Thank you Prof Casey for a convincing summary of the exchange between Prof Lessig and Prof Vermeule on CGC, plus a review of lessons learned from the Irish Natural Law Revolution.
If I may offer my own modest thought: Prof Vermeule’s analogy to “Intellectual Opiate” of a genre of jurisprudence that dedicates itself to serving what trends or what has greater appeal to prevailing socio-cultural-political winds is most apt, for indeed “there is no deep underlying reason why the process of acculturation into legal realism must occur in the first place”. I put it thus: Mass is not sufficient reason to redirect the course of Law. Were this not true, then mass is law, not law.
I also note opiates quell the symptoms of psychological distress. It does not cure the cause(s) of the distress. Furthermore, opiate-dosing used to quell chronic distress need be constantly increased when the use morphs into a HABIT, in order to achieve the same “effect” of the previous dose.
The Q therefore becomes this: When will this acculturation process end? In the opiate analogy, a point is reached where increasing dosing will reach the point pf overdose. Overdose poses a great risk of harm to the user, including cessation of life.
In terms of Prof Lessig’ pessimism re how CGC, though admittedly not a bad idea, will “crash hard” on landing given current prevailing cultural-political winds, I submit the alternative Prof Lessig suggests has already crashed, and crashed harder than CGC ever will. Again, take a look at what is real before our eyes. What is real has greater credibility valence than what is not real.
Lastly, Law is the architect of the essential structures of a human society. It is also the teacher of the people in the society. As an architect, a falling-apart classroom is not a reason to tear down the support beams of the classroom. As a teacher, unruly pupils are not good enough reasons to abandon the duty of a teacher. The choice may be difficult, but nobody ever says it is easy for a leader to prove his mettle.
Thank you Prof Casey for a convincing summary of the exchange between Prof Lessig and Prof Vermeule on CGC, plus a review of lessons learned from the Irish Natural Law Revolution.
If I may offer my own modest thought: Prof Vermeule’s analogy to “Intellectual Opiate” of a genre of jurisprudence that dedicates itself to serving what trends or what has greater appeal to prevailing socio-cultural-political winds is most apt, for indeed “there is no deep underlying reason why the process of acculturation into legal realism must occur in the first place”. I put it thus: Mass is not sufficient reason to redirect the course of Law. Were this not true, then mass is law, not law.
I also note opiates quell the symptoms of psychological distress. It does not cure the cause(s) of the distress. Furthermore, opiate-dosing used to quell chronic distress need be constantly increased when the use morphs into a HABIT, in order to achieve the same “effect” of the previous dose.
The Q therefore becomes this: When will this acculturation process end? In the opiate analogy, a point is reached where increasing dosing will reach the point pf overdose. Overdose poses a great risk of harm to the user, including cessation of life.
In terms of Prof Lessig’ pessimism re how CGC, though admittedly not a bad idea, will “crash hard” on landing given current prevailing cultural-political winds, I submit the alternative Prof Lessig suggests has already crashed, and crashed harder than CGC ever will. Again, take a look at what is real before our eyes. What is real has greater credibility valence than what is not real.
Lastly, Law is the architect of the essential structures of a human society. It is also the teacher of the people in the society. As an architect, a falling-apart classroom is not a reason to tear down the support beams of the classroom. As a teacher, unruly pupils are not good enough reasons to abandon the duty of a teacher. The choice may be difficult, but nobody ever says it is easy for a leader to prove his mettle.
cc: Adrian Vermeule
Very interesting thoughts Sally, thank you so much for sharing. It is a good analogy!