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.        

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.

Toward Particular Declarations of Human Gifts: A Christian Reflection on Religions, Stories, and Untold Suffering

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-247
Author(s):  
Paul Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Military Action ◽  
Religious People ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

AbstractIn this article, the author suggests that religious leaders and communities should speak freely of faith in God and spirituality in their own particular ways as they advocate for human rights. While recognizing the destruction wrought by religious people, he recommends that religions be received as gifts that can cultivate people who far exceed the minimal expectations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He claims we do not expect too much when we ask religions and religious leaders to promote, teach, and uphold human rights, we expect too little. As a Pentecostal Christian ethicist, he argues for the significance of narrative, prophetic protest, and testimony as crucial aspects of receiving all people as gifts and of evoking empathy, action, and hope. Finally, the author warns against the political seizure of theistic and human rights discourse for the justification of military action, and he encourages the implementation of just peacemaking theory and practices.

scholarly journals Identity and dignity within the human rights discourse: An anthropological and praxis approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Louw
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Practical Theological ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

The theological discourse mostly focuses on the moral and ethical framework for human rights and human dignity. In order to give theological justification to the value and dignity of human beings, most theologians point to the imago Dei as theological starting point for the design of an anthropology on human dignity. Within the paradigmatic framework of democracy, human dignity and human rights have become interchangeable concepts. This article aimed to focus not on ethics but on aesthetics: man as homo aestheticus, as well as the praxis question regarding the quality of human dignity within the network of human relationships. It was argued that human dignity is more fundamental than human rights. Dignity as an anthropological construct should not reside in the first place in the imago Dei and its relationship to Christology and incarnation theology. Human dignity, human rights and human identity are embedded in the basic human quest for meaning (teleology). As such, human dignity should, in a practical theological approach to anthropology, be dealt with from the aesthetic perspective of charisma, thus the option for inhabitational theology. As an anthropological category, human dignity should be viewed from the perspective of pneumatology within the networking framework of a �spiritual humanism�. In this regard, the theology of the Dutch theologian A.A. van Ruler, and especially his seminal 1968 work Ik geloof, should be revisited by a pneumatic anthropology within the parameters of practical theology.

scholarly journals De la teoría y la aplicación lingüística a la construcción de la dignidad y los derechos humanos

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-171
Author(s):  
Ana María Rodino
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
World Languages ◽  
Derechos Humanos ◽  
Educational Linguistics ◽  
Dialectical Reasoning ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

La ciencia lingüística no dejó una marca particular, fácilmente identificable en el constructo de dignidad humana consagrado en la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos. Su contribución fue más bien indirecta, inspiradora y principista, pero significativa porque hizo un doble aporte. Primero, se sumó a otras fuentes que respaldaron el discurso de los derechos humanos en la idea de dignidad como rasgo distintivo de los seres humanos. Segundo, contribuyó al razonamiento dialéctico que ese discurso construyó entre semejanza y diferencias para articular las dimensiones de la persona: miembro de la especie, integrante de una sociedad, e individuo autónomo. Sobre lo primero, la Lingüística y la Sociolingüística ofrecieron conocimientos científicos sobre las particularidades de la especie humana que hacen a sus miembros seres dignos de reconocimiento y protección. Enfatizaron nuestra unidad como especie singular (homo loquens, hombre que habla) a la vez que distinguieron nuestras diferencias como individuos y grupos sociales hablantes de distintas lenguas. Así, el estudio científico del lenguaje y las lenguas permitió conocer mejor a sus hablantes, sus facultades y creaciones, y a caracterizarlos como individuos libres, iguales y también cooperativos, en cuanto constructores de sociedades. Sobre lo segundo, estas disciplinas ejemplificaron un discurso elaborado que reconoció nuestra semejanza esencial como familia humana –la facultad del lenguaje— en oposición y a la vez en complementación con nuestras diferencias evidentes como sociedades e individuos hablantes –las distintas lenguas naturales del planeta y las distintas variedades de cada lengua natural—. Articularon los dos reconocimientos en un discurso dialéctico e integrador, que no negó las tensiones entre ellos, pero tampoco las presentó como irresolubles. Las explicó y propuso políticas superadoras, sociales y educativas. De tal forma impulsaron su desarrollo como ciencias y también el discurso de los derechos humanos.     From Linguistic Theory and ApplicationTowards the Construction of Dignity and Human Rights Linguistic science did not leave a particular, easily detectable mark in the human dignity construct acknowledged by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its contribution was mainly indirect, inspirational, and of principle but significant since it made a double contribution. First, it added to other sources supporting the human rights discourse in the notion of dignity as a distinctive feature of human beings.  Second, it contributed to the dialectical reasoning the human rights discourse developed between similarity and differences in order to articulate the various dimensions of a person: member of the human species, participant of a society, and autonomous individual.   About the first, Linguistics and Sociolinguistics put forward scientific knowledge about the particularities of the human species that make its members creatures deserving recognition and protection. They emphasized our unity as a singular species (homo loquens, speaking man) while at the same time distinguished our differences as individuals and social groups speaking different languages. Therefore, the scientific study of language and natural languages allowed a better understanding of their speakers, their faculties and creations, and their portrayal as individuals who are free, equal and also cooperative as society builders.  About the second, these scientific disciplines displayed a complex discourse recognizing our essential similarity as members of the human family –the faculty of language— in contrast with our visible differences as societies and speakers –the different world languages, and the different varieties within each language. Both recognitions were articulated in an including and dialectic discourse, which neither denied the tensions between them nor presented them as unsolvable. Such a discourse explained the tensions while proposing comprehensive social and educational policies to deal with them. In such a way these sciences further their  development, and the development of the human rights discourse. Keywords: Linguistics. Sociolinguistics. Educational Linguistics. Dignity. Human Rights. Pandemic

