Stanford University Press Blog

Scholars gather at Harvard to honor Stanley Cavell and his autobiographical "Little Did I Know"

Scholars gathered this past weekend at the Humanities Center at Harvard for a 3-day conference on Stanley Cavell and Literary Studies: Consequences of Skepticism.  The opening event, truly a highlight, was "A celebration of the publication of Cavell's new philosophical autobiography, Little Did I Know: Exceprts from Memory" (just out from Stanford University Press), in which 5 prominent philosopher-humanists selected and read aloud passages from the new work.  The passages were personally significant to each panelist, who reflected on Cavell's impact on their lives as scholars, and his impressive contribution to the humanities in general.

For more on Cavell's life and distinguished career, check out Thomas S. Hibbs's profile in a recent Chronicle of Higher Education.

Back to School Reading List, Part IV

This week, as the Supreme Court reconvenes after summer break, Keith Bybee’s All Judges Are Political—Except When They Are Not: Acceptable Hypocrisies and the Rule of Law  is on our back-to-school reading list.  Bybee considers the curious state of the American judicial system and public opinion in which,  as he wrote in a recent post for the Washington Post’s ‘Political Bookworm’ blog, “we routinely pair lofty assertions of principle and impartiality with the aggressive pursuit of partial interests, calling for neutral application of the law at the same time that we demand our side win.”  (In some circles, that’s called wanting to have our cake and eat it too.)  While this apparent contradiction or hypocrisy might make one think that our judicial system is on the verge of collapse, it is in fact this very contradiction that creates a dynamic that actually underwrites enables it.
 Listen to Bybee discuss the book on WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer Show".