Theories of Human Rights
Ruth Abbey
What are human rights? Where do they come from? Who has them? Should they be extended to children? The language of human rights springs readily to our lips: without a second thought, we express our desires and demands in terms of rights. The language of human rights dominates political discourse in the westernized world and rights claims are increasingly being heard in non-western countries too. Yet despite, or perhaps because of, its dominance in western politics and culture, the topic of human rights is hotly contested among political philosophers today. This seminar will explore some of those debates: we will look at some of the arguments in favour of rights and some of the reservations that have been expressed about them. We will also zoom in on a particular aspect of this debate – children’s rights. We will examine the UNICEF Convention on the Rights of the Child and consider some of the arguments for and against according rights to children.
I teach Kohlberg’s stages of moral development and will put Gilligan’s Ethic of Care into my lesson plans.
I will look at rights and rights’ history in a new light from now on.
I will look and think about issues in a different way. The idea of rights and my perspective has broadened.
I’ll be more open to peoples personal rights versus the group’s rights, and understand the issues of each.
| Ruth Abbey , with a Ph.D. from McGill University, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science. She researches and teaches in the areas of contemporary political theory, history of political thought and feminist political thought. She is the author of Nietzsche's Middle Period and Philosophy Now: Charles Taylor, and the editor of Contemporary Philosophy in Focus: Charles Taylor. She has also published a number of journal articles and book chapters, ranging from topics such as contemporary liberalism, to conceptions of marriage, to animal ethics. She has been the recipient of a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship and a Research fellowship at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study as well as a number of smaller research grants. |