Philosophical foundations of human rights

Abstract

This chapter presents and analyzes philosophical contributions to the theory and practice of human rights. More specifi cally, I will focus on attempts to justify human rights as a universally valid moral doctrine in a culturally and politically diverse and complex world. The task of seeking to identify and formulate an ultimate justifi cation for a commitment to human rights is complex and has attracted consistent criticism. Many supporters of human rights have argued that institutionally established human rights require no ultimate justifi cation: the very fact that they have been legally recognized and implemented is suffi cient evidence in support of human rights claims. Others have also declined an appeal to philosophical reasoning and argumentation in their commitment to human rights and have argued that we have human rights simply by virtue of being human. As Jack Donnelly has stated, human rights “ are the rights one has because one is a human ” (2002, p. 7). Many advocates of human rights base their belief in the moral authority of human rights on such apparently self-evidently or intuitively true proclamations and rarely, if ever, subject these assumptions to critical scrutiny. Basing one’s belief in the moral authority of a doctrine as potentially controversial and revolutionary as human rights upon mere assumption provides a poor basis for defending one’s commitments in the face of skepticism or systematic opposition. There are many people in the world who simply do not believe in human rights. One of the major criticisms of human rights is that the ideals of individual liberty and equality, which are central elements of the foundations of human rights, simply do not apply to the cultural or religious traditions and practices to which they adhere. It is rare that such opponents reject all human rights to the same degree in such instances, but restrictions are commonly applied to the human rights of members of such societies that entail imposing severe restrictions upon the human rights of many. An inability to offer sound justifi cation for one’s commitments to protecting and promoting the individual liberty and equality of all human beings will further compound the human rights violations of many human beings, including, for example, many women across the globe, as well as those belonging to ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities.