Papers by mehari gebrehans
Few concepts are as frequently invoked in contemporary political discussions as human rights. The... more Few concepts are as frequently invoked in contemporary political discussions as human rights. There is something deeply attractive in the idea that every person anywhere in the world, irrespective of citizenship or territorial legislation, has some basic rights, which others should respect.At the same time, the central idea of human rights as something that people have, and have even without any specific legislation, is seen by many as foundationally dubious and lacking in cogency. A recurrent question is, Where do these rights come from? It is not usually disputed that the invoking of human rights can be politically powerful. Many philosophers and legal theorists see the rhetoric of human rights as just loose talk—perhaps kindly and well meaning forms of locution—but loose talk nevertheless. The contrast between the widespread use of the idea of human rights and the intellectual skepticism about its conceptual soundness is not new.Bentham insisted that " natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights (an American phrase),rhetoricalnonsense, nonsense up on stilts. " That suspicionremains very alive today, and despite persistent use of the ideaof human rights in practical affairs, there are many who see the idea ofhuman rights as no more than " bawling upon paper, " to use another Bentham's barbed portrayals of natural right claims.The dismissal of human rights is often comprehensive and is aimed against any belief in the existence of rights that people can have unconditionally,simply by virtue of their humanity (rather than having them contingently, on the basis of specific qualifications, such as citizenshipor legal entitlements).It is critically important to see the relationship between the force and appeal of human rights, on the one hand, and their reasoned justification and scrutinized use, on the other. There is, thus, need for some theory and also for some defense of any proposed theory. The object of this article is to do just that, and to consider, in that context, the justification of the general idea of human rights and also of the includability of economic and social rights within the broad class of human rights.
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Papers by mehari gebrehans