The Scholars' Circle

We spend the hour with Fritjof Capra about his book The Systems View of Life: A Unifying Vision. He is also the author of, . [ dur: 58 mins. ]

* Fritjof Capra, physicist, system theorist, and science writer, founding director of Center of Eco-literacy. Blog. He has also authored or co-authored these books: The Ecology of Law: Toward a Legal System in Tune with Nature and Community, The Tao of Physics, The Turning Point, The Web of Life, The Hidden Connections, The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, and Learning from Leonardo: Decoding the Notebooks of a Genius.

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This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

First, how most of what we buy and consume helps create wars, prop up dictatorships and systems of oppression, and some ways to start changing this. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

* Leif Wenar is Chair of Philosophy and Law at King’s College London. He is the author of Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence and the Rules That Run the World. Leif Wenar website

Then, how might Big History change our thinking about the role of humanity in the history of the earth and the convergence of science and religion. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

* Jonathan Markley is Associate Professor of History at California State University, Fullerton. He is part of the Big History movement and has been featured in many television episodes related to it. Big History Project website

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

How is international law changing for human rights and for war? Moving from protecting state security to increasingly protecting individual security. The shifts are influenced by the human rights frame and reshaping what she calls “humanity’s law.” [dur: 15mins. ]

* RutiTeitel is Professor of Comparative Law at the New York Law School and Visiting Professor at London School of Economics. She is the author of numerous publications including Humanity’s Law and Globalizing Transitional Justice.

While the worlds deals with an ongoing and escalating refugee crisis, the USA is shutting its door on seven countries. Already states and local governments are seeking ways to challenge the new administration’s orders. We’ll explore the historic, global and legal context with our experts. [ dur: 43mins. ]

* Kevin Johnson is Dean of the School of Law and Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies at University of California at Davis. He has co-authored., Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws, and authored Immigration Law and the US-Mexico Border.

* David Kyle is Professor of Sociology at University of California at Davis. His publications include, Global Human Smuggling: Comparative Perspectives, and Transnational Peasants: Migrations, Networks and Ethnicity in Andean Ecuador.

* Phil Orchard is a Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies and International Relations and the Research Director of the Asia Pacific Centre for Responsibility to Protect at the University of Queensland in Australia. He is the author of A Right to Flee: Refugees, States, and the Construction of International Cooperation and the forthcoming book Protecting the Internally Displaced: Rhetoric and Reality.

* Brad Blitz is Professor of International Politics at Middlesex University in London and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. He is the author of European Union: Displaced, Undocumented and Unwanted, Statelessness and Citizenship: A Comparative Study on the Benefits of Nationality, and Migration and Freedom: Mobility, Citizenship, Exclusion.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

First, how propaganda works, particularly in democratic settings. Jason Stanley is the author of How Propaganda Works. This is part two of a two part interview. Hear part one [ dur: 25 mins. ]

* Jason Stanley is Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of How Propaganda Works , Know How and Knowledge and Practical Interests (Lines of Thought).

Then, throughout US history conflict has risen between states’ rights to self-govern and the power of national government to pass laws applying across the country. With Donald Trump as president, many cities and states are gearing up to resist his agenda. How will states’ rights figure into the resistance? IS secession a real possibility? Sanford Levinson is the author of The Undemocratic Constitution and Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought. [ dur: 33mins. ]

* Sanford Levinson is Professor in the Department of Government and Chair in Law at the University of Texas Law School. His numerous publications include, Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance, Constitutional Faith, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) and, most recently, Nullification and Secession in Modern Constitutional Thought.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

First, how does propaganda work, particularly in democratic settings? This is part 1 of 2 part interview with Professor Jason Stanley. ( Hear Part 2 )[ dur: 26 mins. ]

* Jason Stanley is Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of How Propaganda Works , Know How and Knowledge and Practical Interests (Lines of Thought).

Then, what are the ways that science is being silenced? and to what end? We get insight from Professor Shaun Hendy. [ dur: 32 mins. ]

* Shaun Hendy, Professor of Physics at University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Silencing Science.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Is humanity outgrowing planet? We get insight from Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University, Paul R. Ehrlich.[ dur: 28 mins. ]

* Paul R. Ehrlich is president of the Center for Conservation Biology and Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University, author of the Population Bomb, Human Natures: Genes, Culture, and the Human Prospect and A World of Wounds: Ecologists and the Human Dilemma.

