This panel explores
several related questions: What is the role of the scholar as a member of
society? Is there an obligation to do anything other than pursue knowledge and,
if so, where does it come from? Does the calculus change in response to the
political situation? At what point can we or should we say that there is a
sufficient threat to our values, as scholars or as citizens, to obligate us to
make choices we might not otherwise make?
Because of its
inherently normative character, and because it deals with social choices, or in
other words with matters within our collective control, legal scholarship not
only describes but recommends, and thus cannot avoid the question of, its
commitments. In light of the socio-economic commitment to advance good
scholarship that does good by way of its methodology that recognizes the
inextricable connection between economic facts and values, the increasing
social polarization that characterizes society in America may generate doubts
among those who have championed more traditional approaches, and offer an
opportunity for socio-economics to affect more general scholarly agendas.