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Agenda Item #4: Proposal for a new major in Law, Ethics, and Society

We propose converting the current certificate program, Philosophies and Ethics of Politics, Law, and Economics (the PEOPLE program) into a new major that will serve the needs of pre-law students, and will also serve the needs of, for example, students preparing for careers/graduate study in public policy and related fields. The major will be called Law, Ethics, and Society, and will be administratively housed in the philosophy department (the current home of the PEOPLE program).

As it was configured, the PEOPLE Program was an interdisciplinary certificate program. Students were required to take one course from each of six groups in the Foundation. Each student then took three courses in each of two of the five Fields of Specialization. Thus, the certificate required 36 semester hours. In satisfying the requirements for the PEOPLE certificate, students could also satisfy some of their general education and major requirements. The new LES major will require seven foundation courses from four subject areas. As with PEOPLE, students then will complete three courses from two of the five Fields (one of which is a self-designed option). The new major, then, will require completion of 39 hrs of course work. While a strong requirement, we emphasize below that students can double count their LES coursework toward a second major, a minor, or their general education requirements.

Students preparing for careers in law and related fields are well-served by an interdisciplinary program of study that introduces them to a broad array of disciplines that all deal with the interconnections between policy, values, and the law. Each of the disciplines that would be represented in the LES major provides a unique approach to and insights into the way in which law and values connect to social structures and institutions. Also, each of the disciplines provides students with analytical skills and training in reasoning crucial to success in law and related professions. There are a number of existing models for this interdisciplinary major. Perhaps one of the most prestigious is Yale’s program Ethics, Politics and Economics. Yale says of its program that “for all the value of specialized fields and sub-disciplines, these should not displace attempts to integrate empirical, analytically and normative concerns that range over different disciplines in the modern university.”

Currently, at the University of Iowa, a pre-law designation indicates only an intention on the part of the student rather than any distinctive program of study. While there are a number of different majors that are useful backgrounds for students entering law, there would be a significant benefit in designing a major that pulls from different fields courses that are particularly relevant to the study of law and social institutions. Current legal theory itself draws explicitly on concepts and controversies raised in such diverse fields as philosophy, economics, and sociology. To cite just a few examples, courses in jurisprudential theory, for example, are essentially courses focusing on the philosophical underpinnings of legal practice (they are sometimes taught by professors with joint appointments in law and philosophy). Contemporary controversies in tort law include proposals to advance so-called economic theories of compensation. Family law involves critically issues that arise in sociology. International Law is best approached with a background in political philosophy and ethics. Students with a LES major would be provided with a coherent plan of study that would give them an ideal preparation for entry into law school but would be broad enough that they would also be prepared for entry into related professional or graduate programs. Students who decide that law is not for them will be well prepared to opt for a major in one of the LES major’s Fields of Specialization, a major that they may very well never have considered if they had not entered LES. It will also be easy for students to combine a LES major with another major or minor in one of LES’s Fields of Specialization.

The Foundation courses of the LES major are designed to serve two functions: to introduce students to each of the Fields involved in the major, and to provide students with the basic reasoning skills needed for more advanced study both in the major and in professional/graduate study. Students are all required to take either Principles of Reasoning or Introduction to Symbolic Logic in order to gain facility with abstract, formal reasoning: this training is not only critical to success in law school, but it is also invaluable preparation for exams such as the LSAT, something that will be of great interest to students contemplating application to law school. (We might note that LSAT exams are supervised, often written, and reviewed by people with a background in philosophy and formal logic). The other foundation courses are introductory courses in philosophy (1), economics (2), sociology (2), and legal theory (1). These courses will provide a background for students to make an informed selection from among the Fields. They then take three courses in each of two Fields. There are five fields from which to choose. One allows the student to design (with the help of an advisor and the approval of a steering committee) a customized field consisting of three closely connected courses dealing with an area directly related to Public Policy or Law.

As noted earlier, our proposal is that the courses taken to satisfy the requirements of the LES major can be double-counted to satisfy Gen Ed requirements. Indeed, in satisfying the foundation requirements, students can easily take a combination of courses that will count towards their Quantitative and Formal Reasoning, Humanities, Historical Perspectives, and Social Sciences requirements. As we also emphasized, entrance into the LES major gives students remarkable flexibility when it comes to future plans of study. The courses required for the LES major are virtually always courses that form foundations in other majors to which a student can easily shift or combine with the LES major. The Departments of Philosophy, Economics, and Sociology will all allow courses in the LES major to double count toward their own major in the event of a double major. The ease with which students can combine an LES major with another major might also give some assurance to those initially uneasy with the idea of relying on a brand new major.

