Programme

The course takes as its focus the relationships between theories of human rights, concerned with guiding action, and theories about human rights, concerned with foundational questions. In particular the course examines the theory of autonomy, vulnerability, recognition and social justice by Axel Honneth. There is general agreement about the fact that liberal-democratic societies are based on normative principles, which require legal provisions to ensure that governments do not violate anyone’s fundamental rights. Yet, partially on account of the complexity of the ongoing overlapping global processes of integration, deregulation and reform, partially on account of the influence of anti-foundational critique (deconstruction; postmodernism; relativism), these widely accepted principles seem to have lost much of their original explanatory and prescriptive force. Against those who claimed that this problem consists in a mere temporal delay between philosophical investigation and practical application Honneth argued that more is needed than time, hope and persistence to transform theoretically developed principles of freedom and justice into guidelines for political action. In his view the normative principles at the hearth of the human rights discourse are formulated in a manner that prevents us from deriving guidelines for political action. The course will examine the ethical model provided by Honneth for the purpose of situating his theory of social justice as recognition in the analysis of the variety of historically determined institutional instances and practices that embody existentially significant claims to self-realization.

This course is taught in English.

Core Documentation

Honneth, A., Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life (2011), translated by J. Ganahl, Polity Press, Cambridge 2014 .

Type of delivery of the course

Class proceedings consist of inter-active lectures based upon the use of the ‘Socratic method’. Each session introduces the students to a specific topic through expository and exegetical work. The instructor will draw attention to the key points in the texts on the basis of adequate contextualization, and to difficulties of interpretation. The instructor will also refer to the key issues in current debates through relevant examples, cases and comparisons. Each session, for which students have read materials previously assigned, requires active participation. Debating is an indispensable feature of class proceedings. The possible contribution by one or two qualified guest-lecturers will be sought and audio-video materials will be employed for support.

Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory.

Type of evaluation

The final grade for the course is the result of three components: first essay-questions assignment (30%); second essay-questions assignment (30%); final oral exam (40%).

Programme

The course takes as its focus the relationships between theories of human rights, concerned with guiding action, and theories about human rights, concerned with foundational questions. In particular the course examines the theory of autonomy, vulnerability, recognition and social justice by Axel Honneth. There is general agreement about the fact that liberal-democratic societies are based on normative principles, which require legal provisions to ensure that governments do not violate anyone’s fundamental rights. Yet, partially on account of the complexity of the ongoing overlapping global processes of integration, deregulation and reform, partially on account of the influence of anti-foundational critique (deconstruction; postmodernism; relativism), these widely accepted principles seem to have lost much of their original explanatory and prescriptive force. Against those who claimed that this problem consists in a mere temporal delay between philosophical investigation and practical application Honneth argued that more is needed than time, hope and persistence to transform theoretically developed principles of freedom and justice into guidelines for political action. In his view the normative principles at the hearth of the human rights discourse are formulated in a manner that prevents us from deriving guidelines for political action. The course will examine the ethical model provided by Honneth for the purpose of situating his theory of social justice as recognition in the analysis of the variety of historically determined institutional instances and practices that embody existentially significant claims to self-realization.

This course is taught in English.

Core Documentation

Honneth, A., Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life (2011), translated by J. Ganahl, Polity Press, Cambridge 2014 .

Type of delivery of the course

Class proceedings consist of inter-active lectures based upon the use of the ‘Socratic method’. Each session introduces the students to a specific topic through expository and exegetical work. The instructor will draw attention to the key points in the texts on the basis of adequate contextualization, and to difficulties of interpretation. The instructor will also refer to the key issues in current debates through relevant examples, cases and comparisons. Each session, for which students have read materials previously assigned, requires active participation. Debating is an indispensable feature of class proceedings. The possible contribution by one or two qualified guest-lecturers will be sought and audio-video materials will be employed for support.

Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory.

Type of evaluation

The final grade for the course is the result of three components: first essay-questions assignment (30%); second essay-questions assignment (30%); final oral exam (40%).

