HR100 Lecture 1: Lecture 1_ Human Rights 1
Friday, January 5th, 2018
HR 100
Dr. Robinson
Lecture 1: Human Rights 1
●What does it mean to say that the process of defining human rights is inherently political?
Human Rights
●UN World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna Conference) (1993)
○HR are universal
○HR apply everywhere on earth to all human beings
○Cultural, religious and political differences need to be taken into account when
determining human rights
●“The process of defining human rights is political.”
○The process is inherently political
○Political=polis (greek root word)
○Polis= community
○Matters that are political include making rules for the community
○Matter of debate, discussion, and decision
●What if human rights were not political?
○They would be set and nature
○Using reason we would just know what human rights entails
●Tautology
○When you try to define a term in a definition
●Simple Definition: the rights one has because one is human
○Which rights though?
○What does it mean to be human?
■Homospemiens
○Age/ maturity differences?
○Why humans matter at all?
○Slave, caste, class, racially divided societies, etc.
●Barbarians” are not considered human??
○According to philosophers they should be considered more human than most
because humans are naturally selfish and violent
○According to the bible, and many religions, humans are born into sin
●Understanding of their experience of humanity?
○Liberal democratic
■To be human who experiences humanity is to be independent and self
sufficient
○Communitarian
Document Summary
Un world conference on human rights (vienna conference) (1993) Hr apply everywhere on earth to all human beings. Cultural, religious and political differences need to be taken into account when determining human rights. The process of defining human rights is political. Matters that are political include making rules for the community. Using reason we would just know what human rights entails. When you try to define a term in a definition. Simple definition: the rights one has because one is human. Slave, caste, class, racially divided societies, etc. According to philosophers they should be considered more human than most because humans are naturally selfish and violent. According to the bible, and many religions, humans are born into sin. To be human who experiences humanity is to be independent and self sufficient. To understand what it means to be human is to understand that humans are apart of a community and to be apart of a community.