About The Workshop
SW 85– Technology and Law: The Changing Nature of Law and Legal Institutions Shaped by Technology
Convenors: Sevtap Metin; Vahdet İşsevenler
Contact: sevtapm@istanbul.edu.tr; osmanvahdetissevenler@gmail.com
As technology and technological thinking transform social life, it is inconceivable that law would remain unaffected by this change. Technological change giving rise to new legal issues constitutes one dimension of the relationship between technology and law, the aspect that falls within the subject matter of dogmatic law. Another dimension is the transformation undergone by law and legal institutions themselves, which is the subject of legal philosophy and, when law is examined as a social phenomenon, of social theory. This workshop will focus on the second dimension of the relationship between technology and law: the transformations in the nature of law and legal institutions.
It can be said that law has undergone a major transformation under modern conditions, influenced by the fields of politics and economics. For example, modern law is, to an unprecedented degree, a product of political power. This paves the way for law to be used as a tool in achieving political goals. In this plan, ratio in law is instrumental in nature. The dominance of instrumental reason in law raises a number of questions. How will the place of objective reason be filled? Can the problem of ends be discussed through calculative thinking? To what extent does the reconstruction of law as a technology correspond to our expectations of law? Are the goods of technology and engineering compatible with legal goods? For example, can efficiency or cost/efficiency ratio be considered a legal good? Can legal normativity be reduced to calculable rules? Can rights and obligations be translated into mathematical or computational terms? How should law respond to algorithmic nudging or behavior-shaping technologies? How should we respond to developments in technology that challenge fundamental legal categories such as free will and freedom of contract?
On the other hand, digitalization requires that even the most fundamental legal institutions be re-examined beyond both traditional and modern understandings. For example, the phenomenon of smart contracts renders the concept of the place of contracting and the legal consequences associated with it inadequate.
You can also consider the following questions as examples for evaluating the context of the workshop.
What are the repercussions of the political economy’s supposedly newfound evolution back to feudalism fast-tracked by technological developments for law?
Is there a correlation between the outlook of changes in international intellectual property regime and the trajectory towards a more feudalistically organized society?
How could the relationship between intellectual property rights and technological advancements be utilized in hopes of remedying the latter’s toll on society?
What is the nature of the conflict between algorithmic power and political power, and how is this conflict evolving in the contemporary technological landscape?
What role does law assume in the conflict between algorithmic power and political power?
Can the manifestations of algorithmic power that lead to the instrumentalization of law be examined through contemporary examples?
You can send us your summaries that meet IVR requirements directly, or if you have already applied, you can let us know that you would like to participate in our workshop with that application.
Prof. Dr. Sevtap Metin: sevtapm@istanbul.edu.tr
Assoc. Prof. Dr. O. Vahdet İşsevenler: osmanvahdetissevenler@gmail.com
