Law and the Inner Self: A Workshop


On 26th September, the Centre for Privacy Studies will host a workshop featuring the research of the Law and the Inner Self Project based at University College Cork, Ireland, which is funded by Research Ireland (Consolidator) Laureate Grant.

The idea that each of us has a rich inner life made up of unmanifested thoughts, emotions, hopes and desires is a profoundly important socio-cultural narrative that has shaped how we understand ourselves and our social institutions, including our politico-legal institutions. The Law and the Inner Self Project seeks to better understand the evolution and nature of this idea of the inner self by examining it through the prism of legal change from the Middle Ages through to the digital transformations of the 21st century. To illustrate legal change, project researchers use developments in the field of personality rights (including the right to privacy) as a case study.

The project tracks and interprets the significance of legal developments across the following six bodies of Jurisprudence:

  • the Jurisprudence of the Medieval Lawyers (11th to 14th centuries);
  • the Jurisprudence of Legal Humanism and Natural Law (15th to 17th centuries);
  • the Jurisprudence of the Enlightenment (18th century);
  • the Jurisprudence of Individualism (19th century);
  • the Jurisprudence of Rights (20th century); and
  • the Jurisprudence of Digital Transformations (21st century).

In the workshop, project researchers will share their progress to date on the first three bodies of jurisprudence (developments up to and including the 18th century). Dr Paolo Astorri of the Centre for Privacy Studies will act as a discussant and Lars Cyril Nørgaard will present his research.

Workshop Participants

Mette Birkedal Bruun is Professor of Church History, and Director of the Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen

Lars Cyril Nørgaard is Associate Professor of Church History, University of Copenhagen

Paolo Astorri is Assistant Professor of Legal History at the Centre for Privacy Studies, University of Copenhagen

Felicitas Benziger is a postdoctoral researcher in the Law and the Inner Self Project, University College Cork

Talya Deibel is an Assistant Professor of Health Law and Ethics at Maastricht University and associate scholar of the Law and the Inner Self Project, University College Cork

Patrick O’Callaghan is PI of the Law and the Inner Self Project, University College Cork

Registration
Please register via Paolo Astorri at paa@teol.ku.dk