Why Human Rights?

This book explores the three philosophical claims underlying the moral idea of human rights: (1) Universal justice & objections to it on relativist & diversity grounds; (2) Human equality & hierarchical moral status claims like caste; (3) Individual rights & collectivist counterclaims from utilitarians & communitarians.

Eric Blumenson is a Research Professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts. He writes in the fields of international human rights, criminal law, and moral philosophy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; INTRODUCTION; PART 1: UNIVERSALITY, RELATIVISM, AND DIVERSITY: Chapter 1. How are human rights universal?; Chapter 2. Relativist objections; Chapter 3. Diversity and indeterminacy; Chapter 4. The limits of skepticism; PART II: HUMAN EQUALITY AND MORAL HIERARCHIES: Chapter 5. Human moral equality: the claim and its challenges; Chapter 6. Theories of moral considerability; PART III: INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND COLLECTIVE INTERESTS: Chapter 7. The domain of rights; Chapter 8. Justifying rights; Chapter 9. Liberty, equality, and community: complements or competitors?; Appendix A; Appendix B; Appendix C; REFERENCES; NOTES; INDEX.