The Legal Academy as Dinner Party: A (Short) Manifesto on the Necessity of Inter-Interdisciplinary Legal Scholarship

Abstract

This Article explores the need for an increase in inter-interdisciplinary legal scholarship, suggesting that legal scholars from different traditions and backgrounds need to sit down at the same table and start talking to one another. The author presents an argument in favor of an integrated model of legal scholarship in which norms of intellectual modesty and cooperation fuel the development of interdisciplinary work. He develops a functional hierarchy which allows scholars to start with the first, threshold question, then work down to the operational details as they carefully consider our accumulated learning about why and how people actually act. After explaining the various functions in the hierarchy, he explains that the vision of the hierarchy creates a structure within which vigorous, highly interactive, and highly productive conversations can take place. Finally, the author concludes that the unifying theme of legal scholarship — multifaceted learning about social governance — offers legal academics a golden opportunity to break out of their silos and engage one another.

Keywords: Law & Economics, Behavioral Economics, History, Philosophy