Philosophy of Human Rights

Teacher(s)

Landenne Quentin; Lefort Elisabeth (compensates Landenne Quentin);

Language

French

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

The main objectives of this seminar are twofold: - Clarifying the concept of ‘human rights’; - Building bridges between philosophical or theoretical debates and controversies, on the one hand, and beliefs and practices in the field of human rights, on the other hand. At the end of the course, students should be able: - to identify, describe and assess some of the major philosophical theories as regards human rights ; - to understand and critically analyse contemporary debates about human rights, on the basis of the philosophical theories.

Content

1. 2 octobre : Philosopher ? Introduction et élucidation du concept de « droits humains »
2. 9 octobre : Structurer, catégoriser, préciser (I) : évolutions et hétérogénéité des droits humains
3. 16 octobre : Structurer, catégoriser, préciser (II) : évolutions et hétérogénéité des droits humains
4. 23 octobre : L’égalité, corollaire et objectif des droits humains
5. 30 octobre : La légitimité des droits humains en question (I)
6. 13 novembre : La légitimité des droits humains en question (II)
7. 20 novembre : L’universalité des droits humains en question (I) : universalisme et relativisme
8. 27 novembre : L’universalité des droits humains en question (II) : universalisme et relativisme.
9. 4 décembre : Mobiliser les concepts : préparation et participation active à la conférence de rentrée, donnée par M. Gérard Niyungeko, président honoraire de la Cour africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples.
10. 9 décembre : Conclusion ; questions-réponses.

Teaching methods

1. Taught ex cathedra, the course will also leave time for debate.

2. On moodle, students have access to:
- a summary of each lesson and/or powerpoint, which need to be completed by personal notes ;
- most likely, excerpts of papers for debates in class ;
- a reading portfolio, for those who want to go further in the reflection and/or write an optional essay (see below).

Evaluation methods

1. The examination material consists of (everything) that is said in the class (course summaries are not enough), including the excerpts of papers.

2. The exam is written.

3. Optional essay: Students have the possibility of writing a paper of approximately 3000 words (+/- 5 pages). In this essay, they will have to answer one of the questions asked by the professors (list to be distributed in December), by mobilizing some elements studied in class. Those who decide to write this essay will be exempted from taking one of the examination questions, at their choice.

This paper must be submitted on the anti-plagiarism software "Ephorus", one hour before the exam taken by the student at the latest; the code to be used is "fusl016".
This submission is a condition of admissibility for the paper. If they don’t fulfil this condition, students will not be allowed to be exempted from taking one examination question.

Bibliography

Fournie avec les résumés de cours, les power-points et le portefeuille de textes.

Faculty or entity

DRTB