The Concept of Human Rights: The History and Meaning of Its Politicization

This chapter traces the emergence of the standard notion of human rights in the second half of the twentieth century, in the context of international law and diplomacy. It traces the particular content of the modern idea of human rights to two distinct sources: the doctrine of Just War starting with Augustine and the Enlightenment conception of rights. Just War theory concerns the duties owed in wartime to enemies—to those toward whom one has no legal or domestic ties at all. The standard notion of human rights now consists roughly of two categories of acts: atrocities, such as torture, mass murder and summary executions; and deprivation of political rights, such as rights of speech, press, multi-party elections and judicial process. The chapter argues that the contemporary philosophical discussion of the nature and justification of human rights reiterates the fundamental paradox of the Enlightenment notion of rights without resolving it.