Brian Leiter on Nietzsche and Grand Funk Railroad

Professor Brian Leiter Talks Cold Cuts And Rock ’N’ Roll

Law professor Brian Leiter spoke to Law360 during a recent 10-minute interview, opening up about his short-lived rock music career, Grand Funk Railroad vinyl collection and love of hard salami.

Described in the Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews as “one of the most influential legal philosophers of our time,” Leiter is a professor of jurisprudence at the University of Chicago School of Law, where he founded the school’s Center for Law, Philosophy and Human Values in 2009. He has written a number of books on law, jurisprudence and philosophy.

Law360: How do you decompress after a long week?

Leiter: Here’s the problem: I never decompress. I’m just about always going at full speed until I’m asleep.

Name three people, dead or alive, you’d like to have lunch with.

Well, most certainly the German philosopher [Friedrich] Nietzsche, whom I’ve devoted a lot of my work to over many years. I understand that, despite his rather ferocious writing style, he was quite pleasant company at meals. I guess I would be very curious to have lunch with Samuel Beckett, but I gather that Beckett wasn’t great company. It might be better to go to a pub with him than lunch. But it strikes me as fascinating. Who would be the third? I guess Karl Marx, the other great figure of 19th century German philosophy. So, two philosophers and one literary figure with a philosophical bent.

Read more at Law360