Libertŕ e diritti tra India ed Europa. Un approccio genealogico ai valori culturali

2009 ◽  
pp. 541-563
Author(s):  
Clelia Bartoli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Sanskrit Text ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Bhagavad Gita ◽  
Interesting Idea ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Bhagavad Gītā ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

- This paper will deal with the issue of human rights and multiculturalism away from cultural relativism and universalism while taking inspiration from Nietzsche's Moral Genealogy. In particular, the concepts of karma, dharma and trivarga (an indian traditional form of particularism in the law) will be explained as they are expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important texts of Indian philosophical literature. From this analysis it will emerge the impossibility of deducing the idea of human rights from the Sanskrit text. Not because the Bhagavad Gita adopts a communitarian conception of the self but because it entails a very complex and interesting idea of freedom which is little compatible with contemporary human rights discourse. Then, it will be quoted a criticism against the Bhagavad Gita based on the historical genealogy of cultural values, as it was formulated by B.R. Ambedkar - Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution. Finally, this writing will highlight some of the misunderstandings revolving around human rights and multiculturalism. This will be done while suggesting a genealogical approach where different intellectual and law traditions challenge and implement each other, rather than being locked in a sterile mutual respect.

scholarly journals Tolerance – a Culturally Dependent Concept?

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Trond Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Japanese Culture ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Moral Environment ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This article presents research on Japanese interpretations of the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a point of departure for discussing how the Japanese cultural contexts present an alternative understanding of tolerance to the Western liberal. According to Rainer Forst, tolerance is a normatively dependent concept (Forst 2010). This implies that the specific cultural values or the ‘normative context’ and environment become relevant. Since the praxis of tolerance always takes place in a specific cultural and moral environment, the cultural context influences how tolerance is carried out in practice as well as the norms defining its limits. Japanese informants held that cultural norms and values in Japan differ somewhat from those in the West. They perceived the human rights discourse as culturally dependent and culturally marked and clearly considered the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be a product of Western thought. It states that ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood’ (United Nations 1948). While the role of tolerance in Western political philosophy seems to be attached to liberal values of autonomy and freedom, the Confucian-influenced environment in Japan places more emphasis on inter-dependency, cultivation, and learning social rules and proper-place-occupation as bases for moral conduct and deserving of respect. According to the Japanese informants, people are not ‘born with rights’ or ‘born free and equal’. Maintaining harmony, consensus, and proper behaviour according to relationships and hierarchy creates a different kind of setting for tolerance. The inter-dependent perspectives of Japanese culture may restrain freedom and can thus be expected to limit toleration of divergent views or behaviour. The culture-specific perception of human nature with an ‘inter-dependent construal of self’, counts as a context for tolerance. Also, it could be argued that Japanese religion is less doctrinal and absolute, and particularistic morality prevails. In the Japanese setting, the coexistence of competing truth systems seems to be more easily tolerated. This may broaden the room for tolerance. The cultural values defining ‘the good’ vary, implying that culture counts when the limits for tolerance are drawn. What is valued is culturally dependent, thus directing what is tolerated.        

Labor Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 229-260
Author(s):  
Pablo Gilabert
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Constructive Discussion ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

Human rights discourse invokes entitlements to freely chosen work, to decent working conditions, and to form and join unions. Despite their importance, these rights remain underexplored in the philosophical literature on human rights. This chapter offers a systematic and constructive discussion of them. It surveys the content and current relevance of the labor rights stated in the most important human rights documents. It gives a moral defense of these rights, justifying their support on the basis of important human interests and human dignity. It replies to objections about the importance of work, explains why labor human rights may not exhaust the demands of dignity regarding labor, and arbitrates a common tension between independence and solidarity. To solidaristically empower all persons who can work to access and defend decent working conditions in which their valuable capacities can be developed and exercised is an obligatory response to their human dignity.

Cultural Relativism and Human Rights: Reconsidering the Africanist Discourse

2001 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonny Ibhawoh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Human Rights Regime ◽  
Cultural Legitimacy ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

Discussions about cultural relativism and the cross-cultural legitimacy of human rights have been central to contemporary human rights discourse. Much of this discussion has focussed on non-Western societies where scholars have advanced, from a variety of standpoints, arguments for and against the cultural relativism of human rights. Arguments for ‘Asian Values’ and lately, ‘African values’ in the construction of human rights have defined this debate. This paper reviews some of the major arguments and trends in the Africanist discourse on the cultural relativism of human rights. It argues the need to go beyond the polarities that have characterised the debate. It argues that while an Afrocentric conception of human rights is a valid worldview, it need not become the basis for the abrogation of the emerging Universal human rights regime. Rather, it should provide the philosophical foundation for the legitimisation of Universal human rights in the African context and inform the cross-fertilisation of ideas between Africa and the rest of the world.

scholarly journals Reconciling Universality and Particularity through a Cosmopolitan Outlook on Human Rights

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Adami
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Working Process ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
Islamic Values

Human rights are today criticized as not compatible with different cultural values and the debate has circulated around Asian values and Islamic values as in dichotomy with human rights as universal ethics (Ignatieff, 2003). The theoretical dichotomy between universality and particularity is questioned pragmatically in this paper through a historical study. The working process of drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1946-48, which included thousands of people, is explored as a cosmopolitan space in which individuals from different cultural contexts met to negotiate human rights through cultural narratives. The process where particular values were negotiated with universal notion on human rights resulted in a common proclamation (UDHR) without a common philosophical or ideological ground. This paper puts forth a thesis that human rights discourse can work as a cosmopolitan space, in which particular value systems meet in processes characterized by conflict and cohesion. Hence human rights can be understood as a master narrative compatible with different conflicting cultural narratives (Gibson & Somers, 1994).

scholarly journals Transcending the Human Rights Debate: Iranian Intellectuals' Contemporary Discourses and the New Hermeneutics of the Sharia

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anicée Van Engeland
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Freedom Of Thought ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

AbstractThe Iranian discourse on human rights is not well known for a wide range of reasons: there are few translations from Persian; the Iranian human rights' model is often perceived as a threat to universality and Iran has a generally negative image on the international scene. The reality is that the post-Islamic Iranian human rights discourse is rich, varied and intellectually stimulating, the paradoxical outcome of a regime that limits freedom of expression and freedom of thought. Iranian intellectuals have to find strategies to avoid the censorship that threatens anyone who defies Iran's official human rights model. These intellectuals have formulated incredibly compelling theories that can be assimilated to a third voice transcending the permanent opposition between the principle of universality and cultural relativism. This theory is being advocated across the Muslim world and throughout Muslim communities. Iranian intellectuals have shaped their own approach to this third path, thereby creating an Iranian human rights' specificity within the Muslim world.

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