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).

Modernisation at Work: Senegal, Tostan and the Fulɓe

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Cislaghi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Code Of Conduct ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Educational Programme ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
As If ◽  
International Events

Chapter 3 investigates how local, national, and international events intertwine in influencing people’s life, so that it makes little sense to look at development as if it were happening in a vacuum. In particular, it briefly looks at the wider social, political and cultural context of the community where the intervention took place. The chapter looks at the emergence of the human rights discourse in Senegal, examines relevant features of Senegalese culture, explains the structure of NGO Tostan and its educational programme in Senegal, and describes the ethnic group that was studied in the research (the Fulbe), with its moral values and code of conduct.

Solidarity and Social Justice in the European Union Seventy Years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: The Role of European Judges

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 138-148
Author(s):  
Francesco Zammartino
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
International Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Government Programs ◽  
Binding Force

Seventy Years after its proclamation, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, despite not having a binding force for the states, still provides at international level the fundamental text from which the principles and the values for the preservation of liberty and right of people are taken. In this article, the author particularly underlines the importance of Declaration’s article 1, which states: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. With these words the Declaration presses states to undertake economic policies aimed at achieving economic and social progress for all individuals. Unfortunately, we also have to underline the lack of effective social policies in government programs of the E.U. Member States. The author inquires whether it is left to European judges to affirm the importance of social welfare.

Housing as a Basic Human Right: A Reflection on South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mziwandile Sobantu ◽  
Nqobile Zulu ◽  
Ntandoyenkosi Maphosa
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Development Agenda ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This paper reflects on human rights in the post-apartheid South Africa housing context from a social development lens. The Constitution guarantees access to adequate housing as a basic human right, a prerequisite for the optimum development of individuals, families and communities. Without the other related socio-economic rights, the provision of access to housing is limited in its service delivery. We argue that housing rights are inseparable from the broader human rights discourse and social development endeavours underway in the country. While government has made much progress through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the reality of informal settlements and backyard shacks continues to undermine the human rights prospects of the urban poor. Forced evictions undermine some poor citizens’ human rights leading courts to play an active role in enforcing housing and human rights through establishing a jurisprudence that invariably advances a social development agenda. The authors argue that the post-1994 government needs to galvanise the citizenship of the urban poor through development-oriented housing delivery.

The Internationalization Of Human Rights And The Importance Of Normative Dialogues Between International And National Courts

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Mariane Morato Stival ◽  
Marcos André Ribeiro ◽  
Daniel Gonçalves Mendes da Costa
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
National Courts ◽  
European Court ◽  
Differences Of Opinion ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

This article intends to analyze in the context of the complexity of the process of internationalization of human rights, the definitions and tensions between cultural universalism and relativism, the essence of human rights discourse, its basic norms and an analysis of the normative dialogues in case decisions involving violations of human rights in international tribunals such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and national courts. The well-established dialogue between courts can bring convergences closer together and remove differences of opinion on human rights protection. A new dynamic can occur through a complementarity of one court with respect to the other, even with the different characteristics between the legal orders.

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