Yale Bulletin and Calendar

October 27, 2000

Volume 29, Number 8

Paul W. Kahn

Lecture celebrates new
Robert W. Winner Professorship

The Robert W. Winner Professorship in Law and the Humanities was officially inaugurated on Oct. 10 with a lecture by the first incumbent of the chair, Paul W. Kahn '77 Ph.D.,'80 J.D.

In his lecture, titled "Beyond Reason and Desire: Liberalism and the Problem of Sex," Kahn drew on examples as diverse as the classical philosopher Aristophanes, the Clinton/Lewinsky matter, the Book of Genesis and the 1999 film "American Beauty" to illustrate how the concepts of "the erotic" and "the loving" cannot be defined adequately in the discourse of liberalism. The lecture was followed by a brief question-and-answer session and a reception.

The event, as Law School Dean Anthony Kronman noted, was a "dual celebration" of both the new professorship and the inauguration of its first incumbent. Kahn spoke to a crowd of over 150 Yale Law School faculty and students, as well as to his own family and friends and those of the late Robert W. Winner, in whose memory the chair was established in 1999.

Winner, a Washington, D.C. businessman noted for his range of intellectual interests and his compassion, died in 1998, just before his 50th birthday, after a long battle with leukemia. Lucien Sichel '38 J.D. endowed the professorship in honor of his former business partner and friend. Kronman described Sichel's donation as a "selfless act of memory, generosity and friendship."

Before the lecture, Dr. David White, a friend and colleague of Winner's, spoke about the man for whom the professorship was named. White described their life-long friendship and said that he hoped the professorship, which he called "a lasting celebration of Winner's life," would be an "active and vibrant force in academic areas of interest which Bob held dear."

Kahn has focused his academic scholarship on the intersection of philosophy and culture with the law. He is the author of numerous articles and four books, the most recent of which is titled "Law and Love: The Trials of King Lear," published last spring by the Yale University Press. He earned his B.A. at the University of Chicago.

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