Opacity of “Human Rights”

Moosavi Karimi, Seyed Masoud

doi:10.22096/hr.2020.118025.1181

Opacity of “Human Rights”

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Seyed Masoud Moosavi Karimi

Assistance Professor, Philosophy Dep., Mofid University, Qom, Iran

10.22096/hr.2020.118025.1181

Abstract

Human rights are of the basis for the local and international laws and bestow legitimacy on states. Furthermore, a vast number of theories in the field of humanities are evaluated based on their approaches to human rights. Despite widespread assumption that “human rights” is a clear and commonly accepted concept, in this article I show the opacity of human rights both conceptually and extensionally. Also, I explain that, as long as “human rights” is not clarified, the whole discussions on human rights in the fields of law, economics, politics and so on will be in vain, and the clarification of “human rights” is possible only under philosophical examination of this notion.

Keywords

Human Rights

The Concept of Human Rights

Conceptual Ambiguities of Human Rights

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Philosophical Criticism

Bibliography

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- Pinghua, Sun. “Pengchun Chang’s Contributions to the Drafting of the UDHR”. Journal of Civil & Legal Sciences. Vol. 5, Iss. 5 (January 2016): 209.

- Twiss, S. B. “Confucianism and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Historical and Philosophical Perspective”. in The World's Religions After September 11. Ed. Sharma, Arvind. vol. 2: Religion and Human Rights. Connecticut: Praeger/Greenwood, 2009.