Undergraduate - UnitATS1314 - Human rights theory 1

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Philosophy
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2014 (Day) Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Linda Barclay

Notes

Previously coded HRY1010

Synopsis

This unit is an introduction to the discipline of human rights. The central topic around which the unit is organised is the universality of human rights. Why are human rights universal? Is there a foundation for the universality of human rights? Does cultural relativism pose a problem for human rights? Torture, and the human rights of refugees and the global poor are also discussed. Students will be exposed to a variety of views on these and related questions. The unit requires no special background in any discipline.

Outcomes

Students successfully completing this subject should have developed:

Mastery of the basic concepts of human rights, the structure of the most important international human rights legal instruments and the central justifications offered for taking human rights to be universal;
Improved writing skills;
Improved oral communication skills;
Familiarity with central positions in philosophical accounts of the justification and explanation of human rights;
Skills to assist them to conduct independent research in human rights topics.