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63 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1597 (1989-1990)
In Context

handle is hein.journals/scal63 and id is 1611 raw text is: IN CONTEXT MARTHA MINOW* & ELIZABETH V. SPELMAN** What do people mean when they say, You must see it in context?1 Often, such a statement arises in a moment of judgment or decision. Or it can arise in a moment of misunderstanding. In everyday conversation, people call upon context when a question arises about the meaning of someone's statement or action. In contemporary political philosophy and legal theory, demands for contextual analysis appear in works by people claiming the name pragmatist and in other works by people call- ing themselves feminists. As we turn to address the meaning of con- text in these contexts, we are pointedly aware of a plausible question likely to occur to a sensitive reader: What is the context for our inquiry? So let's start over. Welcome to our context. Though we do not wish to claim that our contexts are thoroughly known to us (or to you, whether or not you share them), we feel particularly obliged, in the con- text of an essay on context, to situate our concern about it. On reflection, we realize that we have been using the phrase in context for most of our lives. But we note with considerable interest how, in recent years, we have begun depending increasingly upon it. In our writing and our teaching, we find ourselves insisting on the importance of the context in * Professor of Law, Harvard University. A.B. 1975, University of Michigan; Ed.M. 1976, Harvard University; J.D. 1979, Yale University. ** Associate Professor of Philosophy, Smith College. A.B. 1966, Wellesley College; Ph.D. 1974, The Johns Hopkins University. The authors thank Joseph Singer, Mary Ann Glendon, Mary Lyndon Shanley, Avi Soifer, Linda Kerber, Richard Fallon, Frank Miechelman, Todd Rakoff, Judith Resnik, Deborah Rhode, and Nancy Cott for comments on a drafty draft and to Tim Macht and Olabisi Clinton for research assistance. 1. See, eg., Blakey, The RICO Civil Fraud Action in Context Reflections on Bennett v. Berg, 58 NoTm DAME L. REV. 237 (1982); Freyfogle, Context and Accommodation in Modern Property Law, 41 STAN. L. REV. 1529 (1989); Note, Balancing Competing Discovery Interests in the Context of the Attorney-Client Relationship: A Trilemma, 56 S. CAL. L. REV. 1115 (1983) (authored by Pene- lope Potter Palumbo); Note, Comprehensive Remedies and Statutory Section 1983 Actions: Context as a Guide to Procedural Fairness, 67 TEx. L. Rav. 627 (1989) (authored by David C. Frederick). 1597

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