Theories of justice and human rights
A.A. 2021/2022
Obiettivi formativi
L'insegnamento introdurrà gli studenti al dibattito filosofico contemporaneo sulla giustizia, con particolare riferimento a questioni di giustizia sociale e globale. Saranno discusse questioni generali relative alla validità delle nostre opinioni sulla giustizia, allo status delle teorie della giustizia e al rapporto tra giustizia ed eguaglianza, e problemi di giustizia specifici relativi alla divisione sociale del lavoro e della ricchezza, al valore della libertà individuale e alla sua limitazione, alla gestione pubblica dei disaccordi in materia di morale e felicità e, infine, alla tutela dei diritti umani e alla lotta alla povertà globale.
Risultati apprendimento attesi
Al termine dell'insegnamento gli studenti dovranno avere acquisito:
- conoscenza e comprensione delle più importanti concezioni filosofiche della giustizia e delle loro implicazioni per la legislazione e le politiche pubbliche;
- la capacità di applicare le conoscenze acquisite al fine di formulare e di difendere in un dibattito pubblico una propria posizione normativa su specifici problemi di giustizia.
- conoscenza e comprensione delle più importanti concezioni filosofiche della giustizia e delle loro implicazioni per la legislazione e le politiche pubbliche;
- la capacità di applicare le conoscenze acquisite al fine di formulare e di difendere in un dibattito pubblico una propria posizione normativa su specifici problemi di giustizia.
Periodo: Secondo trimestre
Modalità di valutazione: Esame
Giudizio di valutazione: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Corso singolo
Questo insegnamento non può essere seguito come corso singolo. Puoi trovare gli insegnamenti disponibili consultando il catalogo corsi singoli.
Programma e organizzazione didattica
Edizione unica
Responsabile
Periodo
Secondo trimestre
In order to abide by the restrictions enacted to reduce the spread of the Covid19 infection, the teaching activity will be carried out in blended learning mode. Students with a valid Covid19 Green Certificate could attend classes on campus; other students could attend classes through Microsoft Teams. The code to access the team will be made available through the Ariel website of the course.
Students attending classes on campus will be invited to connect to the team from the classroom through their PCs or mobiles, to facilitate discussion with students attending online. Students attending online will be required to switch on their webcams.
Classes will be held twice a week, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Classes will be recorded. Access to recordings through the Ariel website of the course will be guaranteed for one year.
Students attending classes on campus will be invited to connect to the team from the classroom through their PCs or mobiles, to facilitate discussion with students attending online. Students attending online will be required to switch on their webcams.
Classes will be held twice a week, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Classes will be recorded. Access to recordings through the Ariel website of the course will be guaranteed for one year.
Programma
The course will address the following topics:
- introduction: human rights from a theoretical perspective
- the general concept of rights
- two conceptions of human rights
- taxonomies of human rights
- the implementation of human rights at the national level
- conflicts involving human rights and their resolution
- the constitutionalizing of human rights and judicial review
- the internationalization of human rights
- the ethical validity and justification of human rights
- arguing for human rights
- the right to life faced with bioethical challenges
- freedom of expression and its regulation
- the right to immigrate and the rights of immigrants
- peoples' right to self-determination and secessionist movements
- from the right to freedom of association to panarchism
- the right to private property and social rights
- world poverty and international responsibility for social rights
- conclusion: final q&a and students' feedback
- introduction: human rights from a theoretical perspective
- the general concept of rights
- two conceptions of human rights
- taxonomies of human rights
- the implementation of human rights at the national level
- conflicts involving human rights and their resolution
- the constitutionalizing of human rights and judicial review
- the internationalization of human rights
- the ethical validity and justification of human rights
- arguing for human rights
- the right to life faced with bioethical challenges
- freedom of expression and its regulation
- the right to immigrate and the rights of immigrants
- peoples' right to self-determination and secessionist movements
- from the right to freedom of association to panarchism
- the right to private property and social rights
- world poverty and international responsibility for social rights
- conclusion: final q&a and students' feedback
Prerequisiti
No preliminary knowledge is required.
