Arudra V. Burra

Philosophy, PhD candidate

I am a fifth-year graduate student in the Department of Philosophy. I studied philosophy, computer science, and mathematics at Brandeis University, and have a J.D. from Yale Law School.

My interests are primarily in moral, political and legal philosophy. My dissertation, tentatively titled “Exploitation, Coercion, and Consent,” is an attempt to vindicate the intuition, widely shared, that some forms of exploitation are morally objectionable. It is something of a puzzle to understand just why exploitation is morally wrong, particularly if exploitation may occur in the absence of coercion, and with the consent of the exploited. The aim of the dissertation is to provide accounts of these three concepts, and their relation to one another, in such a way as to support, and elucidate, the claim that it is morally wrong to exploit another. (My other philosophical interests -- in epistemology, the philosophy of science, ancient philosophy, and experimental philosophy – are described in this statement of research interests.

While my dissertation touches on a number of legal themes (particularly in criminal law and the law of contracts), my primary law-related interest is in the legal and institutional history of South Asia. I’m particularly interested in questions of transitions from and continuities with colonial rule in (roughly) the period 1930-55 (see the “drafts” section below for more details). I’m also developing an interest in questions of political philosophy and constitutional law that arise within the specific context of post-colonial South Asia.

In addition to these academic connections with the law, I was actively involved for many years with the Right to Food Campaign, an informal network of groups and individuals committed in various ways to realizing the right to food in India. The Campaign played a key role in the enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the world’s largest public works program. Another notable success was the introduction of cooked mid-day meals in all primary schools in the country following a Supreme Court order of April 2004 in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in which the Campaign is involved.

I am also a member of the Law and Social Sciences Research Network, an attempt to bring together activists and academics with shared or overlapping interests relating to the law in South Asia. I created and managed the website for the inaugural LASSNet Conference, held in New Delhi in January 2009.