with one‘s peers;

u To learn how to publicly articulate one‘s own ideas and views;

u To train the capacity for critical thinking and articulate reasoned objections and questions to opposing
views;

u To become open-minded;

u To practice the core values of public debate, such as tolerance and respect in the context of
opinionated disagreement;
DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction
 Why debates/presentations? II

u To foster a mutual dialogical academic environment, different from a traditional lecture set-up;

u The lecturer (course organizer) participates in every step of the discussions, but he is not supposed to
do all the talk, and students all the listening;

u Everyone taking part in the discussion should be encouraged and feel free to participate;

u This participation must be motivated both as a reaction to what is being said and debated and as a
reflection on the weekly readings (made available via Moodle);

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Some Tips

u Always back your statements up with reasons!

u Be prepared to give evidence for your claims;
u Be creative;
u Do proper research;
u Read the texts;
u Go beyond the texts if necessary;
u Illustrate your claims with real cases and examples;
u Listen carefully to the arguments/claims of the members of the opponent group;
u Make notes of these claims/arguments in order to respond to them;
u Remember: even though you are being assessed, the main goal is to foster a free and inspiring
discussion on the topics at hand;
DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction
 Assessing the Debates/Presentations

u Debates/Presentations will be assessed and graded (in the German scale);

u Each group will receive a grade which will count for 30% of the final grade;
* The remaining 70% of the grade is due to the paper.

u Each group will receive one and only one grade (from 0 to 18), which applies to all group members;

u The grade of the presentations will be made available only at the very end of the course, after the
papers have been corrected;

u Assessment Criteria: (i) depth of analysis and research; (ii) argumentative capacity; (iii) use of
presentational devices; (iv) group organization; (v) quality of the engagement;
DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction
 What is the relation between law,
democracy and disagreement?

u Legal philosophy as a chapter of political philosophy;

u Two autonomous disciplines?

u The fact of reasonable pluralism (Rawls);

u Procedural v. Substantive Conceptions of democracy;

u The problem of law‘s authority;

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

 Basic questions

u How to conceive the authority of law in the age of disagreement?

u Is the discourse about rights based on individualistic assumptions?
u What is free speech and why it is important?
u Should pornographic speech be legally allowed? If so, under which conditions?
u Are there any limits to free speech? (e.g. should hate speech be legally prohibited/allowed etc.?)
u Should abortion be (legally) allowed? If so, under which conditions?
u Should euthanasia be (legally) allowed? If so, under which conditions?
u What is the role of law in fighting the dissemination of fake news in social media in the age of extreme
polarized politics?
u What is the value of tolerance/civility in public discussions about controversial topics?

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction

DR. FELIPE OLIVEIRA DE SOUSA | LAW, DEMOCRACY AND DISAGREEMENT | 1. Introduction