[SydPhil] University of Sydney Postgraduate Colloquium Aug 27

[Tama Coutts]

Hey All,

The details for our fourth talk of semester two follow. All are welcome.


 
 Speaker: Jeevan Hariharan 


Title:
Using Aristotle to reconsider the interaction between voluntariness,
duress and necessity

Abstract:

Jurisprudential
philosophers concerned with the question of legal responsibility will
be familiar with the problematic category of cases where conduct
which would otherwise attract liability is committed as a result of
threats or dire circumstances. When these situations arise in the
context of the criminal law, the traditional approach has been to
invoke the defences of duress and necessity. As it stands, however,
the operation of these concepts seems to be fraught with an
underlying difficulty, namely, that the core theoretical basis for
duress and necessity overlaps with the principle of voluntariness. In
the first part of this paper, I outline this problem and its
implications, arguing that attempts to circumvent the issue are
unsuccessful because they rely on an arbitrary distinction between
physical and moral involuntariness. In part two, I consider whether
there is a tenable basis to reconceptualise the interaction between
voluntariness, duress and necessity, ultimately contending that a
viable platform for reform resides in the ancient ethical treatises
of Aristotle. 

 Talk
Details:
 
Time:
3pm, Mon Aug 27

Location:
Philosophy common-room, quadrangle building, University of Sydney
 
Cheers,
 
Tama
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