you will be reading two texts and then participating in a discussion of these two chapters. The first is Chapter 2 “Feminist and Activist Approaches to Human Rights” (pages 28-40) in your textbook (Goodhart, Michael E., ed. Human rights: politics and practice. Oxford university press, 2016. (3rd edition). The second chapter is “The Diverse Political Origins of Human Rights” in Evidence for Hope by Kathryn Sikkink.
Thinking about your readings for today as well as what you have learned thus far in class please respond to two of the following three questions.
1. Compare the historical development of human rights thought as discussed in the Sikkink chapter to Chapter 1 in the Goodhart Textbook.
2. Do you see any commonalities between the feminist critique of human rights (as discussed in chapter 2 of Goodhart) with the cultural relativism critique (as discussed in chapter 1)? What are the similarities and differences in these two schools of thought?
3. In your opinion, which political and philosophical traditions contribute to human rights thought but were not adequately discussed in our readings for this class?
