Universal Human Rights: Moral Order in a Divided World(Philosophy and the Global Context)

Universal Human Rights brings new clarity to the important and highly contested concept universal human rights. The Charter of the United Nations commits nearly all nations of the world to promote, to realize and take action to achieve human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, yet this formal consensus masks an underlying confusion about the philosophical basis and practical implications of rights in a world made up of radically different national communities. This collection of essays explores the foundations of universal human rights in four sections devoted to their nature, application, enforcement and limits, concluding that shared rights help to constitute a universal human community, which supports local customs and separate state sovereignty. Rights protect the benefits of cultural diversity, while recognizing the universal dignity that every human life deserves. The eleven contributors to this volume demonstrate from their very different perspectives how human rights can help to bring moral order to an otherwise divided world.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I:The Nature of Human Rights
Chapter 3 The Structure of Arguments for Human Rights
Chapter 4 Human Rights: Constitutional and International
Chapter 5 Universalism and Relativism in Human Rights
Part 6 Part II:The Particular in Universal Human Rights
Chapter 7 Are Women Human? Feminist Reflections on "Women's Rights as Human Rights"
Chapter 8 Human Rights and the Ethic of Listening
Chapter 9 Rights Against Institutions: What Governments Should and Can Do
Part 10 Part III:Enforcing Universal Human Rights
Chapter 11 Human Rights and Humanitarian Intervention
Chapter 12 Genocide and Political Responsibility
Chapter 13 Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Sovereignty and the International Criminal Court
Part 14 Rights in Extremis
Chapter 15 Is Terrorism Ever Morally Permissible? An Inquiry into the Right to Life
Chapter 16 Thwarting Suicide Terrorists: The Locus of Moral Constraints and the (Ir)Relevance of "Human Rights"

David A. Reidy is assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Tennessee.

Mortimer N. S. Sellers is Regents Professor of the University System of Maryland and director of the Center for International & Comparative Law.

Although human rights discourse is becoming the recognized lingua franca of international relations, differences of justification, interpretation, application and enforcement abound. This set of original essays throws fresh light on these differences while clearly
exemplifying the greater importance of the basic similarities that all parties to the debate share.