Cultural Foundations and Mythological Nature of Human Rights

Abstract

The author claims that the concept of human rights arose on European soil as a result ofcertain cultural, political, and economic factors. Its primary base is formed by Christianideas, secularized with the dissolution of feudalism and the spread of capitalism. Inparticular, this concept synthesized the Christian ideas of God’s likeness of man and theomnipresence of God: being god-like, man, like God, may be present in all things, thoughnot in all at once. The main beneficiary was the bourgeoisie, who used personal rights todestroy feudal institutions, political rights to establish control over the state, and economicand social rights to mitigate class contradictions and distract their opponents. The religiousorigin of rights is the key to understanding their important features such as the absence oflogical basis for human rights; helplessness of the law in front of acts that undermine thefoundations of order and are marked as acts of self-realization; extraordinary diversity ofrights, etc. There are several directions of human rights criticism (conservative, moderateliberal, Marxist and Christian). All of them assume that human rights neither adequatelyreflect human nature, nor take into account some of its aspects. Indeed, man is not only anindividual seeking to choose, but also a member of a collective who needs a recognition(conservatism); a being alienated from labor and racial life (Marxism); a believer seekingto avoid sin (early Christianity) and obedient to divine will (Islam); a being who suffersfrom constant suffering and seeks to be saved from it (Buddhism); a victim of civilization,oppressed by the flow of information and the need for constant choice This inadequacyentails a destructive effect: the concept of rights creates a monochrome picture, on which,the human existence is reduced to act of will; gives rise to logical contradictions; destroysreality, monopolizing the axiological basis of cooperation; is used as a tool of submission and domination; creates an absolute justa causa; alienates from existence and formsthe basis for other levels of the mythological structure. The history of human rights is notcomplete: It seems that today humanity is on the eve of fundamental transformations,whose content and final result are difficult to predict.