Two Traditions of Human Rights

Abstract

There are innumerable ways of disclosing and reflecting on the academic and practical fields of human rights. Today I will approach rights as tools or equipment for getting things done by individuals and groups in the multiplicity of relationships in which they find themselves. If we approach human rights from this perspective, then, I suggest, we can see at least two distinctive traditions of human rights: That is, two ways of thinking and acting with human rights in fields of relationships. These two traditions overlap and criss-cross in complex ways historically and in the present; in the academic literature and in practice. Nevertheless, I believe it is worthwhile to try to explicate their dissimilarities and the differences that these make in practice. This exercise helps us to understand more clearly the struggles both with and over human rights today.