New Book: "Kantian Theory and Human Rights"

Kantian Theory and Human Rights

Ed. by Andreas Føllesdal & Reidar Maliks

(Routledge, 2014)

210 pages





Description

Human rights and the courts and tribunals that protect them are increasingly part of our moral, legal, and political circumstances. The growing salience of human rights has recently brought the question of their philosophical foundation to the foreground. Theorists of human rights often assume that their ideal can be traced to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and his view of humans as ends in themselves. Yet, few have attempted to explore exactly how human rights should be understood in a Kantian framework. The scholars in this book have gathered to fill this gap. At the center of Kant’s theory of rights is a view of freedom as independence from domination. The chapters explore the significance of this theory for the nature of human rights, their justification, and the legitimacy of international human rights courts.

Contents [pre-view]

Foreword - Thomas Pogge

1. Kantian Theory and Human Rights - Andreas Føllesdal & Reidar Maliks
2. Kantian Underpinnings for a Theory of Multirights - Howard Williams
3. Kant’s Juridical Idea of Human Rights - Ariel Zylberman
4. Human Rights Jurisprudence Seen Through the Framework of Kant’s Legal Metaphors - Sofie Møller
5. A Kantian Defense of the Right to Health Care [draft] - Luke J. Davies
6. Human Rights Duties are Collective Duties of Justice - Özlem Ayse Özgür
7. The Democratic Paradox of International Human Rights Courts: A Kantian Solution? - Svenja Ahlhaus
8. Extraordinary Politics and the Democratic Legitimacy of International Human Rights Courts - Markus Patberg
9. Kantian Courts: On the Legitimacy of International Human Rights Courts - Reidar Maliks
10. Why Kant is not a Democratic Peace Theorist - Aviva Shiller
11. Kant, Human Rights, and Courts [word] - Andreas Føllesdal

The book is based on papers presented at a conference on "Kantian Theory and International Human Rights Courts", August 2012, at the University of Oslo.

Several papers by Andreas Føllesdal are available here.