A follow-up on the quotation of the day

Thanks to Rob for giving us the link to the Carnegie Foundation’s summary of its report on Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Practice of Law. I shall read the summary, and I hope to be able to read the full report which is presently not available on line. I do have a preliminary reaction to the student at the “very selective private law school” who asserted, “Law schools create people who are smart without a purpose.” This student does not specify if he or she is without purpose, but it is apparent that there is evidence of this phenomenon at least in the school attended by the student whose opinion is reported. There are several issues needing further study on this student’s view. The first is: will any purpose satisfy this student, i.e., any purpose will be sufficient so that “smart” students will be fulfilled if they believe in euthanasia, abortion, infanticide, etc.? If so, this is problematic. A second question follows: assuming that morality has a role in defining purpose (and I think this is vital to defining purpose), by what standards is this morality to be determined? I think there is evidence that smart people (including lawyers and, therefore, law students) who have no objective moral compass don’t always do smart things notwithstanding their purpose.    RJA sj