Reading Schedule

Week 1 (9/5 THURSDAY): Introduction-What is Morality?

·      Paper Period A begins

Week 2 (9/9): Rights

·      Joel Feinberg, “The Nature and Value of Rights,” (selections)

·      H.L.A. Hart, “Are there any natural rights?”

Week 3 (9/16): Human Rights in History and practice

·      Samuel Moyn, “Human Rights in Heaven”

·      Charles Beitz, The Idea of Human Rights, ch. 2.

Week 4 (9/23): Human Rights Skepticism

·      Maurice Cranston, “Are there any human rights?”

·      C.A.J. Coady, “The Hazards of Rescue”

Week 5 (10/7): Human Rights and Personhood 

·      James Griffin, On Human Rights, chapter 2

·      Thomas Pogge, World Poverty and Human Rights (selection)

·      Paper period A ends, period B begins

Week 6 (10/16 WEDNESDAY):  Human Rights and Agency 

·      Carol C. Gould, Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights(selections)

·      Amartya Sen, “Elements of a Theory of Human Rights”

Week 7 (10/21): 

·     No new reading, we will discuss Gould from the week before.

Week 8 (10/28): Political vs. Orthodox

•  Joseph Raz, “Human Rights without Foundations”, focus on pp. 327-337

• Jeremy Waldron, “Human Rights: a critique of the Rawls/Raz approach”, focus on section II and IV

Week 9 (11/4):

·      Paper period B ends, period C begins

Week 10 (11/11): The Scope of Rights: Positive vs. Negative 

·      Onora O’Neill – “The Dark Side of Human Rights”, whole article (it is short)

·      James W. Nickel “A Defense of Welfare Rights as Human Rights”, whole article (also short)

Week 11 (11/18): Human Rights and Cultural Differences: A debate in Feminism

·      Susan Moller Okin, “Feminism, Women’s Human Rights, and Cultural Differences” (whole article)

·      Alison Jaggar, “’Saving Amina’: Global Justice for Women and Intercultural Dialogue” (try to read the howle thing, but at least 1st section and then starting at the end of pg. 59 to the end).

Week 12 (11/25):  Non-western Approaches to Human Rights

·      Kwasi Wiredu, “An Akan Perspective on Human Rights” (whole article)

·      Abdullahi An-Naim, “Human Rights in the Muslim World” (skim the introduction, read the rest)

·      Paper period C ends, period D Begins

Week 13 (12/2): More non-western approaches to Human Rights

·       Justin Tiwald, “Confucianism and Human Rights” (whole article)

·      Thaddeus Metz, “Human Dignity, Capital Punishment, and an African Moral Theory: Toward a New Philosophy of Human Rights.” (focus on pp. 85-96)

Week 14 (12/09): Human Rights and the Environment

·      James W. Nickel, “The Human Right to a Safe Environment” (whole article)

·      Simon Caney, “Climate Change, Human Rights, and Moral Thresholds” (intro, skim . section I, read section II-IV)

·      All work due.