debating human rights

I purchased a book on Human Rights,over a year ago and I have yet to read a page. I forgot the exact title (it is currently boxed up) but it was something like the "Genesis of Human Rights." With the popularity of the human rights movement I felt I should probably acclamate myself with the fundamentals of the field..

Here is what I think about Human Rights before reading anything about it. After reading the book I’ll post an update.

The end of WWII brought with it a paradigm shift in international political relations and how we interact with one another. The United States emerged as the sole super-power, colonization of India came to an end, African colonization was waning, Europe was demolished by the war, Germany was partitioned, China came under communist rule, Soviet Union was emerging as a counterweight to the US, the murder of 20 million jews (the holocaust), and the construction of international organization—GATT, UN, IMF, and the WB. With this as a backdrop, particularly the holocaust, world super powers decided that there needed to be some form of tangible articulated international norms and rights protecting the “fundamental and natural” rights ascribed to all human beings.

The idea of human right is one derived from experience. In other words, there is no "natural," or "heavenly endowed," moral law that says humans proper by the virtue of being human have innate rights, whatever they may be. Experience has mirrored to us that certain acts are socially unacceptable and harmful to all. Additionally, because we would all like to live in a society that is peaceful it is in our interest to recognize certain rights for all, Human Rights. That is, no individual or group (ethnic, gender, racial, etc) would like to be treated in such a matter that is harmful to them physically, psychologically or any other "ically." So we must extend similar rights to others.

Human’s are emotional beings. We do not like to see people (or other animals) suffering. Humans are also rational; that is, we know how to calculate. We know that by creating a system of rights for all humans, those rights will also secure our rights—reciprocity. Humans are also intellectual beings. We can think. That is, we can analyze our actions, instincts, desires, motivations and control them.


This sounds like a utilitarian argument. It is.

I too believe in human rights. But my belief does not derive from the concept of natural or heavenly endowed rights, but from a utilitarian philosophy.