We will read and critically discuss Jonathan Rauch's The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth (2021), which argues that human societies discover truth not through individual genius or pure reason, but rather through a vast, decentralized social system for adjudicating disagreement. Rauch calls this system the "constitution of knowledge," analogizing it to a political constitution. Just as the U.S. Constitution is designed to convert political conflict into peaceful collective decisions, the constitution of knowledge is a (largely unwritten) set of rules and institutions that convert countless fallible individual claims into reliable shared knowledge. And like our constitutional system, the knowledge system is vulnerable to disinformation and cancel culture. We will consider approaches to addressing these vulnerabilities within the constraints imposed by the first amendment. These issues are of special importance to anyone preparing to participate in the legal system, which has its own written and unwritten rules for getting at the truth. Dinner will be provided at the home of Paul and Iris Brest. You can purchase a hardcover or Kindle version of the book from Amazon. Elements used in grading: Full attendance, reading of assigned materials, and active participation. Class meets: 6:LAW 00 PM-8:LAW 00 PM on Sept. LAW 24, Oct. 8, Oct. LAW 22, Nov 5.
1 units · Law Mandatory P/R/F
We will read and critically discuss Jonathan Rauch's The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth (2021), which argues that human societies discover truth not through individual genius or pure reason, but rather through a vast, decentralized social system for adjudicating disagreement. Rauch calls this system the "constitution of knowledge," analogizing it to a political constitution. Just as the U.S. Constitution is designed to convert political conflict into peaceful collective decisions, the constitution of knowledge is a (largely unwritten) set of rules and institutions that convert countless fallible individual claims into reliable shared knowledge. And like our constitutional system, the knowledge system is vulnerable to disinformation and cancel culture. We will consider approaches to addressing these vulnerabilities within the constraints imposed by the first amendment. These issues are of special importance to anyone preparing to participate in the legal system, which has its own written and unwritten rules for getting at the truth. Dinner will be provided at the home of Paul and Iris Brest. You can purchase a hardcover or Kindle version of the book from Amazon. Elements used in grading: Full attendance, reading of assigned materials, and active participation. Class meets: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM on Sept. 24, Oct. 8, Oct. 22, Nov 5.
Offered in Autumn 2026 at Stanford University.