Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An examination of an issue or selection of issues in the history of moral or political philosophy. Historical readings will be the primary focus and may include important figures such as Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, and Kant.

COURSE DETAILS:

Natural Rights: Their Origins, Their Eclipse, Their Revival: It is commonly claimed that the planet’s indigenous peoples have “inherent rights” over their ancestral lands. This doctrine of inherent right crops up, for example, in the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But what exactly are inherent rights? Where did theories of inherent right originate? Should we believe in them? Theories of inherent right are versions of what used to be called “natural rights”. The philosophy of natural rights is marvelously interesting. It originates in C13th Europe as a supplement to the established idea that everyone is subject to laws of nature which serve the common good of humanity. Natural rights philosophy is very much bound up with the notion that individuals have moral claims which don’t derive from duties to humanity at large. Theories of natural right were given their most forceful presentation some 300 years later by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. (In a curious twist of history, despite blazing the philosophical pathway which leads to the inherent rights of indigenous peoples, both Hobbes and Locke were enthusiastic supporters of European colonialism.) Natural rights philosophy subsequently got buried by some very well-informed critics which included Rousseau, Kant, and Marx. Since the C20th, under the guise of “human rights,” there has been renewed interest in natural rights philosophy. Some of the more compelling contemporary philosophical controversies revive the worries originally put forward by Rousseau, Kant or Marx. There is also a burgeoning discussion of the prospects for bridging the philosophy of natural rights to non-western ethical traditions, such as the philosophies of the planet’s indigenous peoples, and with Confucian ethics.

In this course, we examine the development of natural rights theory by concentrating on seminal figures in the history of the western philosophical tradition. The course texts may vary by semester. All texts are available for free online, or via the SFU Library. I will mostly assign excerpts to make your lives easier. This term we will read selections from,

Henry of Ghent
William of Ockham
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
J.J. Rousseau
Immanuel Kant
Karl Marx

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

PHIL 322 is one of the electives for the Philosophy Major(where it can count towards either the Ethics or the History requirement),  or for the Philosophy Major or Minor with a Concentration in Law and Philosophy. It may also be applied towards the Certificate in Ethics: Theory and Application,  and the Joint Major in Business, Philosophy and the Law.

The general aim of the course is for students to learn how to:

• Identify a thesis and its supporting arguments in philosophical materials
• Engage with those arguments through discussion
• Construct written arguments and to anticipate replies to those arguments
• Conduct limited independent research
• Understand the meaning and origins of phrases like “natural rights” and “natural law”

Since terms like “natural right,” “natural law,” “inherent rights,” “human rights” are still very much in use, this course is excellent preparation for law school, public policy degrees, business school, or for anyone wanting an education in civics. Since the Medieval sources of natural rights philosophies, along with Marx’s critique of “Bourgeois rights,” are rarely taught, this is also a good opportunity for students to reframe their understanding of the standard philosophical canon.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: