PROFESSOR DONELSON RECENTLY PRESENTED ON REPARATIONS FOR THE IOWA LEGAL THEORY READING GROUP
February 2021 — Professor Raff Donelson was invited to participate in Iowa Law’s Legal Theory Reading Group’s February Meeting. At this meeting, the group focused on reparations for historical injustices, including American slavery. The group first read Professor Donelson’s article entitled “Reparations, Responsibility, and Formalism – A Reply to Carnes.”
In this meeting, conversation centered on two recent articles about reparations, “Historic Injustice, Collective Agency, and Compensatory Duties” by Thomas Carnes (United States Military Academy), published in the Southwest Philosophy Review, and Donelson’s response essay, “Reparations, Responsibility, and Formalism – A Reply to Carnes,” published in Philosophia. Professor Donelson spoke to a diverse group, which include law professors, philosophy professors, students in several fields, on why reparations should be paid even if modern citizens lack of culpability for the underlying injustices.
Professor Raff Donelson is an Assistant Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law who earned his J.D. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from Northwestern University. Professor Donelson’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of philosophy, constitutional law, and criminal law. His more theoretical research interests include metaethics and general jurisprudence, while his doctrinal work focuses on constitutional protections for criminals and the accused. His scholarship includes contributions to books published by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, as well as articles in U.S. and foreign law reviews and in philosophy journals such as Metaphilosophy. He has been an invited speaker at numerous legal and philosophy conferences and has addressed both U.S. and foreign academic audiences. His work is featured in Legal-Phi, which is an online venue that profiles the work of rising stars in the field of legal philosophy.