While much of the country remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. as primarily a leader of civil rights and desegregation and a great orator, our next guests say he stood for so much more. Many aspects of his life, legacy & philosophy remain either unknown or conveniently forgotten. This interview from January, 2014. [ dur: 30 mins.]

* David Garrow is Professor of History and Law at University of Pittsburgh, author of FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr: From “Solo” to Memphis.

* Joshua Inwood is Professor of Geography and Africana Studies in Geography Department, University of Tennessee. His publications include, Nonkilling Geography, Searching for the Promised Land: Examining Dr. Martin Luther King’s Concept of the Beloved Community,and Street naming and the politics of belonging: spatial injustices in the toponymic commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.

* Thomas Jackson is Professor of History at University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of, From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

We spent the hour looking at the science of tippings and what they mean for our climate and our ecosystems on land and in water today. What causes these types of sudden changes? And how can society be better prepared for such events? We spoke with three scientists whose studies involve tipping points, how they happen and their effects.[ dur: 58mins. ]

* Peter Ward is a Professor of Paleontology and Biology at the Earth and Space Sciences Department of the University of Washington, Seattle.He is the co-author of the best-selling Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, the author of many books including, Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere, Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future, and The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? which was listed by the New York Times as one of the “100 most important ideas of 2009.”

* Simon Thrush is Professor of Marine Science and Head of the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Auckalnd in New Zealand, He is the co-author of many publications including, Real world biodiversity-ecosystem functioning: A seafloor perspective, The up-scaling of ecosystem functions in a heterogeneous world, and Altered Sea Ice Thickness and Permanence Affects Benthic Ecosystem Functioning in Coastal Antarctica.

* George Perry is a Professor at the School of Environment at the University of Auckland. He studies the effects of humans on forest ecosystems. He is the co-author of many publications including, Positive Feedbacks to Fire-Driven Deforestation Following Human Colonization of the South Island of New Zealand, Feedbacks and landscape-level vegetation dynamics, and Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Domestic violence is just one of the many problems of violent sports. We’ll take a close look at American Football and its discontents. We are joined by Steve Almond. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

* Steve Almond is the author of Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we look at the origins, philosophy and politics of humor. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

* Amber Day is a Professor of Performance studies in English and Culture Studies Department at Bryant University. She is the author of Satire and Dissent: Interventions in Contemporary Political Debate.

* John Morreall is a Professor of Philosophy Department Chair at Religious Studies at William and Mary College. He is the co-author of Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor.

* Peter McGraw is a Professor of Marketing and Psychology at University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

First, can worker owned cooperatives transform workers lives and livelihoods? We speak with Jessica Gordon Nembhard author of, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. [ dur: 31mins. ]

* Jessica Gordon Nembhard is Associate Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, City University of New York. Her latest book is Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice.

Then, why did soldiers on the front line of one of the deadliest wars lay down their arms and play soccer with the very men they were supposed to shoot? We’ll revisit the Christmas truce of 1914 with Stanely Weintraub author of, Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce.[ dur: 23mins. ]

* Stanley Weintraub is a Professor Emeritus of Arts and Humanities at Penn State University. He is the author of more than 50 books including Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

First, we continue ( part 1 ) to trace the birth of free speech in the US, a country that for decades prosecuted dissenters. What caused the radical turn around by the Supreme Court to support free speech? Thomas Healy is the author of, The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind – and Changed the History of Free Speech in America.[ dur: 28mins. ]

* Thomas Healy is Professor of Law at Seton Hall Law School. Author of The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind–and Changed the History of Free Speech in America

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, can historical trauma be used as a means of uniting humanity rather than dividing humanity? Part two of a two part ( part 1 ) panel discussion. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

* Douglas Becker is a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California and author of the chapter Memories and Trauma as Elements of Identity in Foreign Policymaking.

* Dovile Budryte is a professor of political science at Georgia Gwinnett College in Atlanta. She is the author of Taming Nationalism: Political Community Building in the Post-soviet Baltic States and co-editor of the collected volume Memory and Trauma in International Relations: Theories, Cases and Debates.

* Jessica Auchter is professor of political science and public service at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. She is the author of The Politics of Haunting and Memory in International Relations.

Find books authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.