Human Rights and Glabalization

Objectives

1. To understand the meaning of human rights.
2. To know ant evaluate the contemporary philosophical discussions on human rights.
3. To develop competencies in interpreting, arguing and oral and written communication.

Program

Topic 1. Human rights: a philosophical theme. The human dignity.
Topic 2. For the archaeology of human rights in the Western tradition.
Topic 3. The problem of the justification of human rights.
Topic 4. Liberalism versus Communitarianism on human rights.
Topic 5. The universality of human rights.
Topic 6. Human Rights and multiculturalism.
Topic 7. Philosophy, religion and human rights.
Topic 8. Globalization: a philosophical theme. The invention of the world.

Teaching Methodologies

Combination of methodologies. The lectures will be illustrated by means of analysing texts and documents to which students will have access. The perspective of the autonomous research of the student has as a requirement of previous readings in order to participate in the seminars and the elaboration of a research paper.

In line with the adopted methodologies, the following learning activities will be prioritised:

- Creating a database on the topics studied; the investigation and subsequent organisation of information;
- A careful reading of selected texts;
- A productive discussion and debate while clarifying doubts and deepening questions;
- Applying and demonstrating competencies in the area of oral and written discourse.

Bibliography

Beitz, C., The Idea of Human Rights, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.
Bobbio, N., The Age of Rights, Cambridge, Blackwell, 1996.
Corradetti, C. (Ed.), Philosophical Dimensions of Human Rights, Heidelberg, London, NY, Springer, 2011.
Ernst, G. e Heilinger, J. (Eds.), The Philosophy of Human Rights : Contemporary Controver-sies, Berlin, Valter de Gruyter, 2011.
Griffin, J., On Human Rights, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
Habermas, J., La Inclusión del Otro. Estudios de Teoría Política, Barcelona, Paidós, 2002.
Haarscher, G., Filosofia dos Direitos do Homem, Lisboa, Piaget, 1997.
Holder, C. and Reidy, D (Eds.), Human Rights: The Hard Questions, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013.
Rawls, J., The Law of Peoples, Cambridge, MA, Harvard Univ. Press, 1999.
Sloterdijk, P., Palácio de Cristal. Para Uma Teoria Filosófica da Globalização, Lisboa, Relógio D’ Água Ed., 2008.