Conference Announcement "The Use of Excessive Force" Interdisciplinary Conference Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law, Tel-Aviv University Jerusalem (Israel) 11-13.5.2004
Organizers: Alon Harel and Benjamin Z. Kedar In every case in which use of force is justifiable the question of the limits of its use and the institutional means to regulate it become relevant. Legal systems have an elaborate system of rules and principles governing the use of force. The very same issues are important not only within contemporary legal systems but also within ancient legal systems such as Canon law, Islamic law and Jewish law. The treatment of this question reflects sociological and cultural differences among different societies/cultures and their different attitudes towards the use of force to achieve personal or national goals. They reflect deep-seated sentiments with respect to the status of individuals in the society and national groups within the international order. The motivation for convening this conference is of course the greater relevance of this question in the area of international law. Questions such as the legitimacy of preemptive strike/using force for self -defense are perhaps among the most important questions facing the international community nowadays. Yet, the conference will look at these questions from a multi-faceted perspective addressing different actors such as states, individuals acting in self defense, parents using force to discipline their children. The hope is that by investigating the question of the boundaries of the use of force in criminal law, tort law, family law, international law and other fields of the law from philosophical, doctrinal, historical and cultural perspectives, general principles governing the use of the use of force will be revealed. In addition, the extent to which controversies with respect to these questions reflect deep-seated cultural disagreements will be examined. Conference Website: http://www.as.huji.ac.il/ex-force.html _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
