Analysing The Universality Of Human Rights Philosophy Essay

Analysing The Universality Of Human Rights Philosophy Essay Abstract:This paper aims to critically study and assess the different perspectives on the universality of human rights,and locate the position of the perspectives according to Dembour’s four schools of thoughts. The perspectives of human rights on cultural divesity and linguistic diversity have also been emphasized upon here. Universality of Human Rights & its Different Pespectives Human Rights are rights that one is entitled to enjoy simply because of thefact that he is a human being. These are equal and inalienable for all , and cannot be denied to anyone human in nature and form. Thus they are Universal in nature, and function as a legitimate standard for a political system. This ofcourse willlead to a discussion of being ‘human’ and enjoying the human rights(Donelly 2003). Being Human beings, everyone deserves to enjoy certain rights after fulfilling certain obligations to the society. These fulfillment of obligations are based on morality of the people as an individual and as a class, judged by the society at large and then being endowed with certain privileges to be enjoyed in the form of Political rights. Rectitude and entitlement, the two aspects of a right, are directed towards a preset standard of conduct, which bings forth the duty and obligation that an individual is expected to perform, and calls for individual and universal attention towards righteousness . Performance of this duty entitles the individual to enjoy the et of privileges in the form of a ‘right’. To have a right to something, makes one entltled to own the sole authority to enjoy it, denial or repression of which entitles one to have special claim for justice. Rights enjoyed by one cannot be reduced because it clashes with correlative duties of another, neither can it be reduced for enjoying a benefit. Hence, rights give authority to its holders , and not just benefits( Donelly 2003). Rights are meant to be exercised, enjoyed, respected, and enforced. These are the four principle dimensions of a right. Respecting ones rights gives other the privelege of enjoying and asserting his own rights, otherwise it is liable to be questioned , threatened or denied. A violation of a right is an injustice doneto someone, and is subject to distinctive force and remedial logic(Donelly 2003). Ludwig Wittgenstein, the analytical philosopher propagated that a concept should not be defined by what one thinks it means , but by its meaning and practice in everyday life. One should rather analyse facts on the basis of observation, rather than thinking. This led to the introduction of his concept of Family Resemblance The concept of Human rights when approached through the family resemblance matrix, highlight the following factors: Morality Their existence disregarding social recognition Possessed by every human being Their arbitrariness Emergence through political and social struggle Their usage for political communication Servitude to bourgeois Basis on human nature Bear a socio-legal concensus Ability toget transformed into legal rights ( Dembour 2006). Dembour argues that , although most people believe in the combination of the first three factors as the essential element of the concept of Human Rights, or that human rights exist irrespective of bein having social recognition as every man is deemed to enjoy it being human beings as the rights are framed on the basis of human nature, it should not be assumed that it rests on a socio- legal consensus, or bears arbitrariness in its state. He believes that Human Rights have come into existence as result of force of language use, and believes that they would cease to exist if conversation ordiscussions about them die down Different competingconcepts of Human rights exist inthe society,and people fight to establish their own opinions disregarding others. Donelly’s concept og Human Rights though is encouraging for many, but highlight some political or intellectual inadequacie s in termsof moral integrity in his book Universal Rights in Theory and Practice. Harsher’s Philosphy Of Human Rights points out that Human Rights demands that every single individual’s dignity is considered in an existing political norm, where one individual’s security of Human Rights leads to the security of another , mankifesting this security to an indefinite expanse and time in the society(Dembour 2006).