Undergraduate - UnitATS1315 - Human rights theory 2

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Philosophy
Offered	Caulfield Second semester 2015 (Day) Clayton Second semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Robert Simpson

Synopsis

The unit investigates a number of contemporary debates about human rights which have implications in domestic and international politics. For instance: do cultural minorities have special claims to group rights? Do human rights violations invalidate government's claim to sovereignty or independence? Can group rights be reconciled with the individualistic bent of human rights theory? Do the expanding rights of children conflict with the rights of parents? The unit also investigates the ethical foundations of human rights. Do human rights represent basic moral obligations? Or are they just a way to promote good consequences? And how do human rights relate to animal rights?

Outcomes

Students successfully completing this subject should have developed:

Mastery of the content of several key controversies surrounding human rights.
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.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 70%
Exam: 30%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Robert Simpson

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Human rights