Section 002 - Term 1 - W 10:00 - 1:00, Grad Room

Instructor:  Sam LaSelva
 
This course examines some of the most important contemporary political thinkers and their contributions to the theme of "human rights in theory and practice." Topics include: Grotius, Hobbes and Locke on natural rights; Burke, Bentham and Marx as critics of natural rights; the political, legal, and philosophical foundations of contemporary human rights, including the Nuremberg Trials; human rights in liberal constitutional theory; the communitarian critique of rights; women and rights; human rights and the non-Western world; and the prospects for human rights in a cosmopolitan world order.  The methodological orientation of the course is normative and analytical. 
 
Assignments: seminar participation mark; two oral presentations with written summaries; major essay.
 
Required Texts: Reading Package