Metodi didattici
For attending students, learning will be promoted through lectures, class discussion, and individual reading of assigned material. Non-attending student should prepare for the exam through the individual reading of assigned material.
All students will be required to write a review essay on a topic freely chosen form a list that will be provided. For each topic, a reading list will also be provided; the review essay should cover all the readings included in the reading list.
All students will be required to write a review essay on a topic freely chosen form a list that will be provided. For each topic, a reading list will also be provided; the review essay should cover all the readings included in the reading list.
Materiale di riferimento
Compulsory readings:
Pogge, T. World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reform (2nd edn., Polity Press, 2008) (all students).
Dershowitz, A., Rights from Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights (Basic Books 2004) (non-attending students only).
In addition, all students should choose one of the following thematic reading lists to write their review essay:
1. The General Concept of Rights (difficult)
Hart, H.L.A., "Legal Rights" (1973), in H.L.A. Hart, Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and Political Theory (Oxford UP, 1982), pp. 162-193.
MacCormick, N., "Rights in Legislation", in P. Hacker, J. Raz (eds.), Law, Morality and Society: Essays in Honour of H.L.A Hart (Oxford UP, 1977), pp. 189-209.
Raz, J., "On the Nature of Rights", Mind 93/370 (1984), pp. 194-214.
Raz, J., "Legal Rights", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 4/1 (1984), pp. 1-21.
Kramer, M.H., "Rights without Trimmings", in M.H. Kramer, N.E. Simmonds, H. Steiner, A Debate over Rights: Philosophical Enquiries (Oxford UP, 1998), pp. 7-111.
Steiner, H., "Working Rights", in M.H. Kramer, N.E. Simmonds, H. Steiner, A Debate over Rights: Philosophical Enquiries (Oxford UP, 1998), pp. 233-301.
Wenar, L., "The Nature of Rights", Philosophy and Public Affairs 33/3 (2005), pp. 223-251.
Sreenivasan, G., "A Hybrid Theory of Claim-Rights", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 25/2 (2005), pp. 257-274.
Kramer, M.H., Steiner, H., "Theories of Rights: Is There a Third Way?", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 27/2 (2007), pp. 281-310.
2. Pre-Political Conceptions of Human Rights
Finnis, J., Natural Law and Natural Rights (2nd edn., Oxford UP, 2011), chapters 3-8 (pp. 59-230).
Griffin, J., On Human Rights (Oxford UP, 2008), chapters 1-5 (pp. 9-110), 7-11 (pp. 129-211).
3. The Constitutionalizing of Human Rights (difficult)
Dworkin, R., Taking Rights Seriously (2nd edn., Harvard UP, 1978), chapters 4-5 (pp. 81-149), 7 (pp. 184-205), 12 (pp. 266-278).
Dworkin, R., "Introduction: The Moral Reading and the Majoritarian Premise", in R. Dworkin, Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution (Harvard UP, 1996), pp. 1-38.
Waldron, J., "The Core of the Case against Judicial Review", Yale Law Journal 115/6 (2006), pp. 1346-1406.
Ferrajoli, L., La democrazia attraverso i diritti: Il costituzionalismo garantista come modello teorico e come progetto politico (Laterza, 2013), chapters 1-2 (pp. 5-94) and 6 (pp. 181-255).
4. Liberal Minimalism about Global Human Rights
Rawls, J., "The Law of Peoples", in J. Rawls, The Law of Peoples, with the Idea of Public Reason Revised (Harvard UP, 1997), pp. 1-128.
Beitz, C., The Idea of Human Rights (Oxford UP, 2009), chapters 5-7 (pp. 96-196).
Ignatieff, M., Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry (Amy Gutmann ed., Princeton UP, 2001), pp. 3-98.
Cohen, J., "Minimalism about Human Rights: The Most We Can Hope for?", The Journal of Political Philosophy 12/2 (2004), pp. 190-213.
