Human Rights: Origins and Justification - Part 2: Replies to Objections

How did our notion of universal human rights arise? And how can we justify them? In this two-part talk, Leslie Allan will articulate and defend the theory that our idea of human rights arose as a response to abject suffering. Using case studies from history, he will show how our system of human rights requires no divine or non-natural justification, being grounded instead in our basic human needs for security and happiness. In the second part the following week, he will deal with objections to this consequentialist view.