Legal Education & the Humanities, Part II

Yesterday, I posted my argument that education in the humanities is essential to a good  legal education, because those topics teach us about the  human condition. Today, I want to offer just a few specific examples.

 1. To learn what it feels like to grow old and lose control over one’s life, read Shakespeare’s Lear.

 2. To understand why people deny the existence of environmental hazards, read Ibsen’s “An  Enemy of the People.”

 3. To understand loneliness, read Nicholas Virgilio’s haiku:

Thanksgiving alone
ordering eggs and toast
in an undertone

4. To understand why the rich view the world differently than others do, view Velasquez’ Las Meninas.

5. To understand the fundamentalist mindset, watch “Inherit the Wind.”

6. To understand the risk of being too prideful,  read the Oedipus plays.

(ljs)