Academic

Download of the Week

By Lawrence Solum

The Download of the Week is 'Ideology in' vs. 'Cultural Cognition of' Law: What Difference Does it Make? by Dan M. Kahan.  Here is the abstract:

Recent scholarship in law and political science identifies ideology as a major determinant of judicial decisionmaking. This essay suggests the possibility that much if not all the evidence this work rests on might be attributed to the influence of cultural cognition, a set of mechanisms that motivate individuals to conform their factual perceptions to their values. Such an account has the potential to furnish a psychologically richer description of how competing values generate judicial dissensus, a more informed normative appraisal of such dissensus, and a more tractable set of prescriptions for reducing it.

Very interesting & highly recommended.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on January 10, 2009 (boomark / email).