Programme

The course takes as its focus the relationships between theories of human rights, concerned with guiding action, and theories about human rights, concerned with foundational questions. In particular the course examines the theory of autonomy, vulnerability, recognition and social justice by Axel Honneth. There is general agreement about the fact that liberal-democratic societies are based on normative principles, which require legal provisions to ensure that governments do not violate anyone’s fundamental rights. Yet, partially on account of the complexity of the ongoing overlapping global processes of integration, deregulation and reform, partially on account of the influence of anti-foundational critique (deconstruction; postmodernism; relativism), these widely accepted principles seem to have lost much of their original explanatory and prescriptive force. Against those who claimed that this problem consists in a mere temporal delay between philosophical investigation and practical application Honneth argued that more is needed than time, hope and persistence to transform theoretically developed principles of freedom and justice into guidelines for political action. In his view the normative principles at the hearth of the human rights discourse are formulated in a manner that prevents us from deriving guidelines for political action. The course will examine the ethical model provided by Honneth for the purpose of situating his theory of social justice as recognition in the analysis of the variety of historically determined institutional instances and practices that embody existentially significant claims to self-realization.

This course is taught in English.

Core Documentation

Honneth, A., Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life (2011), translated by J. Ganahl, Polity Press, Cambridge 2014 .

Type of delivery of the course

Class proceedings consist of inter-active lectures based upon the use of the ‘Socratic method’. Each session introduces the students to a specific topic through expository and exegetical work. The instructor will draw attention to the key points in the texts on the basis of adequate contextualization, and to difficulties of interpretation. The instructor will also refer to the key issues in current debates through relevant examples, cases and comparisons. Each session, for which students have read materials previously assigned, requires active participation. Debating is an indispensable feature of class proceedings. The possible contribution by one or two qualified guest-lecturers will be sought and audio-video materials will be employed for support.

Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory.

Type of evaluation

The final grade for the course is the result of three components: first essay-questions assignment (30%); second essay-questions assignment (30%); final oral exam (40%).

Programme

The course takes as its focus the relationships between theories of human rights, concerned with guiding action, and theories about human rights, concerned with foundational questions. In particular the course examines the theory of autonomy, vulnerability, recognition and social justice by Axel Honneth. There is general agreement about the fact that liberal-democratic societies are based on normative principles, which require legal provisions to ensure that governments do not violate anyone’s fundamental rights. Yet, partially on account of the complexity of the ongoing overlapping global processes of integration, deregulation and reform, partially on account of the influence of anti-foundational critique (deconstruction; postmodernism; relativism), these widely accepted principles seem to have lost much of their original explanatory and prescriptive force. Against those who claimed that this problem consists in a mere temporal delay between philosophical investigation and practical application Honneth argued that more is needed than time, hope and persistence to transform theoretically developed principles of freedom and justice into guidelines for political action. In his view the normative principles at the hearth of the human rights discourse are formulated in a manner that prevents us from deriving guidelines for political action. The course will examine the ethical model provided by Honneth for the purpose of situating his theory of social justice as recognition in the analysis of the variety of historically determined institutional instances and practices that embody existentially significant claims to self-realization.

This course is taught in English.

Core Documentation

Honneth, A., Freedom’s Right. The Social Foundations of Democratic Life (2011), translated by J. Ganahl, Polity Press, Cambridge 2014 .

Type of delivery of the course

Class proceedings consist of inter-active lectures based upon the use of the ‘Socratic method’. Each session introduces the students to a specific topic through expository and exegetical work. The instructor will draw attention to the key points in the texts on the basis of adequate contextualization, and to difficulties of interpretation. The instructor will also refer to the key issues in current debates through relevant examples, cases and comparisons. Each session, for which students have read materials previously assigned, requires active participation. Debating is an indispensable feature of class proceedings. The possible contribution by one or two qualified guest-lecturers will be sought and audio-video materials will be employed for support.

Attendance

Class attendance is mandatory.

Type of evaluation

The final grade for the course is the result of three components: first essay-questions assignment (30%); second essay-questions assignment (30%); final oral exam (40%).