5. The "Capabilities Approach": Human Rights, Women's Rights, and Development
Sen, A., Development as Freedom (Oxford UP, 1999), chapters 1-2 (pp. 13-53), 4-10 (pp. 87-248).
Nussbaum, M.C., "In Defense of Universal Values", in M.C. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach (Cambridge UP, 2000), introduction and chapter 1 (pp. 1-110).
Okin, S.M., "Poverty, Well-Being, and Gender: What Counts, Who's Heard?", Philosophy and Public Affairs 31/3 (2003), 280-316.
Nussbaum, M.C., "On Hearing Women's Voices: A Reply to Susan Okin", Philosophy and Public Affairs 32/2 (2004), 193-205.
6. The Right to Life Faced with Bioethical Challenges
Thomson, J.J., "A Defense of Abortion", Philosophy and Public Affairs 1/1 (1971), pp. 47-66.
Finnis, J., "The Rights and Wrongs of Abortion: A Reply to Thomson", Philosophy and Public Affairs 2/2 (1973), pp. 117-145.
Thomson, J.J., "Rights and Deaths", Philosophy and Public Affairs 2/2 (1973), pp. 146-159.
Feinberg, J., "Voluntary Euthanasia and the Inalienable Right to Life", Philosophy and Public Affairs 7/2 (1978), pp. 93-123.
Singer, P., Practical Ethics (3rd edn., Cambridge UP, 2011), chapters 4-7 (pp. 71-190).
Dworkin, R., Life's Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom (Vintage Books, 1994), chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-101) and 7-8 (pp. 179-241).
7.1. Freedom of Expression and Pornography
Dworkin, A., "Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography, and Equality" (1985), in A. Dworkin, Letters from a War Zone (Lawrence Hill Books 1993), pp. 253-275.
MacKinnon, C.A., Only Words (Harvard UP 1993).
Strossen, N., "A Feminist Critique of 'the' Feminist Critique of Pornography", Virginia Law Review 79/5 (1993), pp. 1099-1190.
Nussbaum, M. C., "Objectification", Philosophy and Public Affairs 24/4 (1995), pp. 249-291. 43
Dworkin, R., "Is There a Right to Pornography", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1/2 (1981), pp. 177-212.
Dworkin, R., Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution (Harvard UP/Oxford UP 1996), chapters 8-9 (pp. 214-243).
Langton, R., "Whose Rights? Ronald Dworkin, Women, and Pornographers", Philosophy and Public Affairs 19/4 (1990), pp. 311-359.
7.2. Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech
Scanlon, T.M., The Difficulty of Tolerance: Essays in Political Philosophy (Cambridge UP, 2003), chapters 1 (pp. 6-25), 5 (pp. 84-112) and 8 (pp. 151-168).
Altman, A., "Liberalism and Campus Hate Speech: A Philosophical Examination", Ethics 103/2 (1993), pp. 302-317.
Cohen, J., "Freedom of Expression", Philosophy and Public Affairs 22/3 (1993), pp. 207-263.
Schauer, F., "The Phenomenology of Speech and Harm", Ethics 103/4 (1993), pp. 635-653.
Baker, C.E., "Harm, Liberty, and Free Speech", Southern California Law Review 70/4 (1997), pp. 979-1020.
Dworkin, R., "A New Map of Censorship", Index on Censorship 35/1 (2006), pp. 130-133.
Waldron, J., The Harm in Hate Speech (Harvard UP, 2012), chapters 1-7 (pp. 1-203).
8. The Right to Private Property and Property Rights
Waldron, J., The Right to Private Property (Clarendon Press 1988), chapters 1-2 (pp. 3-61), 5-12 (pp. 127-445).
9. The Right to Immigrate and the Rights of Immigrants
Carens, J., The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford UP, 2013), chapters 2-12 (pp. 19-287).
Miller, D., Strangers in Our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration (Harvard UP, 2016), chapters 1-6 (pp. 1-111).
