About the Book
This volume analyses current debates concerning problems in the nature, justification, and legal protection of human rights for minorities, with reference to the issues surrounding social milieu as a source of any legitimized law, which is in itself in need of legal recognition as well as being an object of legal protection.
With contributions from a global network of scientists across several continents, the work examines the debate dedicated to the understanding of the normative framework, expressed in terms of human rights that guarantee autonomous action in public and private for minority groups as well as individuals. The chapters go on to study the particular claims that need to be audible and visible for others in the public sphere with reference to the legal protection of human rights. The work concludes with the completion of an interpretative circle debating the issues of legal consensus and legal identity with respect to the specificity of the patterns and modes guiding human interactions.
Going beyond the legal analysis to discuss communication strategies in human rights, this collection will be of great interest to those studying the philosophy and theory of law, practical philosophy in general, political sciences and theory of democracy.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction. Part I Philosophical Approach to Human Rights: `Collective’ human rights for the protection of minorities?, Georg Lohmann; Value pluralism and legal philosophy: the impact of Isaiah Berlin and John Gray, Beata Polanowska-Sygulska; On the human right to science and culture, Anna Maria Andersen Nawrot; On the possibility of justifying the idea of human rights, Tomasz Bekrycht. Part II The Fight for Recognition in the Sphere of Law: Human rights as an element of mutual recognition and equality of opportunity, Bartosz Wojciechowski; `To tolerate means to insult’ (J.W. v. Goethe): towards a social practice of recognition, Barbara Weber; On Paul Ricoeur’s tribute to legal philosophical issues of recognition and reciprocity, Marcin Pieniążek; Should there be an obligation to recognize an individual’s ascription to a group? On the margins of the 'right to exit' debate, MichaÅ‚ Dudek. Part III Human Rights Legal Protection: Domestic violence, oppression and participatory parity: an analysis of Brazilian law in light of a theory of democratic justice, Marcia Nina Bernardes; No court is an island: philosophy at the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, Nina-Louisa Lorenz Arold; The constitutionality of law vis-à-vis minority rights, Milena Korycka-Zirk; The problem of slavery - the judge between moral conviction and fidelity to law, Jerzy ZajadÅ‚o; The principle of self-determination and rights of national minorities. A legal and philosophical analysis of the problem using an example from the Czech Republic, Tatiana Machalová; Les Misérables of Thessaloniki in 2011: a practical case study of human rights and human abuse, Victor Tsilonis; Human rights and transitional justice in post-communist Central-Eastern Europe, Adam Czarnota. Part IV The Problem of Legal Consensus and Legal Identity: Is law’s practical-cultural project condemned to fail the test of `contextual congruence’? A dialogue with Hans Albert’s social engineering, José Manuel Aroso Linhares; On the constructivist premise of constitutional patriotism as a normative idea, Karolina M. Cern; Flexible normative space between the European law and the Member State law as a source of constitutional identity, Marek Zirk-Sadowski; The complexity of contemporary legal systems - dilemmas and the paradoxes of law’s legitimacy, Tadeusz Biernat. Index.
About the Author :
Marek Zirk-Sadowski is Professor of the Theory and Philosophy of Law at the University of AuodA * , Poland. His scholarship focuses on the theory of judicial application and the interpretation of law, the theory of legal values, and the philosophy of European law. He has published more than 120 works in these fields. Since 1994, he has been a judge and since 2004 he has been vice-president of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland. Bartosz Wojciechowski is Associate Professor in the Department of Legal Theory and the Philosophy of Law, at the Law and Administration Faculty, University of AuodA * , Poland. He has published more than 60 articles in Polish, German, English and Czech. Since 2002, he has been a judge, and since 2012 has been a judge of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland. Karolina M. Cern is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chair of Ethics, Adam Mickiewicz University, PoznaA", Poland, Secretary of the Commission of Philosophy at the PoznaA" Society of Friends of Arts and Sciences; Visiting Research Associate in the Institute of Education, University of London (VII 2012- VI 2013). She is an author of three monographs and has contributed to a number of journal articles and eight edited collections.
Review :
'Edited by leading voices in Poland's academy, this volume consists of an impressive array of contributions on the always-current question of groups' rights in liberal democracies, encompassing perspectives from both continental and analytical philosophy.' Ofer Raban, University of Oregon School of Law, USA 'This book offers a comprehensive and critical overview of human rights and the fights for recognition in the sphere of the law. The book fills a gap in the literature of human and minority rights, and is based on concrete legal situations and cases. The work will be of interest to scholars, students and activists concerned with these topics.' Antal Visegrady, University of Pecs, Hungary 'This text is a representation of all that is good in the continued examination of the complexity of Human Rights. Focusing on the anchor of human rights, the treatment of minority groups, this collection of treatises represents a world-view of a subject often ignored and long debated. The contrast between the philosophical and real world legalities smoothly leads the reader to the implementation and obstacles in the practical application of human rights in a dynamic world society. It has earned immediate incorporation with my program's curriculum in which I anticipate it to be an invaluable reference in conflict transformation studies.' Jack B. Hamlin, National University, USA
