This event features the third session of the Research Lab seminar series with a presentation by Fouad Saleh
After a long career in both law and politics, Martti Koskenniemi argued that the relationship between these fields of knowledge is a matter of perception. Lawyers perceive issues in legal terms and politicians perceive them in political terms. The difference between these issues is not, in other words, one of kind, but of perspective. He uses the duck-rabbit illusion, an image which can be seen either as a duck or as a rabbit, to make his point. Short of an all-encompassing perspective, Koskenniemi’s counsel is to learn to see flexibly, now in duckalese, now in rabbitese, in order to see, and judge, better. I argue in this paper against Koskenniemese—the frame of perception that Koskenniemi proposes for the issues involved. My argument proceeds broadly in two steps: I first argue that illusions come in different guises and that what is most interesting about them is that they are often faulty perceptions. They are, in other words, subject to correction. Resort to contrived illusions, like the ambiguous one Koskenniemi uses, is only helpful in part. Still Koskenniemese’s mixing of judgment and perception is illuminating, not least because psychologists of perception are divided about the relationship between these two processes. Secondly, I disambiguate Koskenniemi’s claim which can either be about the epithets ‘legal’ and ‘political’, or about truth in matters legal and political. These two claims are different and are subject to different standards of assessment. However, in either case, Koskenniemi’s illusion is, again, both illuminating and misleading for it counsels against professional hubris but at the risk of forgetting that, in realms like law and politics, the layman’s view is likely to interact in interesting ways with her considered professional judgments.
The paper will be shared close to the event following registration.
The Research Lab was born from the idea of creating a space where researchers can present their work and where we, as a community, can come together for fresh and provocative discussions! Any researcher can present any research, and the idea is, similarly to the Faculty Seminar, to have a 1-hour monthly session with a paper shared in advance, an assigned discussant, and the possibility for everyone to engage with the arguments advanced. Until June, the Reps are running a pilot phase with some working groups.
Register