Symposium Introduction: The 2003 Iraq War: history, legacy, resistance

This short symposium brings together several distinguished scholars to discuss Gene Garver’s recent book, For the Sake of Argument: Practical Reasoning, Character and the Ethics of Belief (University of Chicago Press, 2004). Garver is Regents Professor of Philosophy at Saint John’s University and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, and he is widely acclaimed for his work on Aristotle. For the Sake of Argument is a substantial contribution to the literature because it applies an exciting interpretation of the connections between Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Nicomachean Ethics to legal practice. Although it might seem trite to say that law is a rhetorical activity that is grounded in practical reasoning, Garver demonstrates the deep significance of this insight through his careful exegesis of Aristotle. I first met Gene (briefly) at an early Annual Meeting of the Working Group on Law, Culture and the Humanities at Wake Forest University, where he spoke on legal rhetoric as part of a panel that included Eileen Scallen, who is one of the contributors to this Symposium. Since then we have collaborated on several panels at this annual conference, and