International ethics and human rights 3800-EMPC23-S-OG

The main aim of the seminar is to present and discuss philosophical problems concerning the idea of human rights in the area of politics, law and ethics. These issues will be analyzed not only in a domestic but also in an international context, because it is almost impossible to discuss problems like health or medical standards in a more and more globalized world. Range of human rights protection, including biological or procreative ones, is different among cultures. During class meetings we will evaluate chosen case studies i.e. epidemics, international surrogacy etc., from the perspective of human rights but also from a broader perspective of international bioethics and global justice. Another aim of our meeting is to diagnose strong and weak sides of the human rights discourse. It will help us to understand how far human rights can become grounded and justified form the bioethics point of view as well as whether establishing human rights on global scale needs shared axiology (argument of universalism). Presumption of common moral ground which link people in pluralized world raise objections of many scholars (argument of cultural relativism). Ethical and biopolitcal discourse of human rights reveals also many other problems as the role of states borders and sovereignty in establishing and executing health standards developed by the UN or global distribution of natural resources and poverty.

Course will be divided into three parts. Part I is dedicated to the analysis of the idea of human rights. It will embrace such elements as history of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other legal documents connected with it. We will focus also on content of human rights, their generations, sources of legitimization and their normative critique.
Part II of the course will concentrated on (bio)justice in international relations. Biomedical standards will discuss refereeing to such theories as Rawls’s law of peoples or Sen’s capabilities. Such theories will be investigated musty from the anthropological and metaphysical perspective which underlying them and which determine the concept of human life in such areas as reproduction or substance.
Part III will be concentrated to certain issues which are connected with prior two parts of the course. In this part we will discuss about globalization interconnectedness and how they influence on our individual and group identities. We will try to diagnose (a) reasons of tensions between human and citizens rights,(b) problem of sovereignty in globalized world, (c) such phenomenon as international surrogacy, immigration or refugees.

Type of course

elective seminars
general courses

Prerequisites (description)

(in Polish) zainteresowanie etyką, prawem i filozofią polityki

Course coordinators

Rafał Wonicki

Learning outcomes

Student knows:
K_W02, research methods and argumentative strategies of political philosophy and methods of philosophical text interpretation
K_W05 the most important new achievements within the scope of political philosophy, theory of human rights and theory of international justice
K_W07 views of the selected leading philosophical author or the current state of research in the field of political philosophy
K_W08, norms constituting and regulating social structures and institutions, as well as sources of these norms, their nature, and ways of influencing human behavior
K_W10, role of philosophical reflection in shaping of political sphere
K_W11, to a deeper extent the relationship between the formation of philosophical ideas and changes in culture, society and the sphere of politics;

WG_03, methodology of scientific research in the humanities.
WK_01, fundamental dilemmas of modern civilization from the perspective of the humanities.

Student can:
K_U02 determine the degree of significance of ideas for the examined problem or argumentation
K_U03 analyze complex philosophical arguments, identify assumptions, determine logical and argumentative relationships between them
K_U06 creatively and innovatively use philosophical and methodological knowledge in formulating hypotheses and constructing critical arguments
K_U07 precisely formulate philosophical problems orally and in writing;
K_U10 write texts based on independently selected literature, using original, innovative approaches and taking into account new achievements in the field of philosophy
K_U13 search and select information from written and electronic sources, using professional search tools
K_U14 independently acquire knowledge, develop research skills and plan research projects
UW_01, use knowledge from various disciplines of the humanities to creatively identify, formulate and solve complex problems or perform research tasks in a creative way, and in particular define the purpose and subject of research in the field of humanities, properly develop research methods, techniques and tools and creatively use of them; formulate a research hypothesis and draw conclusions based on the results of scientific research.

UW_02, make a critical analysis and evaluation of the results of scientific research, expert activities and other works of a creative nature and their contribution to the development of knowledge.
UK_03, participate in scientific discourse within the humanities.
UK_04, initiate a debate.

Student is ready to:
K_K01, identify his/her knowledge and skills
K_K02, recognize deficiencies in his/her knowledge and skills and seeking the possibility of removing these deficiencies.
K_K04 notice and formulate ethical problems related to one’s own research work and responsibility to colleagues and other members of society, as well as to being active in solving these problems.
K_K05 actively participate in social and cultural life; is interested in innovative philosophical concepts in connection with other parts of cultural and social life and encourages the implementation of these concepts.

KK_02, critically assessing one’s own contribution to the development of a given scientific discipline and conducting discussions, formulating substantive arguments, expressing one’s arguments with respect for others, shows an attitude of openness to the type of reflection appropriate for various humanities, with respect for different views.
KK_03, recognizing the priority of knowledge in solving research, cognitive and practical problems within the disciplines of the humanities, respecting the standards of work and scientific debate.

Assessment criteria

Active participation, preparing introduction to the discussion

Number of absences: 2

Bibliography

W. Osiatyński, Prawa człowieka i ich granice, tłum.. S. Kowalski, Kraków 2011.
M. Piechowiak, Filozofia praw człowieka. Prawa człowieka w świetle ich międzynarodowej ochrony, Lublin 1999.
J. Rawls, Prawo ludów, tłum. M. Kozłowski, Warszawa 2001.
M. Freeman, Prawa człowieka, Warszawa 2007
J. Mandle, Globalna sprawiedliwość, tłum. M. Dera, Warszawa 2009.
W. Morawski, Konfiguracje globalne, PWN, Warszawa 2010.
P. Singer, Jeden świat, tłum. C. Cieślinski, Warszawa 2006.
T. Narrdin, D.R. Mapel, Traditions of International Ethics, Cambridge 1992.
J. Millum, E.J. Emanuel, Global Justice and Bioethics, Oxford 2012.
A. Sen, Rozwój i wolność, tłum. J. Łoziński, Poznań 2002.

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3800-EMPC23-S-OG in USOSweb