Values and the 21st Century Brain

Helping lawyers and academics think about how their values shape their roles in the profession and in society was the topic of a conference at the School of Law this February.

George Lakoff, a prominent professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, was the keynote speaker at the day-long program entitled, “The 21st Century Brain: Why It Matters for the Academic and Political Worlds.” Prof. Lakoff is the author of several influential books, including Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think and Don’t Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate.

He is perhaps best known for recognizing the role that values play across the political spectrum and the different ways that values can be “framed” to elicit a positive response.

The program included two panel discussions consisting of faculty members in law, English and linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh as well as Carnegie Mellon University, Wayne State University, the University of Oregon and Vanderbilt University. Professor George H. Taylor, Professor of Law at Pitt; Steven L. Winter, Walter S. Gibbs Professor of Constitutional Law at Wayne State University; and Edward L. Rubin, Dean and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law at Vanderbilt were among the program panelists.