Human Rights, Ethics, and Public Policy
Philosophy 6290
Spring Semester 2017
Meetings: M, W 6:10-8:00 pm
Place: Rome Hall 561
Dr. Robert Paul Churchill
Introduction: This is a graduate seminar deigned for students in either the M.A. in Philosophy or the M.A. in Philosophy and Social Policy. It is open to graduate students in Columbian College, the Elliott School, and the National Law Center. Advanced undergraduate students may also take the seminar but only with the advance approval of the professor.
Background Preparation:No prior knowledge of human rights, ethics, or public policy is required; however, seminar members must be willing to adapt to the expectations for the successful reading of, discussion of, and reasoning about the required texts and related subjects. It is also expected that students will make diligent efforts to follow seminar discussions and to acquire on their own background information that may be necessary. Everyone should feel free to introduce questions at sessions, no matter how fundamental they may seem. When preparing assignments outside of class, issues relating to points not understood can be addressed easily by relying on readily available resources online such as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, or by consulting with the professor.
Objectives:The seminar has two main focal points: The first is an intensive examination of theoretical, conceptual, ethical, logical, and practical aspects of human rights, with a special emphasis on the ethical justification of human rights and the identification and defense of universal human rights. Two contemporary, leading texts will be read and studied for this purpose:On Human Rights by James Griffin, a leading representative of the naturalist tradition, and Charles Beitz’sThe Idea of Human Rights, a leading representative of the political conception of human rights.
The second focal point relates to the application of human rights logic and norms in the formulation and implementation of domestic and international public policies. It is not possible to focus on the application of all aspects of human rights, as there is an extremely extensive literature on this subject. Consequently, the seminar will take up the various ways in which possible solutions to two primary and contemporary global problems are informed by reasoning about human rights, as well as how the failure to justifiably resolve these problems will result in serious violations of human rights. The two critical ethical and policy issues concern immigration and climate change, and we will studyDebating the Ethics of Immigration by Christopher Wellman and Philip Cole as well as Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection by Henry Shue.
Structure and Organization:As a graduate seminar, it is expected that all participants—faculty and registered students—will contribute to the generation of knowledge in the seminar. Consequently, everyone must make it a priority to attend every session, to come having prepared assignments in advance, to participate regularly at sessions, and to contribute by presenting at seminar meetings. Each of us will take turns preparing a designated reading assignment for presentation as an argument analysis at a seminar meeting. The assignment will require preparing a written document to be distributed electronically and in advance of the session date, an oral reprise of the document at the meeting, and service as a discussion leader for the seminar meeting. (See Requirements below for further details.)
As seminar chair, I will present the first argument analysisto model the procedure. In addition, directions for the preparation of the document will be available in Blackboard as well as rubrics for evaluating the argument analysis, the argument paper, the position paper, and your roles as oral presenter and discussant leader.
Although it is typical in graduate seminars to require a research paper (of sorts), this seminar will not. A single semester is an inadequate period of time to begin and complete a research paper, especially for seminar participants with no prior familiarity with ethical issues or human rights theories.In addition, the objectives of this seminar emphasize analyzing arguments and defending policy recommendations. Hence, in lieu of a research project, students will be required to complete two 10 to12-page papers on subjects and issues studied in the seminar or onclosely related subjects. (See the Requirements section below.)
The first paper, to be due about mid-term, will require that you make a comparative argument in favor of one theory or justification of human rights against another. Thisargument paper will require both familiarity with the ideas and arguments of Griffin and Beitz, but also an additional philosopher on human rights. Well in advance of the due date for the paper, you will receive a list of additional books and brief summaries of the arguments of each. Thus you will be required to familiarize yourself with the central arguments of one additional theorist—either in the naturalist or the political tradition—and argue for the relative strengths or weaknesses of this author’s position in comparison and contrastwith either Griffin or Beitz’s central argument(s). The second paper, due at the close of the semester, will involve a different kind of activity. Designed as a position paper, the second assignment will require you to present your arguments for policy recommendations in connection with either the problem of climate justice or immigration, and to show how your recommendations draw upon and are supported by human rights theories. Thus your second paper will reflect your understanding of and agreement with either Henry Shue’s arguments on climate justice or arguments debated by Chris Wellman and Philip Cole on immigration, plus a demonstration of how your recommendations would be supported by one defensible theoretical position on human rights, whether that of Griffin or Beitz, or some other theorist.
It is anticipated that completing both writing assignments well will provide seminar participants with a platform for vigorous and in-depth pursuit of either philosophical issues or public policy problems relating to human rights through a variety of venues: an independent Readings and Research course, an M.A. thesis, a paper for presentation at an academic conference, a submission to a journal, a internal analysis of campaign efforts at a major NGO, etc.
