Law and Emotions

This course will expose students to a cutting-edge critical approach that challenges the long-held beliefs that emotion is the enemy of reason and that thinking and feeling are opposite experiences. While conventional law tends to rely upon and perpetuate such beliefs, many disciplines that study decision-making or respond to human problems, including psychology, medicine, sociology, and education, have made what's called "an affective turn," revealing emotions' vital role in shaping and responding to people's experiences. The course delves into the emerging body of legal literature that strives to bring the affective turn into the legal sphere, exploring how the law is already infused with emotions and also influences the emotions of its various users. For example, should judges exercise empathy, or would it conflict with the expectation of impartial adjudication?