Adequacy of Current Succession Law in Light of the Constitution and Policy Considerations

In this article, Gerald R. Ford’s counsel during Ford’s confirmation to the vice presidency under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment recounts the process, including investigations into Ford as part of the process and the confirmation hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives. The Article also discusses aspects of Ford’s tenure as Vice President, particularly efforts by White House officials to enlist Ford in defending President Richard Nixon amid the Watergate scandal and Ford’s response to those efforts. The Article is adapted from the author’s remarks at the symposium The Adequacy of the Presidential Succession System in the 21st Century, which was held at Fordham University School of Law on April 16 and 17, 2010

Epistemological Aspects of Hope

Hope is an attitude with a distinctive epistemological dimension: it is incompatible with knowledge. This chapter examines hope as it relates to knowledge but also to probability and inductive considerations. Such epistemic constraints can make hope either impossible, or, when hope remains possible, they affect how one’s epistemic situation can make hope rational rather than irrational. Such issues are especially relevant to when hopefulness may permissibly figure in practical deliberation over a course of action. So I consider cases of second-order inductive reflection on when one should, or should not, be hopeful for an outcome with which one has a long record of experience: in other words, what is the epistemology behind when one should, if ever, stop hoping for outcomes which have failed one many times in the past