University Professor of law and philosophy Arthur Ripstein is a recipient of the 2019 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award, in recognition of his outstanding performance as a doctoral supervisor over 30 years. Two awards are offered at U of T annually, one in the humanities and social sciences and the other in physical and life sciences.
Ripstein is cross-appointed to the Department of Philosophy, where he has taken on 19 graduate supervisions, in addition to his work as chair and acting chair of philosophy over the years. Many of his doctoral students in both law and philosophy have lauded him for his dedicated supervision, mentorship and career guidance.
He has made significant scholarly contributions to law and philosophy, and is the author of Equality, Responsibility and Law (Cambridge University Press, 1998), Force and Freedom: Kant’s Legal and Political Philosophy (Harvard University Press, 2009) and Private Wrongs (Harvard University Press, 2016). In addition, he has also edited and co-edited four books in philosophy and legal theory, and has published dozens of articles and book chapters in areas ranging from freedom and coercion to tort law. Invitations to speak at top universities have been many, most recently at the University of California Berkeley, where he gave the prestigious Tanner Lectures. A frequent contributor to CBC Radio’s Ideas series, he has spoken on topics including freedom of expression, honesty, borders and boundaries, and democracy. He was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010.
The annual JJ Berry Smith Supervision Award honours faculty members who are actively “inspiring and guiding students to reach excellence in scholarship, enabling students to learn the essential methodologies, concepts and cultures of their discipline, introducing students to the wider content of the discipline and relevant communities of scholars, and positioning students for future careers both within and outside academia with a strong sense of academic integrity.”
