Description
An introduction to questions in applied ethics and philosophy of law about human and animal dignity, and the prohibition on degrading treatment and punishment.
We explore conceptions of dignity and degradation, and examine the characteristics and any wrong inherent in degrading treatment and punishment, as imposed upon prisoners, people held in detention centres, people with dementia and other disabilities, and non-human animals.
The course includes readings in applied ethics, jurisprudence and international human rights law.
The course will include lectures on the following ten topics:
- Distinctions: torture, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment
- Degrading treatment and punishment
- Corporal punishment and bodily searches
- Kantian dignity and respect for persons: Korsgaard, Wood, Parfit, Kerstein
- Contemporary accounts of dignity: Waldron, Rosen, Hill
- Advocates of human dignity: Velleman, Nussbaum, Margalit
- Scepticism about human dignity: Sangiovanni, Rosen, McMahan
- Unawareness: the dignity of people with advanced Dementia
- Dignity and disability
- Non-human animals: the ethics of captivity
Philosophy Area B
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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