Biography
Courses
 |
Arudra Burra
Postdoctoral Scholar
B.A., Brandeis University, 2000
J.D., Yale, 2007
burra@law.ucla.edu
|
Arudra Burra is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the UCLA Law and Philosophy Program. He studied philosophy, mathematics, and computer science at Brandeis University (2000), earned a JD from the Yale Law School (2007), and will receive his PhD in Philosophy from Princeton University in Fall 2010. His philosophical interests are mainly in moral, political, and legal philosophy, but include epistemology, ancient philosophy, and the philosophy of science. He is also interested in comparative law and legal history -- especially questions relating to the ways in which laws and legal institutions are able to survive very drastic changes in the political regimes that support them. He is particularly interested in the specific case of Indian independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
In his dissertation, "Coercion, Deception, Consent: Essays in Moral Explanation," he examines these three concepts and their role in our moral and legal thought. What is it to coerce or deceive another person, and what explains why it is wrong to do so, or why agreements induced by coercion or deception are invalid? Why is consent a matter of fundamental moral importance, and what are the conditions under which consent can count as valid? These questions connect in interesting ways with issues having to do with the structure of morality and moral explanation, which the dissertation also explores. At UCLA he hopes to extend his doctoral work by trying to understand why exploitation might be wrong even when it is consensual, and why forms of manipulation (including some that are used in advertising and marketing) might be morally suspect even when they are not obviously coercive or deceptive.
In addition to his academic work, Arudra was involved for many years with the "Right to Food" Campaign [www.righttofoodindia.org], an informal network of organizations and individuals committed to the goal of ensuring food security in India. He also belongs to the Law and Social Science Research Network (LASSNet) [http://lassnet.blogspot.com/], a network of activists and academics with shared or overlapping interests relating to the law in South Asia. He is a member of the Steering Committee for the second LASSNet Conference [http://www.lassnet.org/], to be held in India in December 2010.
Arudra will teach a course on Philosophical Issues in Contract Law in the Spring for law students and graduate students in philosophy.