Publication Announcement: Reconceptualizing Human Rights

I am excited to announce the publication of my article, "Reconceptualizing Human Rights", in the Journal of Global Ethics.  

This paper argues that the concept of a "human right" is defective, in that the concept refers indiscriminately to two very different types of moral claims, not a single sort of thing that can be sensibly classified under a single heading.  I then show that insofar as this is the case, there can be no single theory of human rights (of the sort that is so common today).  We must instead seek two (mostly independent) theories of human rights: a theory of domestic human rights (or universal civil rights), and a theory of international human rights. Finally, I show that the most common approach to justifying human rights -- the "Basic View" that human rights are more basic than justice and can be derived from some moral value(s), such as autonomy, personhood, or a minimally decent human life -- is fundamentally misguided.  Domestic and international human rights are rights of domestic and international justice, and should be seen as emerging from philosophical justifications of domestic and international coercion.  I conclude, as such, that there is no place for a "theory of human rights" in moral or political philosophy.  There is only enough "room" for theories of domestic and international justice, as such theories just are theories of domestic and international human rights.

Comments

[Mark Alfano]

Congrats, Marcus!

[Marcus Arvan]

Thanks, Mark! :)