10. Peoples' Right to Self-Determination and the Right to Secession
Buchanan, A., Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law (Oxford UP 2003), chapters 2-3 (pp. 73-190), 5-6 (pp. 233-288), 8-9 (pp. 331-425).
Wellman, C.H., A Theory of Secession: The Case for Political Self-Determination (Cambridge UP 2005). Chapters 2-3 (pp. 6-64), 6-7 (pp. 128-180).
11. Social Rights, Equality of Opportunity and the Social Minimum
White, S., The Civic Minimum: On the Rights and Obligations of Economic Citizenship (Oxford UP, 2003), chapters 1-8 (pp. 2-201).
Fabre, C., Social Rights under the Constitution: Government and the Decent Life (Oxford UP, 2000).
12. The Rights of Members of Cultural Minorities
Kymlicka, W., Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford UP, 1995), chapters 2-3 (pp. 10-48) and 5-8 (pp. 75-172).
Parekh, B., Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (2nd edn., Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), chapters 7-9 (pp. 196-294).
Okin, S.M., "Feminism and Multiculturalism: Some Tensions", Ethics 108/4 (1998), pp. 661-684.
Okin, S.M., "'Mistresses of Their Own Destiny': Group Rights, Gender, and Realistic Rights of Exit", Ethics 112/2 (2002), pp. 205-230.
Barry, B., Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism (Polity Press, 2001), chapters 2 (pp. 19-62) and 4 (pp. 112-154).
Pogge, T. World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reform (2nd edn., Polity Press, 2008) (all students).
Dershowitz, A., Rights from Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights (Basic Books 2004) (non-attending students only).
In addition, all students should choose one of the following thematic reading lists to write their review essay:
1. The General Concept of Rights (difficult)
Hart, H.L.A., "Legal Rights" (1973), in H.L.A. Hart, Essays on Bentham: Jurisprudence and Political Theory (Oxford UP, 1982), pp. 162-193.
MacCormick, N., "Rights in Legislation", in P. Hacker, J. Raz (eds.), Law, Morality and Society: Essays in Honour of H.L.A Hart (Oxford UP, 1977), pp. 189-209.
Raz, J., "On the Nature of Rights", Mind 93/370 (1984), pp. 194-214.
Raz, J., "Legal Rights", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 4/1 (1984), pp. 1-21.
Kramer, M.H., "Rights without Trimmings", in M.H. Kramer, N.E. Simmonds, H. Steiner, A Debate over Rights: Philosophical Enquiries (Oxford UP, 1998), pp. 7-111.
Steiner, H., "Working Rights", in M.H. Kramer, N.E. Simmonds, H. Steiner, A Debate over Rights: Philosophical Enquiries (Oxford UP, 1998), pp. 233-301.
Wenar, L., "The Nature of Rights", Philosophy and Public Affairs 33/3 (2005), pp. 223-251.
Sreenivasan, G., "A Hybrid Theory of Claim-Rights", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 25/2 (2005), pp. 257-274.
Kramer, M.H., Steiner, H., "Theories of Rights: Is There a Third Way?", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 27/2 (2007), pp. 281-310.
2. Pre-Political Conceptions of Human Rights
Finnis, J., Natural Law and Natural Rights (2nd edn., Oxford UP, 2011), chapters 3-8 (pp. 59-230).
Griffin, J., On Human Rights (Oxford UP, 2008), chapters 1-5 (pp. 9-110), 7-11 (pp. 129-211).
3. The Constitutionalizing of Human Rights (difficult)
Dworkin, R., Taking Rights Seriously (2nd edn., Harvard UP, 1978), chapters 4-5 (pp. 81-149), 7 (pp. 184-205), 12 (pp. 266-278).
Dworkin, R., "Introduction: The Moral Reading and the Majoritarian Premise", in R. Dworkin, Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution (Harvard UP, 1996), pp. 1-38.
Waldron, J., "The Core of the Case against Judicial Review", Yale Law Journal 115/6 (2006), pp. 1346-1406.
