Why Human Rights addresses universal human rights as moral mandates – rights to justice that all persons have by virtue of their humanity alone. These are not the legal rights of statutes and treaties, but moral rights of the kind Gandhi, King, and Mandela invoked to oppose unjust laws. All such rights presuppose three claims: (1) that some duties of justice apply universally, (2) that all human beings have equal moral significance, and (3) that states must protect or serve certain individual interests regardless of the societal impact of doing so.
Can these three premises be justified? Is the human equality claim, for example, rationally supportable, or is it no less faith-based than hierarchical doctrines like caste? This book explores the case for these foundational claims along with other philosophical controversies pertaining to human rights. Because these issues lie at the heart of moral and political philosophy, readers will also obtain a broad appreciation of these disciplines and their leading theorists, including Mill, Kant, Rawls, Sandel, Nozick, Rorty, and many others. Written in concise, jargon-free language, this book presents a high-relief map of the philosophical issues surrounding human rights.
Introduction
Part 1: Universality, Relativism, And Diversity
Chapter 1. How are human rights universal?
Chapter 2. Relativist objections
2.1. The relativist idea
2.2. The mirage of meta-ethical relativism
2.3. The futility of ethical relativism
Chapter 3. Diversity and indeterminacy
3.1. Context and indeterminacy
3.2. Downsizing the problem
Chapter 4. The limits of skepticism
4.1. Objectivity and its uses
4.2. The depleted alternative
4.3. The truth in these critiques
Part II: Human Equality and Moral Hierarchies
Chapter 5. Human moral equality: the claim and its challenges
Chapter 6. Theories of moral considerability
6.1. Intrinsic value
6.2. A religious ground: ensoulment
6.3. Secular theories
6.4. A comparative argument against moral status hierarchies
6.5. The capacity to have rights
Part III: Individual Rights and Collective Interests
Chapter 7. The domain of rights
7.1. The purpose of rights
7.2. The power of rights
7.3. Risks of rights
Chapter 8. Justifying rights
8.1. Bentham’s utilitarian objection to rights
8.2. Utilitarian approximations of rights
8.3. The appeal of non-consequentialist rights: an example
Chapter 9. Liberty, equality, and community: complements or competitors?
9.1. Liberalism
9.2. Libertarianism and redistribution
9.3. Communitarianism and autonomy
9.4. Autonomous and embedded selves: Sandel’s critique of Rawls
Biography
Eric Blumenson is a Research Professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. He writes in the fields of international human rights, criminal law, and moral philosophy.
“What are universal human rights? Can they be justified? In this highly engaging, powerfully argued, wide-ranging book, Eric Blumenson provides a superb overview of the relevant philosophical issues and develops trenchant critiques of competing philosophical views. For scholars and students interested in the theoretical foundations of universal human rights, this book is replete with penetrating insights and is also a true pleasure to read.”—Kenneth W. Simons, University of California, Irvine
"Whether or not you have pondered the issue of human rights, Eric Blumenson’s book is for you. In this remarkable work, Blumenson surveys and critiques the major schools of philosophical thought and then puts forth his own powerful synthesis." – Howard Gardner, Harvard University
“In this remarkable book, Blumenson tackles the hard questions surrounding human rights and universality, human dignity, and the tension between individual rights and communitarian perspectives. Students will be particularly grateful for the clarity and balance of his fresh approach to the more vexing conflicts posed by common claims of moral imperatives in a field where consensus is hard to come by.” -- Michael Meltsner, Northeastern University Law School
“Reconciling the philosophical foundations of moral status and the equality of persons with the broader, substantive application and understanding of human rights is an incredibly ambitious and difficult task. Blumenson takes up this project (and more) in a clear, compelling, rigorous, and honest way. I can't recommend this book highly enough for those with an interest in human rights and all that is required to best understand and defend them.” — John Basl, Northeastern University
