Marmor recognized for book, Social Conventions: From Language to Law
-By Gilien Silsby
Andrei Marmor, an internationally recognized legal philosopher at USC Gould School of Law, has received the 27th Annual Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award for his book, Social Conventions: From Language to Law (Princeton University Press, 2009).
Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Awards are given to faculty for recent scholarly, scientific, or creative works that make a contribution to their respective disciplines.
Each year, four outstanding recipients of the award are recognized.
Marmor, Professor of Philosophy and the Maurice Jones Jr. Professor of Law, was honored at a special awards dinner on April 26 at Town and Gown at USC.
“I am truly honored yet humbled by the prize,” Marmor said. “A book in philosophy may be the product of a single author, but in substance it always reflects the academic environment in which it is written. I could not have completed this project without the help and encouragement of my colleagues at USC, and I am very grateful to them all.”
In his book Social Conventions: From Language to Law, Marmor reconfigures the view of social conventions that has dominated scholarship for decades. He provides original analysis of the rules and norms governing human conduct.
“His ideas challenge our seemingly well-established perspectives about the role of semantics, pragmatic reasoning, and morality in our everyday lives,” said Alison Renteln, president of Phi Kappa Phi and a USC political science professor, in awarding Marmor his prize.
Alexander Capron, president of the USC Faculty and a USC Law professor, said that Marmor’s work offers “path-breaking contributions to moral and legal theory.”
“Prof. Marmor treats this complex, multi-disciplinary topic in an extraordinarily lucid fashion,” Capron said. “The book will not only be of great interest to philosophers but will cement Prof. Marmor’s reputation internationally as one of the most thoughtful and original thinkers working in jurisprudence today.”
In past years, USC Law Profs. Ariela Gross, Elyn Saks, Mary Dudziak, Christopher Stone and Martin Levine have received Phi Kappa Phi awards for their scholarship.