Ferrajoli, L., La democrazia attraverso i diritti: Il costituzionalismo garantista come modello teorico e come progetto politico (Laterza, 2013), chapters 1-2 (pp. 5-94) and 6 (pp. 181-255).
4. Liberal Minimalism about Global Human Rights
Rawls, J., "The Law of Peoples", in J. Rawls, The Law of Peoples, with the Idea of Public Reason Revised (Harvard UP, 1997), pp. 1-128.
Beitz, C., The Idea of Human Rights (Oxford UP, 2009), chapters 5-7 (pp. 96-196).
Ignatieff, M., Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry (Amy Gutmann ed., Princeton UP, 2001), pp. 3-98.
Cohen, J., "Minimalism about Human Rights: The Most We Can Hope for?", The Journal of Political Philosophy 12/2 (2004), pp. 190-213.
5. The "Capabilities Approach": Human Rights, Women's Rights, and Development
Sen, A., Development as Freedom (Oxford UP, 1999), chapters 1-2 (pp. 13-53), 4-10 (pp. 87-248).
Nussbaum, M.C., "In Defense of Universal Values", in M.C. Nussbaum, Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach (Cambridge UP, 2000), introduction and chapter 1 (pp. 1-110).
Okin, S.M., "Poverty, Well-Being, and Gender: What Counts, Who's Heard?", Philosophy and Public Affairs 31/3 (2003), 280-316.
Nussbaum, M.C., "On Hearing Women's Voices: A Reply to Susan Okin", Philosophy and Public Affairs 32/2 (2004), 193-205.
6. The Right to Life Faced with Bioethical Challenges
Thomson, J.J., "A Defense of Abortion", Philosophy and Public Affairs 1/1 (1971), pp. 47-66.
Finnis, J., "The Rights and Wrongs of Abortion: A Reply to Thomson", Philosophy and Public Affairs 2/2 (1973), pp. 117-145.
Thomson, J.J., "Rights and Deaths", Philosophy and Public Affairs 2/2 (1973), pp. 146-159.
Feinberg, J., "Voluntary Euthanasia and the Inalienable Right to Life", Philosophy and Public Affairs 7/2 (1978), pp. 93-123.
Singer, P., Practical Ethics (3rd edn., Cambridge UP, 2011), chapters 4-7 (pp. 71-190).
Dworkin, R., Life's Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom (Vintage Books, 1994), chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-101) and 7-8 (pp. 179-241).
7.1. Freedom of Expression and Pornography
Dworkin, A., "Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography, and Equality" (1985), in A. Dworkin, Letters from a War Zone (Lawrence Hill Books 1993), pp. 253-275.
MacKinnon, C.A., Only Words (Harvard UP 1993).
Strossen, N., "A Feminist Critique of 'the' Feminist Critique of Pornography", Virginia Law Review 79/5 (1993), pp. 1099-1190.
Nussbaum, M. C., "Objectification", Philosophy and Public Affairs 24/4 (1995), pp. 249-291. 43
Dworkin, R., "Is There a Right to Pornography", Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1/2 (1981), pp. 177-212.
Dworkin, R., Freedom's Law: The Moral Reading of the American Constitution (Harvard UP/Oxford UP 1996), chapters 8-9 (pp. 214-243).
Langton, R., "Whose Rights? Ronald Dworkin, Women, and Pornographers", Philosophy and Public Affairs 19/4 (1990), pp. 311-359.
7.2. Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech
Scanlon, T.M., The Difficulty of Tolerance: Essays in Political Philosophy (Cambridge UP, 2003), chapters 1 (pp. 6-25), 5 (pp. 84-112) and 8 (pp. 151-168).
Altman, A., "Liberalism and Campus Hate Speech: A Philosophical Examination", Ethics 103/2 (1993), pp. 302-317.
Cohen, J., "Freedom of Expression", Philosophy and Public Affairs 22/3 (1993), pp. 207-263.
