PROFESSOR DONELSON TO SPEAK ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN A LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
March 2021 — Professor Raff Donelson has agreed to present a paper at the Southeast Association of Law Schools Annual Conference, which will be held in July 2021. At this year’s conference, Donelson will present his paper as part of a panel entitled, “Philosophical Perspectives on Freedom of Speech in a Liberal Democracy.” Donelson’s presentation will be “Pragmatism, Truth, and Lies.”
Professor Donelson, who had written widely about the American pragmatist tradition, will present his work-in-progress, “Pragmatism, Truth, and Lies.” In this paper, Donelson grapples with whether the pragmatist tradition, which employs non-standard accounts of truth, has theoretical resources to combat demagoguery in the “alternative facts” era.
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.