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SCHOOL OF LAW - ARBA MINCH UNIVERSITY
LLM (Human Rights and Justice) & M.A (Human Rights and Security)
COURSE OUTLINE FOR PHILOSOPHY AND THEORIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Course Code: MHJ 612 & MHS 612
Course Outline Prepared: Dr. Sam
Course
Description This course is concerned with the history and
theory of the modern human rights regime. The discussion of the present will
lead us to wonder when, where, and for whom human rights and, for that matter, humanitarianism
provide actual solutions to real-life problems and what these problems might
be. The course also explores the passions that motivated people to pursue human
rights and the empathy that led them to uproot injustice and what this passion
did and did not achieve. It will thus give a solid grounding in the
philosophical underpinning of human rights as well as an overview of some of
the current debates in the philosophy of human rights by examining the
universality, justifications and criticism of human rights. Course
Objective: After completing this course, the student will
be able to:
UNIT ONE: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS
1.1. Definition and Meaning of human rights
1.2. Characteristics of Human Rights
1.3. Generations of Human Rights
1.4. Development of the Concept of Human Rights
UNIT TWO: NATURAL RIGHTS AND NATURAL LAW THEORY
2.1. The notion of Natural Rights and Natural Law
2.2. Natural Law as Source of Justice and Virtue – political thoughts by Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
2.3. Natural Law as a Reason by Cicero and Seneca,
2.4. Natural Law as Morality by Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas,
2.5. Nature of Man by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke
2.6. Kelsen’s Criticism on Natural Law Theory
UNIT THREE: PHILOSOPHIES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
3.1. Western Philosophy of Human Rights
3.1.1 The Human Rights thoughts influenced by Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, David Hume, Thomas Paine and John Stuart Mill
3.1.2 A theory of Justice by John Rowls
3.1.3. Louis Henkin - “Rights of Man Today”
3.1.3. Social contract and Reciprocity
3.2. Critiques of Human Rights Philosophy
3.2.1. Edmund Burke on Natural Rights
3.2.2. Jeremy Bentham on natural rights
3.2.3. Marxist Critique of Human Rights
3.2.4. Alasdair MacIntyre on Human Rights
3.3. Soviet concept of Human rights and the legal system;
3.4. The relevance of Human Rights in Gandhian Philosophy – an analysis.
3.5. Confucius philosophy: Confusion Human rights ideas and their influence on modern human rights thought.
3.6. Human rights in Africa
UNIT FOUR: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON HUMAN RIGHTS
4.1. Christian reflections on Human rights;
4.2. Islamic principles of Human rights;
4.3. Theological reflections on Human rights in Hinduism,
4.4. Human rights and Buddhism,
4.5. Human rights and Sikhism
UNIT FIVE: HUMAN RIGHTS THEORY
5.1. Interest and will theory
5.2. Maslow's Human Need Theory.
5.3. Ipso Facto Legal Rights Theory (by that very fact)
5.4. Man for Man Theory of World Peace
5.5. Contractual Theory: (Thomas Hobbes)
UNIT SIX: CONTEMPORARY IDEA OF HUMAN RIGHTS
6.1. Modern perspectives on human rights
6.2. Constructing human rights: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
6.3. Human rights and cultural relativism
UNIT SEVEN: LEGAL SOURCES OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
7.1. International Human Rights Conventions
7.2. International Custom and Human rights
7.3. General principles of law and its application in Human rights law
7.4. Subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law and Human rights
Evaluation: Term papers, presentation and final
examination Reference materials 1. Forsythe
,David P , Human Rights in International Relations,New York, Cambridge
University Press, 2. Bauman Z.Postmodern
Ethics. Cambridge, Basil Blackwell, Cambridge University Press, 1993 3. Nickel,
James. “Human Rights.” In The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy 4. David
Boersema , Philosophy of Human Rights; Theory and Practice, Westview Press,
2011 5. Aakash
Singh Rathore, Alex Cistelecan, Wronging Rights?: Philosophical
Challenges for Human Rights,2011
- Teacher: V. Sam Prem Ponniah