Episode 6 - Non-human agents and the construction of legal reality (ft. Antonia Waltermann)

In this episode, we delve into the topics of non-human agents, the construction of legal reality, and the encompassing role of legal education. What does it mean to be an agent? In which sense can we talk about non-human agents? Can we say that legal reality is “constructed”? How do we fit non-human agents within this legal reality? How does legal education participate in it? Antonia Waltermann discusses with us why researching on agency is important for the study of law, and why it is also important to extend the research also to what can be called “non-human agents”. We also explore what does it mean for legal reality to be a social construction and how and to what extent non-human agents might be considered as participating in such construction, as well as how legal education fits the picture through its presence, content, and influence on human agents. Antonia M. Waltermann is assistant professor of legal theory and philosophy at the Faculty of Law of Maastricht University. She has been a visiting scholar at Stockholm, Bologna and Ljubljana University. She has worked on sovereignty (e.g. Reconstructing Sovereignty, Springer Law and Philosophy Library, 2019), law and the cognitive sciences (e.g. in Law and Mind, Cambridge University Press, 2021) and non-human agency (e.g. in Law, Science and Rationality, Eleven International Publishing, 2019). Her current research focuses on social ontology, particularly on the agency and responsibility of non-human entities (including but not limited to AI) both within the law and when it comes to the (social) construction of law. As regards education, she has extensive experience with legal education in various roles, including but not limited to course design, coordination, and evaluation. Most recently, she is involved in educational design and policy at a programme level as well. [This episode was hosted by Julieta Rabanos and Bojan Spaić; edited by Bojan Spaić; uploaded and formatted by Julieta Rabanos]