1. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice Jack Donnelly--SE
Prepared by:
Dr. Caroline (Kay) Picart
Assistant Professor of English and Humanities
Courtesy Assistant Professor of Law

2. Aims To examine what does it mean to have a right
To analyze, even at a preliminary level, how does being human give rise to rights?

3. Question:
In what two senses/contexts do we use the word “right”?

4. Question
According to Donnelly, what are the three distinct forms of social interaction that involve rights?

5. Question
What are the special features of a “human right”?

6. Questions
Why are human rights “self-liquidating” and “extra-legal”?

7. Question
What is the source of human rights?

8. Question
In what ways are human rights a self-fulfilling prophecy?

9. Questions Who are the subjects of human rights?
How are these subjects implicitly characterized?

10. The Subjects of Human Rights
Donnelly argues that only individuals, not collective groups, have human rights.
Do you agree or disagree and why?

11. Discussion Question
Donnelly writes: “It is individuals, not groups, that have rights to food, health care, work, social security, due process, freedom of the press, protection against discrimination . . .” (p. 20)
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of this argument.

12. Question
What is Donnelly’s model for explaining human rights in relation to human nature?

13. Questions
List as many rights as you can that are part of the International Bill of Human Rights
Discuss the implications of these rights
How is the human body envisaged through these rights?

14. The Status of Economic/Social Rights
Economic/social rights are neither universal, practical, nor of paramount importance and “belong to a different logical category” –that is, they are not truly human rights. (p. 31)
Do you agree? Why or why not?

15. Question
“All human rights require both positive action and restraint on the part of the state. Furthermore, whether a right is relatively positive or negative usually depends on historically contingent circumstances.”
Give examples.

16. Question
Do “negative” civil and political rights deserve higher priority than “positive” economic and social rights?

17. Question
Is there such a thing as a “basic right”?

18. Question How does Donnelly assess these lists?
Do you agree or disagree and why?

19. Question
According to Donnelly, what are some of the problems in linking foreign policy with human rights?

20. Activity
What human rights are implicitly acknowledged by the Nazi propaganda short, The Fuehrer Gives a City to the Jews?

21. Source:
Donnelly, Jack. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1989.