ENGLISH

The Philosophy of Human Rights: Contemporary Controversies

By Jan-Christoph Heilinger , Gerhard Ernst

Book information

Publisher
de Gruyter
Year
2011
ISBN
3110263394, 9783110263398
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
989 kB (1013183 bytes)
Pages
270\272
Time added
2020-12-17 16:15:11

Description

The notion of “human rights” is widely used in political and moral discussions. The core idea, that all human beings have some inalienable basic rights, is appealing and has an eminently practical function: It allows moral criticism of various wrongs and calls for action in order to prevent them. On the other hand it is unclear what exactly a human right is. Human rights lack a convincing conceptual foundation that would be able to compel the wrong-doer to accept human rights claims as well-founded. Hence the practical function faces theoretical doubts. The present collection takes up the tension between the wide political use of human rights claims and the intellectual skepticism about them. In particular two major issues are identified that call for conceptual clarification in order to better understand human rights claims both in theory and in practice: the question of how to justify human rights and the tension between universal normative claims and particular moralities.

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