Course: Human, Civil and Natural Rights

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Course title Human, Civil and Natural Rights
Course code KPF/N012
Organizational form of instruction Lecture
Level of course Master
Year of study 1
Semester Winter
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Šmíd Jan, PhDr. Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
1. Human, civil and natural rights in general. 2. Natural and positive right: human nature and natural rights opposing legal positivism. 3. The historical overview of the topic: - The origin of the idea of human rights - Classical human rights - Modern human rights a) Hobbes, b) Locke - The crisis of modern human rights) Rousseau, b) Burke - The issue of human rights in the Czech spiritual tradition (Komárková, Trojan, Hejdánek). 4. Documents (Magna Carta, Virginia Declaration of Rights, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union). 5. Human Rights Foundation: a) culture of universalism, b) inalienability as a response to the "challenge of the future" (Trojan, Hejdánek). 6. Human dignity. 7. Are human rights natural?

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified
Learning outcomes
The course will be focused on ideological preconditions of human rights. It will be also focused on the question, whether human rights, which are unlike civil rights inalienable, are considered to be natural rights. It will be a philosophical analysis of that phenomenon, which will not leave out the point of view that human rights "do not exist". Finally, students will get acquainted with the basic documents relevant to human rights.
Learning outcomes: students will acquire the following academic knowledge: -can systematically interpret particular issues and illustrate the links with individual thinkers or historical epochs - can present a foreign language text (about 20 pages) on the issue and confront it critically with a primary text. - understand the various documents related to human rights and compare them.
Prerequisites
None.

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
To obtain an exam: the oral defense of a written work and answering one question in presented topics. The knowledge of the various documents on human rights is required. Written work must have a minimum of 8 pages (about 15,000 characters including spaces) and must be based on the presented topics and at least two texts (primary and secondary foreign language text). The topic will be approved by the lecturer in advance.
Recommended literature
  • Benoist Alain de. Za horizontem lidských práv. Martin, 2019. ISBN 978-80-973292-4-2.
  • Göller, Th. (vyd.). Philosophie der Menschenrechte. Methodologie, Geschichte, kultureller Kontext. Göttingen, 1999.
  • Habermas, J. K ustavení Evropy. Praha, 2013. ISBN 978-80-7007-391-9.
  • Havlíček, A. Lidská a přirozená práva v dějinách. Ústí n. Labem, 2014. ISBN 978-80-7414-620-6.
  • Holländer, P. Filosofie práva. Plzeň, 2012. ISBN 978-80-7380-366-7.
  • Komárková, B.. Původ a význam lidských práv. Praha, 1990.
  • Pollmann Arnd, Lohmann Georg, eds. Ľudské práva Interdisciplinárna príručka. Bratislava, 2017. ISBN 978-80-8101-960-9.
  • Sousedík, S. Svoboda a lidská práva. Praha, 2010.
  • Strauss, L. Natural Rights and History. Chicago, 1952.
  • Šejvl Michal. Lidská práva jako subjektivní práva. Praha, 2017. ISBN 978-80-87439-32-6.
  • Trojan, J. S. Idea lidských práv v české duchovní tradici. Praha, 2003. ISBN 80-7298-044-0.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Education Study plan (Version): Teaching Social Sciences for Secondary Schools (A14) Category: Philosophy, theology 1 Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: Winter
Faculty: Faculty of Science Study plan (Version): Teaching Social Sciences for Secondary Schools (A14) Category: Philosophy, theology 1 Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: Winter
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Political Philosophy (A14) Category: Social sciences 2 Recommended year of study:2, Recommended semester: Winter
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Teaching Social Sciences for Middle School (Two-Subject Combination) (A14) Category: Philosophy, theology 1 Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: Winter
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Social Sciences (Two-Subject Combination) (A14) Category: Philosophy, theology 1 Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: Winter