Using Complexity Thinking to Inform Legal Education in a Post-Truth Environment

Abstract

The complexity of our environments and dealings is, perhaps, more obvious to us in a so-called ‘post-truth’ world. Some traditionally held ‘truths’ may indeed be ‘untruths’. We are, more often than before, called upon to question traditional messengers of ‘truth’. It is no longer sufficient to rely on the status quo as a source of ‘truth’. What is a ‘truth’ to one, might not be to another. The collective ‘truth’ might be distinguished from the individual ‘truth’. Our systems of law and legal education are not immune to these issues.The field of complexity thinking is a means for legal educators to better understand their operating environment in a post-truthcontext. This paper discusses complexity thinking and its increasing prominence, including in education scholarship. It provides an overview of this scholarship and applies it to legal education. It suggests how complexity thinking might inform the law school curriculum to better respond to the challenges of a post-truth world.<br/