Human Rights: Moral or Political? (eBook)

Over the past decade or so, philosophical speculation about human rights has tended to fall into two streams. On the one hand, there are "e;Orthodox"e; theorists, who think of human rights as natural rights: moral rights that we have simply in virtue of being human. On the other hand, there are "e;Political"e; theorists, who think of human rights as rights that play a distinctive role, or set of roles, in modern international politics: setting universal standards ofpolitical legitimacy, serving as norms of international concern, and/or imposing limits on the exercise of national sovereignty. This edited volume explores this disagreement, its underlying sources, and related issues in the philosophy of human rights. Using the Orthodox-Political debate as a springboard for broader reflection, the volume covers a diverse range of questions about: the relevance of the history of human rights to their philosophical comprehension; how to properly understand the relationship between human rights morality and law; how to balance the normative character of human rights - their description ofan ideal world - with the requirement that they be feasible in the here and now; the role of human rights in a world shaped by politics and power; and how to reconcile the individualistic and communitarian aspects of human rights. All chapters are accompanied by useful and probing commentaries, which help to create dialogues throughout the entire volume.