In defense of human rights : a non-religious grounding in a pluralistic world / Ari Kohen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kohen, Ari, 1977-

Series:

Routledge innovations in political theory ; 25.

Routledge innovations in political theory ; 25

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Human rights--Religious aspects.

Physical Description:

xiii, 207 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2007.

Contents:

Prologue: Starvin' for Justice 1

Introduction: the first day of class 6

1 Michael Perry and the religious cosmology: foundations and critiques of human rights 13

Human sacredness and human rights 14

The idea of a religious worldview 20

Nietzsche and the death of God 31

2 The possibility of non-religious human rights: Alan Gewirth and the Principle of Generic Consistency 38

Gewirth's case against previous theories 40

The Principle of Generic Consistency 44

A critique of Generic Consistency 51

3 The problem of secular sacredness: Ronald Dworkin, Michael Perry, and human rights foundationalism 64

Toward a secular conception of "sacred" 65

Michael Perry's objection 69

The etymology of rights 79

4 Human dignity without teleology: human rights and evolutionary biology 85

The evolution of human nature 88

Personal identity and the mind's "I" 92

Human animals and human persons 97

Dignity and "the boundaries of our existence" 105

5 Does might make human rights? Sympathy, solidarity, and subjectivity in Richard Rorty's final vocabulary 109

The trouble with irony 111

Self-creation and humiliation 117

Replacing "why" with "how" 122

6 Rights and wrongs without God: a non-religious grounding for human rights in a pluralistic world 129

Constructing the foundation: a reply to cultural relativism 134

Rights by committee and the idea of an overlapping consensus 141

Can consensus have justificatory force? 146

The limits of language 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [152]-198) and index.

ISBN:

0415420156

9780415420150

0203963768

9780203963760

OCLC:

74649045