Human Rights as Social Construction

£32.00

Human Rights as Social Construction

Political science and theory Human rights, civil rights Methods, theory and philosophy of law

Author: Benjamin Gregg

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Language: English

Published by: Cambridge University Press

Published on: 12th December 2011

Format: LCP-protected ePub

Size: 710 Kb

ISBN: 9781139210096


Most conceptions of human rights

rely on metaphysical or theological assumptions that construe them as possible only as something imposed from outside existing communities. Most people, in other words, presume that human rights come from nature, God, or the United Nations.

This book argues

that reliance on such putative sources actually undermines human rights. Benjamin Gregg envisions an alternative; he sees human rights as locally developed, freely embraced, and indigenously valid.

Human rights, he posits

can be created by the average, ordinary people to whom they are addressed, and that they are valid only if embraced by those to whom they would apply. To view human rights in this manner is to increase the chances and opportunities that more people across the globe will come to embrace them.

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