Requirements: The major “deliverable” requirements are as follows along with their relative weights in determining the seminar grade:
1) Argument Analysis: A written argument analysis must be prepared for a class session as assigned. The Presenter must prepare the written document of approximately 3-5 single-spaced pages two calendar days in advance of the session and distribute via email. (Documents may be distributed as email attachments through Blackboard). Should a Presenter have questions or difficulties in preparing the Argument Analysis he or she may contact me for assistance.Contribution to course grade: 10%
2) Oral Presentation: On the date assigned, the presenter of an argument analysis must provide an overview of the main points of the Argument Analysis at the seminar session. The overview should take no more than 15-20 minutes total. The remainder of a 50 minute session will be devoted to serving as a discussion leader by responding at length to questions posed about the reading assignments for the date as well as the Argument Analysis, as well as calling on members present for their views. During this period the professor or seminar chair, will serve as a member of the discussion group.Contribution to course grade: 10%
3) Argument Paper: The argument paper, as described above, is to be 10-12 double-spaced pages in length. It will be due on the date indicated on the forthcoming Schedule of Assignments. Contribution to course grade: 35%
4) Position Paper: The position paper, as described above, is to be 10-12 double-spaced pages in length. It will be due on the date indicated on the forthcoming Schedule of Assignments. Contribution to course grade: 35%
5) Participation: It is critically important that all seminar participants attend always, that members contribute to the mission of engaged “ownership” by maintaining an interested, attentive, engaged, and supportive attitude; that assigned readings be prepared in advance; that members participate ably at sessions; and that members discharge responsibilities as presenters or discussants on the panels near the end of the seminar. Included in calculating the value of participation will be: attendance without excused absence, engagement and attitude, quality of oral contributions during sessions, quality of participation on the panel, and finally, self-assessment (See Evaluation below).Contribution to course grade: 10%
Evaluation:Rubrics for each of the graded assignments will be available in Blackboard. Be sure to consult the evaluative guidelines for an assignment before undertaking it. Rubrics may vary significantly from one assignment to the next. Evaluation of your two papers will be non-standard in higher education but designed to enable students to take more responsibility for their own learning. Following your submission of each of your papers, and after notification from me that I have read and assessed a paper, you will be required to submit to me your own evaluation of each of your papers, using the stated Rubric, along with a grade and a justification. You will do this before you are informed of my grade on your paper. If your grade and the one I would assign are roughly within the same boundaries, that is, we do not disagree by more than a plus or minus, and I agree with your self-assessment, then you will receive the higher of the two grades. If your grade and the one I would assign are not roughly within the same boundaries, then you and I will confer to discuss the differences in evaluation and, following the conference, I will assign the warranted grade.
Please note that whatever final grade is assigned for a paper, all papers will be returned with extensive comments by me. In addition, self-evaluation cannot be extended to the argument analysis, oral presentation, and participation, although I will be happy to discuss student concerns on evaluation of such work, as well as the papers.
Collaborative Efforts within the Learning Community:We will a collaborative group of co-learners, exploring subjects together, but also working to promote the learning of each other. To this end, I am asking all members of the seminar to designate two (2) hours per week when they will be willing to be available for consultation or assistance on behalf of other members of the community. Consults of meetings can be held in person, on Skype, or virtually via the Discussion Board or the Blog Tool that will be activated for our course in Blackboard. Availability times must be between 8:00 am and 2:00 pm any day(s) of the week, and may be used for any course-related work: discussing issues, seeking advice or assistance, asking or answering questions, arranging meetings, brain storming, reading sections of drafts, etc.
Assistance should be available on a “first come, first served” basis and respondents will retain the right to defer requests to others should they find it impossible to respond for any reason. In addition, respondents (those asked for help) need not provide assistance beyond the designated two hours per week, unless done so on a voluntary basis. Assistance from me or another seminar member on a paper, even if significant, will not be considered a violation of the University Code of Academic Integrity, provided it involves neither plagiarism nor misrepresentation of one’s work. (Assistance from other’s used within the paper can be cited as a personal interview might cited, for example.)
Each student should assume responsibility for alerting me should they be having difficulty in the seminar or encountering extra-curricular difficulties that may compromise their work in the course. It will be our shared objective to enable everyone to have the best possible learning experience
Texts:
Charles R. Beitz, The Idea of Human Rights (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)
James Griffin, On Human Rights (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)
Henry Shue, Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2016)
Christopher Heath Wellman and Philip Cole, Debating the Ethics of Immigration(Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)
Schedule of Assignments (Forthcoming):