INAUGURAL LECTURE 2011-12

Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights

by
Professor John Tasioulas 
Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, UCL Faculty of Laws

Chaired by The Rt Hon Baroness O'Neill

on Thursday 19 January 2012, from 6-7/7.15pm

A drinks reception will follow the lecture in the South Cloisters

Venue:
UCL Cruciform Lecture Theatre 1
UCL Central Campus
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT 

Accredited with 1 CPD hour by the
Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board (Pending)

About this lecture:
In recent decades, the discourse of human rights has come to play an increasingly prominent role in our public life, both within the law and beyond. Yet the nature of human rights, and the grounds on which we are entitled to assert their existence, remain matters of deep controversy. Is the idea of a human right fundamentally continuous with the older notion of a natural right, or does it represent a distinctively post-1948 innovation? Are human rights best understood in terms of some political function, such as benchmarks of governmental legitimacy or triggers for intervention? Are they grounded in the interests of their possessors, or do they have a basis that is independent of any conception of the human good? The lecture will try to show how philosophical reflection can shed light on these questions, responding in part to recent philosophical work on human rights.
 

About the speaker: 
John Tasioulas has been Quain Professor of Jurisprudence in the Faculty of Laws, University College London, since January 1st, 2011. He received degrees in philosophy and law from the University of Melbourne and a D.Phil in Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Prior to his appointment at UCL he was a Reader in Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford and for twelve years a Fellow in Philosophy at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He has also taught at the universities of Melbourne and Glasgow and has held visiting appointments at Melbourne and the Australian National University. He has published on a wide range of topics in moral, legal and political philosophy. His work has appeared in journals such as Ethics, European Journal of International Law, European Journal of Philosophy, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and the Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. His more recent research, which has been supported by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, has focussed on philosophical issues in human rights, punishment and international law. He is the co-editor of The Philosophy of International Law (OUP, 2010)