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More About This Textbook
Overview
Unparalleled in scope and clarity, this engaging book: critically examines the arguments for human rights and offers an original defence for them; explores the meaning of human rights in the context of increasing globalization; confronts the major objections to human rights, including the charge of Western ethical imperialism and the counterclaims of cultural relativism. Mahoney concludes that human rights are an indispensable addition to modern ethical resources and logically culminate in a cosmopolitan recognition of the whole human race as a single moral family.
About the Author:
Jack Mahoney is Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
"Jack Mahoney has produced an account of human rights that speaks directly to contemporary audiences. It dodges none of the hard questions and its defence of human rights rings true as a result. It is a scholarly but also an intellectually exciting read." Conor Gearty, London School of Economics and Political Science
“Mahoney's text is excellent; it makes complicated issues accessible without lapsing into oversimplification. This is no small achievement and makes the text especially well-suited to undergraduate teaching. The range of issues covered is surprisingly comprehensive yet by no means superficial. The combination of philosophy and history is a major virtue.” Maurice Wade, Trinity College
"Mahoney carefully surveys and discusses the various attempts to explain human rights in order to formulate a single, compelling, logical proof for their existence."
America, The National Catholic Weekly
"This book may be useful as an introduction to the concept of human rights." Journal of Peace Research
Product Details
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Meet the Author
Jack Mahoney is Emeritus Professor of Moral and Social Theology in the University of London and is a former Principal of Heythrop College, University of London. He is the author of several books and of many articles on general and applied ethics, including medical ethics, business and professional ethics and theological ethics, and he has lectured and broadcast widely in these subjects at home and abroad.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction viii
Human Rights in History 1
The Ancient Classical World 1
The World of the Bible 3
The Medieval World 5
Renaissance and Reformation Thought 7
Hobbes and Rousseau 11
Revolution in England 17
American Independence 21
The French Declaration of the Rights of Man 24
English Resistance to Human Rights 25
German Developments: Kant and Marx 33
The Modern Human Rights Movement 42
The Charter of the United Nations Organization 43
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 46
Continental Developments 53
The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights 56
Wider Human Rights Developments 59
British Developments 63
Conclusion 64
Clarifying Human Rights 71
Some Useful Distinctions 72
Rights and Duties 85
The Proliferation of Rights 91
Individuals-in-Society 98
Selfishness and Social Divisiveness 101
EthicalImperialism? 104
A Challenge to All Cultures 109
The Strengths of Human Rights 111
Establishing Human Rights 119
A Matter of Belief 119
An Essential Requirement 124
The Nature of Persons 127
Intuitionist Approaches 136
Human Dignity 144
"The Wonder of Our Being" 147
Major Opponents 150
Conclusion 155
The Globalizing of Human Rights 162
Global Expansion 162
Seeking a Global Ethic 165
Cultural Relativism 166
Global Human Rights 173
Towards Cosmopolitanism 178
The Inadequacies of States 180
"Principled" Cosmopolitanism 184
Human Solidarity 186
Bibliography 191
Index 205