In this course, we survey and discuss the competing conceptions of human rights (also known as natural rights) in Western Philosophy.
In the earliest conception, human rights are normatively permissible actions whose validity lies beyond any legitimate legislation. This is the conception found in the scholastic Bologna lawyers of the Middle Ages (who originated the concept of human rights), and was carried on from them (with modifications) by John Locke and the American Founding Fathers (Jefferson, Mason, and Madison).
In an alternative conception, pioneered by Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza, a human right is simply a human ability, and can be negotiated and qualified within the context of a social contract between citizens and legislators. Both conceptions have been defended and criticized in the philosophical literature up to the present day.
Dr. ANDERS KRAAL, PhD, is a lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at UBC. He has published papers in various areas of philosophy, including logic, philosophy of religion, and the history of philosophy. He is the author of the recent monograph, The Problem of God in David Hume (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
Note: there is a $25 withdrawal fee for courses up to three days before course begins.
Course outline
Week 1: Human rights in the Scholastic Bologna Lawyers
Week 2: Human Rights in John Locke and the American Founding Fathers
Week 3: The Hobbes-Spinoza Conception of Human Rights
Week 4: Contemporary Philosophical Debates Over Human Rights
Week 5: Contemporary Legal Debates Over Human Rights