This module explores the nature and foundations of international obligations. It asks what we owe to people in other countries, and what they can demand of us as a matter of right. Questions to be addressed include the following: Who owes what to the very poor? Are citizens of affluent countries complicit in the creation and maintenance of world poverty? Does justice demand the elimination of global inequality? What human rights do we have? When is international trade unfair? Do states have a right to close their borders to outsiders? Under what conditions (if any) is it permissible to wage war? What are the poor and oppressed permitted to do in order to alleviate their plight? We will address these questions by considering the answers that they have received in important recent works of normative political philosophy.
The module aims to provide students with an understanding of central philosophical debates about global justice and human rights, and to develop their critical, analytical, and deliberative capacities. Students will learn to critically asses the arguments they encounter, to adjudicate between competing philosophical positions, and to develop and defend their own views, both orally and in writing.
The module aims to provide students with an understanding of central philosophical debates about global justice and human rights, and to develop their critical, analytical, and deliberative capacities. Students will learn to critically asses the arguments they encounter, to adjudicate between competing philosophical positions, and to develop and defend their own views, both orally and in writing.