Constitutional Scholar John Inazu Speaks to Knox First-Year Students

As part of the foundation of a Knox College liberal arts education, summer common reading assignments have become part of the core curriculum, welcoming first-year students to the College with their first official course, First-Year Preceptorial (FP). 

Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect by John Inazu was this academic year’s common reading assignment, and it teaches students the importance of establishing dialogues with those with whom they disagree and navigating differences of belief and opinion with understanding and respect.

Inazu visited campus to discuss his book with first-year students, and was the speaker for the College’s annual Constitution Day Lecture, speaking on the First Amendment’s right to assemble. Inazu also hosted an FP discussion with first-year Knox students. After a presentation on the book, Inazu then took questions from students.

“Today is about fostering a conversation modeled on the lessons that we’ve learned from engaging with professor Inazu’s book and, given the volatility of our global political, social, and cultural life at the moment, these lessons take on more significant meetings every day,” said Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and History and Faculty Liaison to the First-Year Experience Scott Harris on Tuesday.

Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He spoke at the Etz Family Institute for Civic Leadership and Dialogue inaugural public event, "Learning to Disagree Across the Culture Wars," last October at the Orpheum Theatre. Inazu opened his lecture with a discussion on the themes of his book and why learning to disagree starts with where you are.

“The challenge, or even the responsibility of learning to disagree . . . particularly on campuses like this one, is that even though there are challenges, there are opportunities to figure out how to do it,” Inazu said. “If you and I can’t figure out how to do it at places like this one, then I’m not sure where else in the country right now where that can happen.”

After the talk, Inazu took questions from students, ranging from compromise, peaceful assembly as related to the First Amendment, empathy, social media, the widening gap of trust between generations, and how we develop our biases and beliefs.

“I think the key insight is, most of us are formed in life by the groups we’re a part of—families, religious communities, schools, friend groups—and we come to our sense of identity, belonging, and understanding through groups,” Inazu said. “When you think about that for yourself and the people around you, it can lead to a degree of empathy that someone around you may be formed completely differently, who can see the world differently than you do. This is tied to the idea of humility. I might be able to dissuade you from my ideas on foreign policy or God or healthcare because you may have been formed so differently from several groups over time, so it may take a lot of dialogue to get there.”

Inazu stressed the importance of empathy and understanding; he also recognized that an honest dialogue will be difficult to have if both parties do not recognize and respect each other’s humanity. He also blended what is considered moral and what is within the limits of the law, and how those blurred lines can create disagreement.

“Part of the challenge is to realize we all have different and unique moral intuitions, and because we live in a society as complex as this one, we have to have some basic agreement about how to resolve those,” Inazu said. “Law is a pretty good answer as an alternative to street violations or other ways of arbitrating those differences.”

Studying Inazu’s book continues the rest of the fall term as students and professors engage in discussions and activities based on the book’s themes in their FP courses.