AP/HREQ 4450 6.00
Theories of Rights and Equity: Advanced Perspectives
This course uses a critical human rights approach to examine, at an advanced level, issues in social theory and philosophy with a focus on equity. Students explore the relationship between these foundational theories and contemporary practices of rights and equity.
We will explore Human Rights not only as a concept that presumes that all people ‘are born free and equal in dignity and rights’ but how scholars approach the issue of rights. The term human rights is generally taken to mean what Locke and his successors meant by natural rights: namely, rights (entitlements) held simply by virtue of being a person (human being). The problem of rights cannot be considered independently without our reasons for examining particular issues. There is a distinction between “innate” or “moral” rights and rights in positive law. This course examines the unique character of Equity’s contribution to law and how Equity captures a fundamental distinction between legal and equitable rights. We explore how Aristotle at the Foundations of the Law of Equity helps build a theory relating to equity. Together, the historical foundations of the Human Rights perspective is discussed within a theoretical understanding of equity.
Course credit exclusion: Prior to Fall/Winter 2019: AP/HREQ 4450 6.00 – Social Theories and Human Rights
Prerequisites: 78 credits including AP/HREQ 1010 6.00 (prior to 2019, AP/HREQ 2010 6.00), AP/HREQ 2030 6.00, AP/HREQ 3010 6.00, and AP/HREQ 3100 6.00 or permission from the Undergraduate Program Director.