Description and Objectives

In this course, we explore the historical development and the philosophical content of a concept that dominates modern political discourse: “rights.” What are rights? Where do they come from? What purpose do they serve? And how do they relate to duties?

Textbooks

Primary and secondary source materials selected and edited by Mr. Grannis.

Course Requirements

You should expect daily reading assignments of 2,000 to 4,000 words, daily (or at least frequent) low-stakes quizzes, and two unit tests per quarter. Your quarterly grades will be based on your performance on quizzes and tests, the quality of your class participation, and any extra-credit projects you complete. Quizzes will test your retrieval based on the readings, but most unit tests will be open-note, so take good notes. There will be a comprehensive final examination.

Successful Students

The successful student will come to class prepared, listen attentively to the lecture material, and participate constructively in class discussion. He will be acutely aware of his own fallibility, which will make him humble about his own opinions, moderate in his language, and eager to learn from others. He will be charitable in his presuppositions about others and his interpretations of what they say and do, and this will make him very slow to take offense. At the same time, he will love truth enough to be courageous about defending it even when he stands alone in his opinion. Needless to say, he will be courageous enough to listen at least as much as he speaks. Such a student will be successful not just in this course but throughout his happy life.

Additional Resources

If you need any help understanding the material after we have gone over it in class, please contact me right away so that we can get to the root of the misunderstanding and provide additional practice or instruction where appropriate.