political science 410/ 511
RIGHTS & HUMAN RIGHTS : Analysis & Justification
Second Term, 1999-2000
Course Outline
This will be a seminar on the topic of rights, with particular attention to human rights. The seminar will proceed in three stages. The first stage (4 weeks) will focus on the analysis of rights in general (what is meant by "a right"? what kinds of rights can there be?). On this basis, the second stage of the course (4-5 wks) will consider the justification of rights, considering a range of ways in which rights of various kinds might be justified and defended. These justifications will include the traditional natural rights of Hobbes and Locke, consequentialism, natural law, and self-ownership. The final stage of the seminar (3-4 wks) will consider some applications -- positive vs negative rights, group rights, and global human rights.
Workload and Requirements
The course will be conducted as a seminar. Participants will be expected to contribute actively in discussions and the seminar may be organized around the presentation of student papers. Participants will also be expected to prepare for the seminar each week by careful reading of the assigned material. Students will also be expected to prepare brief digests (1-2 pp) of the major readings each week. (This may be replaced by pop quizzes)
The reading/research material for this course consists exclusively of the required readings for each seminar. Participants will not be asked to read more than this. All essays can and should be written just on the basis of the required readings.
Two short seminar papers (5-7 pp) will be required during the term, plus a somewhat longer paper at the end of the term. There will be ample choice of topics for all essays.
Grades*
Essays: (3 @ equal weight) 80%
Commentary 10%
Oral contributions 10%
* The reading digests -- which must be submitted each week before the seminar -- will be graded only as satisfactory/ unsatisfactory. But they are strictly required; marks (up to two stanines) will be deducted from the final grade for missing digests.
Graduate Students: The course will be taught as a combined undergraduate (411) and graduate (511) course. Graduate students will not be expected to do extra work: they will be expected to do the same work better.
Texts
Readings for Political Science 404/511: Rights (a course pack)
Essay Requirements
All essays should be terse, analytical, and "positional" -- arguing a definite thesis in relation to some aspect of the readings. Students are encouraged to develop their own views in these essays -- eg, by contesting a specific claim made in the readings, or by arguing a rival thesis on the topic, or (in certain cases) by writing a critical response to a fellow student in the seminar. The only requirement is that the essay argue a specific and explicitly stated thesis ("In this essay I will argue that... ")
Topics
ANALYSIS
Jan 11 - introduction
Jan 18 - analysis: what is "a right"? (test case: euthanasia)
Jan 25 - components of rights (test case: euthanasia, cont'd)
Feb 1 - duties and rights, benefits and liberties (test case: animal rights)
Feb 8 - human rights: possibilities and problems (test case: "Klutz" and the butterfly people)
DERIVATIONS
Feb 15 - natural rights: Hobbes (test case: abortion)
Feb 22- reading week
Feb 29- consequentialism (test case: aboriginal self-government)
Mar 7 - natural rights: Locke
Mar 14 -- rights in natural law: Aquinas and Aristotle
APPLICATIONS
Mar 21 - Nozick; positive and negative rights (test case: a right to work?)
Mar 28 - group rights (test case: language rights)
Apr 4 - human rights today (1)
Apr 11 -- human rights today (2) : global human rights
TOPICS & READINGS
All readings are from the course pack (Readings for Political Science 404/511: Rights).
Part 1: THE ANALYSIS OF RIGHTS
Jan 18 - Analysis: What Is "A Right"? (test case: euthanasia)
Required:
Jones, Forms of Right
Feinberg, The Nature and Value of Rights
McCloskey, Rights
Hill, Servility and Self-respect
test case: Rodriguez v British Columbia
Jan 25 - Components of Rights (test case: euthanasia, cont'd)
Required:
Wellman, A Theory of Rights, chs 1-2
Feinberg, Duties, Rights and Claims
test case: Feinberg, An Unpromising Approach to the "Right to Die"
Feb 1 - Duties and Rights, Benefits and Liberties (test
case: animal rights)
Required:
Jones, Benefits, Choices and Titles
Hart, Bentham on Legal Rights
Sumner, Conceptual Alternatives
test case: Feinberg, the Rights of Animals and Unborn Generations
Feb 8 - Human Rights: Possibilities and Problems (test case: "klutz" and the butterfly people)
Required:
Jones, Justifying Human Rights
Hart, "Are There Any Natural Rights?
Wellman, The Development of Human Rights
Husak, Why There Are No Human Rights
Gewirth, Why There Are Human Rights
test case: Pocklington, Against Inflating Human Rights
Part 2: DERIVATIONS & JUSTIFICATIONS
Feb 15 - Natural Rights: Hobbes (test case: abortion)
Required:
Macpherson "Natural Rights in Hobbes and Locke
Carmichael,"What Kind of Right is Hobbes' Right of Nature?"
Hobbes, selections from Leviathan, chs 13-14
test case: Thomson, A Defence of Abortion
Brodie Opposition to Abortion: a Human Rights Approach
Recommended:
Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
Feb 22- reading week
Feb 29- Consequentialism (test case: aboriginal
self-government)
Required:
Lyons, Utility and Rights
Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously
test case (1): Rodriguez v British Columbia
test case (2): Pocklington, Aboriginal Canadians and the Right to Self-government
Carmichael, Critique: Aboriginal Self-government
Recommended:
Scanlon, Rights, Goals and Fairness (no longer required)
Mill, Utilitarianism, ch 5 (no longer required)
Mar 7 - Natural Rights: Locke
Required:
Simmons The Lockean Theory of Rights, chs1-2
Locke, Selections from The Second Essay, chs 1-2
Mar 14 -- Rights in Natural Law: Aquinas and Aristotle
Required:
Aquinas, Summa Theologica: selections
McInerny, Ethics
Sigmund, Law and Politics
Finnis, Towards Human Rights
Recommended:
Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, chs 1-2 (no longer required)
Miller, Nature, Justice and Rights in Aristotle's Politics (no longer required)
Part 3: APPLICATIONS
Mar 21 - Nozick; Positive and Negative Rights (test case:
a right to work?)
Required:
Nozick Distributive Justice
Taylor Atomism
Shue, Basic Rights
test case: Carmichael, Is There a Right to Work?
Mar 28 - Group Rights (test case: language rights)
Required:
Kymlicka, Individual and Community Rights
Razack, Collective Rights and Women
Reaume, The Group Right to Linguistic Security
Adelman, Refugees: the Right of Return
Apr 4 - Human Rights Today (1)
Required:
Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948)
Cranston, Human Rights, Real and Supposed
Nussbaum, Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism
Putnam, Must We Choose?
Rorty, Human Rights, Rationality and Sentimentality
Recommended:
Gewirth, "The Basis and Content of Human Rights" (no longer required) Friedman, "A Criticism of Gewirth's Theory" (no longer required)
Lyotard, The Other's Rights (no longer required)
MacIntyre , The Failure of the Enlightenment Project
Apr 11 -- Human Rights Today (2) : Global Human Rights
Required:
Brown Universal Human Rights: A Critique
Parekh, Non-ethnocentric Universalism
Hurrell, Power, Principles and Prudence
Recommended:
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966)
Final Paper due: Friday, April 21st