08/04/2022
Human Rights
First published Fri Feb 7, 2003; substantive revision Thu Apr 11, 2019
Human rights are norms that aspire to protect all people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses. Examples of human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial when charged with a crime, the right not to be tortured, and the right to education.
The philosophy of human rights addresses questions about the existence, content, nature, universality, justification, and legal status of human rights. The strong claims often made on behalf of human rights (for example, that they are universal, inalienable, or exist independently of legal enactment as justified moral norms) have frequently provoked skeptical doubts and countering philosophical defenses (on these critiques see Lacrois and Pranchere 2016, Mutua 2008, and Waldron 1988). Reflection on these doubts and the responses that can be made to them has become a sub-field of political and legal philosophy with a very substantial literature (see the Bibliography below).
This entry addresses the concept of human rights, the existence and grounds of human rights, the question of which rights are human rights, and relativism about human rights.
1. The General Idea of Human Rights
2. The Existence and Grounds of Human Rights
2.1 How Can Human Rights Exist?
2.2 Normative Justifications for Human Rights
2.3 Political Conceptions of Human Rights
3. Which Rights are Human Rights?
3.1 Civil and Political Rights
3.2 Social Rights
3.3 Rights of Women, Minorities, and Groups
3.4 Environmental Rights
4. Universal Human Rights in a World of Diverse Beliefs and Practices
Bibliography
Bibliography: Books and Articles in the Philosophy of Human Rights
Recent Collections
Academic Tools
Other Internet Resources
Guides to International Human Rights Law
Other Resources
Related Entries
