PHM-Exch> Food for a thought that cannot be ruled out

[Claudio Schuftan]

Human Rights Reader 286



*ALTHOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE TO CONTEST THE IDEA THAT HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE
PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS, IN REALITY, THE WIDESPREAD POLITICAL CONSENSUS
IS THAT IT CANNOT BE PLAUSIBLY ARGUED THAT THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL HUMAN
RIGHTS IS AN ARBITRARY CONSTRUCT.*



Does the title imply that human rights then bypass the philosophical debate
by simply imposing a set of universal positive moral and legal norms in an
effort to preserve individual freedoms and collective rights? No. Not
really.



*Relativism in no way precludes the possibility of cross-cultural
universals.*

* *

Moral and cultural relativism have indeed affected the human rights
discourse, but on the philosophical level only.



Unfortunately, the challenge that relativism has presented to the human
rights movement has not only been theoretical, but also politically
motivated. It remains a fact that the claim of relativism, that diversity
must be recognized, in no way destroys the existence of an international
moral community. Despite this recognition, relativism is still employed as
a political device; this reflects the underlying tensions between those who
place primacy narrowly on their *own* individual rights as opposed to the
human rights of theirs *and* of others in the national and international
community.


To read the full Reader, go to

http://wp.me/plAxa-1yS

Claudio
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