Dept Sem:Human Rights btw EW

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Are human rights universal or are they a Western product? Does the United Declaration of Human Rights represent a universal consensus among cultures or an imposition by the West on the rest of the world? What are the origins of the idea of human rights? Can human rights, or similar ideas, be found in all traditions of thought? In this course, students study the philosophical conception of human rights and the cultural debates surrounding it. They consider challenges leveled against the declared universalism of human rights. They assess these challenges from the perspective of two non-western traditions: Islam and Confucianism.