Honors Collegium 158: Justice and Moral Responsibility in Literature

Honors Collegium 158

Justice and Moral Responsibility in Literature

Enrollment: Instructor Consent. Please contact Dr. Daniel Lowenstein (lowenstein@law.ucla.edu).

Course Description: Seminar, three hours. Discussion of literature (drama and fiction) addressing themes of law, justice, government, and moral responsibility in public context.

Daniel Lowenstein

After two years in a legal services program for the poor, Professor Lowenstein served four years as Deputy Secretary of State of California under then Secretary of State Jerry Brown. After he was elected governor in 1974, Brown appointed him as the first chairman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, which regulates campaign finance and lobbyists in California. He served a complete term and in 1979 joined the UCLA Law School faculty. He specialized in election law and published the first twentieth century textbook on that subject in 1995. In 2009 he retired from the law school faculty in order to devote his time to the new Center for the Liberal Arts and Free Institutions (CLAFI). He has served as director of CLAFI since its creation, and teaches Honors 153 and 158 under CLAFI’s sponsorship. UCLA Law – Daniel Lowenstein

Student Feedback

Honors Collegium 158

“I feel so privileged to have gotten to take a class with Dr. Lowenstein. I feel that my writing, critical thinking, and ability to engage with literature has improved greatly over this course. He promotes thoughtful discussion in class, posing questions that make me reflect upon the works in ways I hadn’t previously considered, and really effectively facilitates class participation so that we are learning from him, the other students, and the authors of the works at the same time. I haven’t had the chance to take many literature classes as a STEM major, so I had high expectations for this class and was truly excited for it–still, the course surpassed my expectations. The works we studied and Professor Lowenstein have taught me so much about life, comedy, and true literary analysis, and I am so grateful to have taken this course. College education needs more of this!”

“Professor Lowenstein was a delightful course facilitator. Originally, I enrolled in this course simply to satisfy honors collegium requirements, but I am glad I did because I came to truly enjoy the course and care about the material. Professor Lowenstein is extremely knowledgeable about the books and literature as a whole, and it was fun and engaging to hear his thoughts about the readings and the questions he would come up with for us. It is also very obvious how much he loves teaching and cares about his students, as he would always go above and beyond to make sure we knew we could approach him for help. It was obvious that this was not just a class for him, and it was fun to receive his weekly emails with fun extra info or supplemental materials he had found and thought we would all enjoy. I hope he continues to teach courses at UCLA and that many other students would be able to have the honor of having him as a professor.”