Das Department für Philosophie an der Universität Utrecht sucht einen Postdoc für das Projekt: Human Dignity as the Foundation of Human Rights? Deadline für Bewerbungen ist der 27. Januar 2013 und alle Infos findet ihr unter dem Strich.

Stellenausschreibung / Job offer

The Department of Philosophy of Utrecht University is looking for:

1 Postdoc Researcher (1,0 fte)

The position is part of the research project ‘Human Dignity as the Foundation of Human Rights?’ which is a five year philosophical project on the question to what extent the foundational role of human dignity in the human rights framework can be justified. The project is funded by NWO.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) articulates that human dignity is the reason why we must grant rights to all human beings. By adopting the UDHR, nearly all countries in the world have committed themselves to respect for human dignity. But the concept of human dignity raises numerous questions: Who has dignity? All and only members of the human species? What specific moral obligations follow from the attribution of dignity? How can human dignity provide a foundation for human rights? Is the concept exclusively recognised by Western culture or are there reasons for expecting universal acceptability?

The core meaning of the concept, its historical roots and its philosophical justification are insufficiently understood. This generates an urgent problem because references to human dignity increasingly play a crucial role in debates on bioethics, new technologies and globalization while there is widespread suspicion that references to human dignity merely have a rhetorical function.

In the programme, the research group as a whole will attempt to reconstruct the core meaning and normative content of the concept of human dignity in current discourses. In order to bring this about, researchers are expected to work in relevant philosopical subdisciplines such as normative ethics, political philosophy or philosophy of law. Also, each researcher in the group will work on a specific theme within the overall programme. The content of the themes has not yet been fixed: applicants are invited to submit their own proposals. Some plausible themes are bioethics, global justice and future generations. The work on these specific themes should in turn contribute to the overarching theoretical analysis. This structure will motivate intensive cooperation within the research group.

Application procedure

We are looking for a talented and dedicated young researcher with a strong PhD and proven research skills in a relevant area of philosophy, who is willing to work in an active team. Fluency in English is required.

We offer a full-time position, consisting of an initial period of 24 months which, after a satisfactory evaluation, will be extended by another 12 months (3 years in total). The salary starts from €2,977,- gross per month (Scale 10, 11 Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities).

Applications should contain the following:

– an application letter (max. 1 page)

– a curriculum vitae

– an outline that shows how you would fill in your project and position within the overall programme (max. 1 page)

Applications should be submitted online via:  http://www.uu.nl/NL/Informatie/sollicitanten/Pages/vacatures.aspx .

The deadline for applications is January 27, 2013.

The full text of the proposal can be downloaded from:

http://www.uu.nl/faculty/humanities/NL/Onderzoek/onderzoekinstituten/zeno/actueel/Pages/20110713-32-583-563-human-dignity.aspx . Regarding the proposal, it should be noted that the description of the individual projects is outdated: as said candidates are now free to submit their own project proposal, as long as they can show how it fits within, and contributes to, the overall programme.

For other questions please contact S.vanVliet@uu.nl