Note: Some departments allow advanced undergraduates to take graduate seminars (numbered over 200). If a department offers a graduate seminar that fits into a student’s course of study, the student can consult with his/her advisor about substituting such a seminar for one of the requirements in his/her field.

Detailed Requirements

I. Foundation:
A. Philosophy Foundation:
Reasoning (one of the following):

• 26:036 Principles of Reasoning
• 26:103 Introduction to Symbolic Logic

Value Theory (one of the following):

• 26: 034 Philosophy and the Just Society
• 26:102 Introduction to Ethics*
• 26:132 Introduction to Political Philosophy*

B. Economics Foundation (both of the following):

• 6E:001 Principles of Microeconomics
• 6E: 172 (=91:295) Law and Economics

C. Sociology Foundation:
Theory (one of the following):

• 34:001 Introduction to Sociology: Principles
• 34:002 Social Problems

Law and Sociology (one of the following):

• 34:149 Sociology of Criminal Punishment (prerequisite: 34:009)*
• 34:182 Sociology of Law*
• 34:186 Criminal Legal System*

D: Law Foundation (one of the following):

• 26:135 Philosophy of Law*
• 91: 288 Jurisprudence*

II. Fields (Students must select two of the following three fields, completing an additional three courses in each field.)
A. Economics

• 6E:104 Microeconomic Theory

And two of the following:

• 6E:111 Labor Economics
• 6E:113 Health Economics
• 6E:119 Economics of the Government Sector
• 6E:135 Regional and Urban Economics
• 6E:171 Antitrust: Legal and Economic Analysis
• 6E:176 Public Sector Economics (prerequisite: 6E:104 and 105 or consent of instructor)
• 6E:179 History of Economic Thought (prerequisite: 6E:104 and 105 or consent of instructor)

B. Philosophy

• 26:102 Introduction to Ethics*
• 26:104 Introduction to Philosophy of Science
• 26:132 Introduction to Political Philosophy*
• 26:133 Philosophy of History
• 26:135 Philosophy of Law*
• 26:180 Analytic Ethics
• 26:182 History of Ethics
• 26:185 Political Philosophy
• 26:196 Philosophy of the Human Sciences

C. Sociology

• 34:126 Collective Behavior and Social Movements
• 34:040 Criminology
• 34:141 Juvenile Delinquency
• 34:146 Deviance and Control
• 34:149 Sociology of Criminal Punishment (prerequisite: 34:009)*
• 34:150 Political Sociology
• 34:156 Gender and Inequality
• 34:158 Economy and Society
• 34:175 Community and Urban Sociology
• 34:182 Sociology of Law*
• 34:186 Criminal Legal System*

D. Law

• 26:135 Philosophy of Law*
• 91:193 Human Rights in the World Community
• 91:195 Introduction to Public International Law
• 91:224 Comparative Law
• 91:252/16A:175 Gender and the Law
• 91:288 Jurisprudence*
• 34:182 Sociology of Law*

E. Self-Designed Field
In coordination with his/her advisor and the approval of the LES steering committee, a student may design his/her own custom field. The field is to consist of three courses, drawn from across the curriculum, that bear in an interconnected, coherent way on issues relevant to law and/or public policy. We discuss below some examples, but there are no doubt any number of interesting fields that a student could design. Students may decide to study the way that law has been represented in either film or literature, thereby combining an interest in LES and in film studies or English. Students interested in politics could draw upon political science to develop a field in politics and the law. Other possibilities include, but are not limited to, an understanding of law and/or public policy in health care, business, urban and regional planning, an examination of legal issues surrounding privacy, freedom, censorship, intellectual property (i.e. copyright and patent), or the internet (or other types of media). Students may draw from international studies to design a field on international law and/or just law theory. Students are allowed to draw upon more than one department in designing their custom field.

*These courses appear in more than one field and or foundation area. No such course may be counted toward more than one field or foundation requirement.