Adam Etinson

Human rights have a rich life in the world around us. Political rhetoric pays tribute to them, or scorns them. Citizens and activists strive for them. The law enshrines them. And they live inside us too. For many of us, human rights form part of how we understand the world and what must (or must not) be done within it.

The ubiquity of human rights raises questions for the philosopher. If we want to understand these rights, where do we look? As a set of moral norms, it is tempting to think they can be grasped strictly from the armchair, say, by appeal to moral intuition. But what, if anything, can that kind of inquiry tell us about the human rights of contemporary politics, law, and civil society — that is, human rights as we ordinarily know them?

This volume brings together a distinguished, interdisciplinary group of scholars to address philosophical questions raised by the many facets of human rights: moral, legal, political, and historical. Its original chapters, each accompanied by a critical commentary, explore topics including: the purpose and methods of a philosophical theory of human rights; the "Orthodox-Political" debate; the relevance of history to philosophy; the relationship between human rights morality and law; and the value of political critiques of human rights.

---

"A rich collection of focussed dialogues — a provocative gift for teaching — in which the lively ferment over human rights in recent years is deepened, often by becoming refreshingly interdisciplinary, and exciting new formulations are proposed by a diverse range of leading scholars." - Henry Shue, author of Basic Rights (1996)

"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights may be the single most influential document of the twentieth century, but is also one of the most controversial. In Human Rights: Moral or Political? Adam Etinson has brought together more than 30 leading legal, political, historical and philosophical commentators on human rights to discuss one anothers claims. The authors range from those who see human rights as successors to natural rights, so as providing universal moral standards, to those who see human rights as positive legal and political instruments that are changing the international order... this collection is seriously and usefully critical not only on these fundamental issues, but also on knotty questions about specific rights, about principles of legal interpretation and about the limits of juridification." - Onora O'Neill, author of Justice Across Boundaries: Whose Obligations? (2016) and winner of the 2017 Berggruen Prize

"This is an impressive collection of essays by outstanding human rights scholars from a variety of disciplines. It is certain to make a lasting impact on contemporary thinking about human rights. Taking off from the current debate on the proper status of human rights as "orthodox" or "political," the essays in this volume not only move this important debate forward but also enable a genuine dialogue across disciplines on fundamental philosophical, political and legal questions surrounding human rights and human rights practice. The collection thus excellently represents the depth and scope of engagement across disciplinary boundaries that understanding human rights in all their complexity requires. It will be mandatory reading for anyone interested in the past, present and future of human rights." - Cristina Lafont, author of Global Governance and Human Rights (2012)

"Those of us whose work is focused on 'applied' human rights in law, politics, or ethics may nevertheless experience a need for fundamental reflection on the 'big' philosophical questions regarding human rights. Such craving can now be satisfied with a single book. With no less than 30 chapters and an unseen concentration of stars of the philosophical and other firmaments, it can also be read as a sample book, introducing readers to different ways of philosophical rights reasoning. The majority of the chapters engage in discussions at a very abstract or general level. While this may be off-putting to the practical-minded, it also guarantees relevance across the entire field of human rights scholarship, regardless of disciplines, jurisdictions and thematic specialisations." - Eva Brems, Professor of Human Rights Law, University of Gent

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Adam Etinson, "Introduction"

I. THE RELEVANCE OF HISTORY

1) Martti Koskenniemi, “Rights, History, Critique”

Commentator: Annabel Brett

2) Samuel Moyn, “Human Rights in Heaven”

Commentator: John Tasioulas

General Commentator: Jeff Flynn

II. THE ORTHODOX-POLITICAL DEBATE

3) Jeremy Waldron, “Human Rights: A Critique of the Raz/Rawls Approach”

Commentator: Joseph Raz

4) James W. Nickel, “Assigning Roles to Human Rights”

Commentator: Adam Etinson

5) Andrea Sangiovanni, “A Third Account of Human Rights: The Broad View”

Commentator: Rainer Forst

III. MORALITY AND LAW

6) Allen Buchanan & Gopal Sreenivasan, “Taking International Legality Seriously: a Methodology for Human Rights”

Commentator: Erasmus Mayr

7) Andreas Follesdal, “The Margin of Appreciation”

Commentator: George Letsas

8) Matthias Kumm, “Institutionalizing a Right to Justification: Three puzzling features of global human rights practice and how to make moral sense of them”

Commentator: Samantha Besson

V. THE CHALLENGE OF POLITICS

11) C.A.J. Coady, “The Hazards of Rescue”

Commentator: Vasuki Nesiah

12) Pablo Gilabert, “Reflections on Human Rights and Power”

Commentator: Elizabeth Frazer

VI. HUMAN RIGHTS, BORDERS, AND POLITICAL COMMUNITIES

13) Peter Jones, “Human Rights and the Right to Collective Self-Determination”

Commentator: Will Kymlicka

14) Stephen J. Macedo, “Self-Determination, Borders, and Democratic Exclusion”

Commentator: Seyla Benhabib