Schauer, F., "The Phenomenology of Speech and Harm", Ethics 103/4 (1993), pp. 635-653.
Baker, C.E., "Harm, Liberty, and Free Speech", Southern California Law Review 70/4 (1997), pp. 979-1020.
Dworkin, R., "A New Map of Censorship", Index on Censorship 35/1 (2006), pp. 130-133.
Waldron, J., The Harm in Hate Speech (Harvard UP, 2012), chapters 1-7 (pp. 1-203).
8. The Right to Private Property and Property Rights
Waldron, J., The Right to Private Property (Clarendon Press 1988), chapters 1-2 (pp. 3-61), 5-12 (pp. 127-445).
9. The Right to Immigrate and the Rights of Immigrants
Carens, J., The Ethics of Immigration (Oxford UP, 2013), chapters 2-12 (pp. 19-287).
Miller, D., Strangers in Our Midst: The Political Philosophy of Immigration (Harvard UP, 2016), chapters 1-6 (pp. 1-111).
10. Peoples' Right to Self-Determination and the Right to Secession
Buchanan, A., Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination: Moral Foundations for International Law (Oxford UP 2003), chapters 2-3 (pp. 73-190), 5-6 (pp. 233-288), 8-9 (pp. 331-425).
Wellman, C.H., A Theory of Secession: The Case for Political Self-Determination (Cambridge UP 2005). Chapters 2-3 (pp. 6-64), 6-7 (pp. 128-180).
11. Social Rights, Equality of Opportunity and the Social Minimum
White, S., The Civic Minimum: On the Rights and Obligations of Economic Citizenship (Oxford UP, 2003), chapters 1-8 (pp. 2-201).
Fabre, C., Social Rights under the Constitution: Government and the Decent Life (Oxford UP, 2000).
12. The Rights of Members of Cultural Minorities
Kymlicka, W., Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford UP, 1995), chapters 2-3 (pp. 10-48) and 5-8 (pp. 75-172).
Parekh, B., Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory (2nd edn., Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), chapters 7-9 (pp. 196-294).
Okin, S.M., "Feminism and Multiculturalism: Some Tensions", Ethics 108/4 (1998), pp. 661-684.
Okin, S.M., "'Mistresses of Their Own Destiny': Group Rights, Gender, and Realistic Rights of Exit", Ethics 112/2 (2002), pp. 205-230.
Barry, B., Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism (Polity Press, 2001), chapters 2 (pp. 19-62) and 4 (pp. 112-154).
Modalità di verifica dell’apprendimento e criteri di valutazione
Assessment methods and criteria will be different for attending and non-attending students.
In order to be considered attending student, attendance of 3/5 of classes (12 on 20) is required.
For attending students, the final assessment will be based on attendance, participation, a review essay, a written exam, and a final colloquium. Students who get a mark of at least 28/30 in both the review essay and the written exam will be exempted from the final colloquium.
For non-attending students, the final assessment will be based on a review essay, a written exam, and a final colloquium.
For further information about assessment methods and criteria, and instructions to write the review essay, consult the documents that will be uploaded on the Ariel website of the course.
In order to be considered attending student, attendance of 3/5 of classes (12 on 20) is required.
For attending students, the final assessment will be based on attendance, participation, a review essay, a written exam, and a final colloquium. Students who get a mark of at least 28/30 in both the review essay and the written exam will be exempted from the final colloquium.
For non-attending students, the final assessment will be based on a review essay, a written exam, and a final colloquium.
For further information about assessment methods and criteria, and instructions to write the review essay, consult the documents that will be uploaded on the Ariel website of the course.
Docente/i
Ricevimento:
Il docente riceve gli studenti e le studentesse, in presenza o online, su appuntamento. Per fissare un appuntamento scrivere un'e-mail al docente.
I ricevimenti in presenza si terranno presso l'ufficio del docente che si trova al secondo piano dell'edificio che si affaccia su via Passione (stanza 206). I ricevimenti online si terranno tramite Microsoft Teams.