The Rights of Nature (with Stewart Motha)
09/23/22 • 59 min
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The HBS hosts discuss legal personhood and rights for rivers, lakes, and mountains with Dr. Stewart Motha.
In most discussions about extending rights or legal personhood to non-humans, the focus tends to be on robots/machines or non-human animals. However, given our current global climate crisis, we have good reason to ask: isn't it time to devote more attention to the rights-- and perhaps legal and moral "personhood"-- of natural entities? What sorts of protections might be extended by the law if our notion of personhood were expanded?
This is not an easily answered question, of course, because natural entities still face the challenge of being accorded "legal standing" in order to bring suit in their own names. (Names that we humans have given them!) Some progress has been made on this front by organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, who have been granted the right of "representational standing" by various courts, but we're still a long way from practically negotiating our understanding of the difference between physis (nature) and nomos (law) in a way that actually protects Nature.
This week, we are joined by Dr. Stewart Motha, Executive Dean of Birkbeck Law School, University of London to discuss the challenge and potential promise of extending legal personhood to natural entities. Dr. Motha is the author of Archiving Sovereignty: Law, History, Violence (2018) and the editor of Democracy's Empire: Sovereignty, Law, and Violence (2007). His research explores the multiple forms and sources of legal norms (heteronomy) as a counter-narrative to liberal accounts of the autonomy of law, including challenges to the opposition between life/non-life. He is the host of the podcast COUNTERSIGN and can be found on Twitter at @MothaStewart.
Full episode notes available at this link:
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-72-the-rights-of-nature-with-stewart-motha
-------------------
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast.
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.
The HBS hosts discuss legal personhood and rights for rivers, lakes, and mountains with Dr. Stewart Motha.
In most discussions about extending rights or legal personhood to non-humans, the focus tends to be on robots/machines or non-human animals. However, given our current global climate crisis, we have good reason to ask: isn't it time to devote more attention to the rights-- and perhaps legal and moral "personhood"-- of natural entities? What sorts of protections might be extended by the law if our notion of personhood were expanded?
This is not an easily answered question, of course, because natural entities still face the challenge of being accorded "legal standing" in order to bring suit in their own names. (Names that we humans have given them!) Some progress has been made on this front by organizations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club, who have been granted the right of "representational standing" by various courts, but we're still a long way from practically negotiating our understanding of the difference between physis (nature) and nomos (law) in a way that actually protects Nature.
This week, we are joined by Dr. Stewart Motha, Executive Dean of Birkbeck Law School, University of London to discuss the challenge and potential promise of extending legal personhood to natural entities. Dr. Motha is the author of Archiving Sovereignty: Law, History, Violence (2018) and the editor of Democracy's Empire: Sovereignty, Law, and Violence (2007). His research explores the multiple forms and sources of legal norms (heteronomy) as a counter-narrative to liberal accounts of the autonomy of law, including challenges to the opposition between life/non-life. He is the host of the podcast COUNTERSIGN and can be found on Twitter at @MothaStewart.
Full episode notes available at this link:
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-72-the-rights-of-nature-with-stewart-motha
-------------------
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast.
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.
Previous Episode
Critics and Criticism (with A.O. Scott)
The HBS hosts chat with A.O. Scott about the role and responsibilities of the critic.
The critic is frequently seen as a parasite who lives of the creative life of others but not producing a work of art through their criticism. In this episode, we are honored to be joined by A.O. Scott to discuss the role of the critic, the creativity of criticism, and the mutual dependence of art and criticism.
A.O. Scott is chief film critic (along with Manohla Dargis) for The New York Times. He also write for The Book Review as well as The Times Magazine. He is the author of Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth (Penguin Books, 2016). In addition, he is currently a distinguished professor of film criticism at Wesleyan University.
Full episode notes available at this link:
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-71-critics-and-criticism-with-a-o-scott
-------------------
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast.
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.
Next Episode
Artificial Personhood (with Regina Rini)
The HBS hosts consider the possibility of sentient artificial intelligence with Dr. Regina Rini.
The debate about the possibility of emergent AI sentience has staunch defenders both for an against, many more people shrugging their shoulders in the middle, with many, diverse, and non-interchangeable lexicons being used to discuss this phenomenon. Today, we’re going to try to untangle those discursive webs a little bit with Dr. Rini, not so much to settle the question “Is AI sentience possible?” but rather “should we be concerned about sentient AI?” and, perhaps more importantly, what should our concern look like?
Full episode notes at this link:
http://hotelbarpodcast.com/podcast/episode-73-artificial-personhood
-------------------
If you enjoy Hotel Bar Sessions podcast, please be sure to subscribe, submit a rating/review, and follow us on Twitter @hotelbarpodcast.
You can also help keep this podcast going by supporting us financially at patreon.com/hotelbarsessions.
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