View Specification DocumentPhilosophy of Human Rights Law LAW4205
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Law
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Semester 1
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
The course covers the philosophy of (or dealing with) international human rights law. It introduces philosophical and interdisciplinary frameworks to analyse human rights law. Among these approaches are moral accounts, political approaches, approaches focusing on the institutional context, mixed accounts, and critical accounts adopting feminist, queer, and Marxist perspectives. Each account will be introduced in relation to a key normative concern it raises and responds to.
Timetable
10 two-hour seminars.
Requirements of Entry
This course is only available to LLB students.
Some knowledge of human rights law is recommended. Courses that would be suitable to provide such a basis include: European Human Rights Law, Human Rights Systems: Law and Legitimacy, Public International Law and Human Rights, Public International Law.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
One 5000 word essay on a topic of the student's choice, which may build on the 'Questions to Consider' outlined in the course document for each seminar.
Course Aims
The course aims to equip students to situate human rights law and institutions within their philosophical contexts. It exposes students to a wide range of theoretical and interdisciplinary frameworks that critically evaluate human rights law. The course also hones transferable skills of formulating effective philosophical questions and arguments about a legal topic. It encourages students to practice epistemic humility, to recognise and understand the limits to our own knowledge and how this might influence analysis and interpretation of questions on justice and human rights.
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Distinguish between legal and philosophical questions about human rights
■ Situate human rights law within their philosophical context
■ Effectively formulate and present philosophical arguments about human rights
■ Explain at least one theoretical framework that critically evaluates human rights law in depth
■ Understand the limits to our own knowledge and how this might influence analysis and interpretation of human rights law