Wednesday, February 05, 2014

New Book on the Intercultural Dialogue on Human Rights


Reframing the Intercultural Dialogue on Human Rights 
A Philosophical Approach

by Jeffrey Flynn 

(Routledge, 2014)





Description

In this book, Flynn stresses the vital role of intercultural dialogue in developing a non-ethnocentric conception of human rights. He argues that Jürgen Habermas’s discourse theory provides both the best framework for such dialogue and a much-needed middle path between philosophical approaches that derive human rights from a single foundational source and those that support multiple foundations for human rights (Charles Taylor, John Rawls, and various Rawlsians).
By analyzing the historical and political context for debates over the compatibility of human rights with Christianity, Islam, and "Asian Values," Flynn develops a philosophical approach that is continuous with and a critical reflection on the intercultural dialogue on human rights. He reframes the dialogue by situating it in relation to the globalization of modern institutions and by arguing that such dialogue must address issues like the legacy of colonialism and global inequality while also being attuned to actual political struggles for human rights.

Contents [pre-view]

Introduction 

Part I. Multiple Foundations for Human Rights 

1. Compatibility Debates, Colonial Subtexts, and Global Inequality 
2. Human Rights as Political, not Metaphysical 
3. Unforced Consensus and Multiple Modernities 

Part II. A Dialogical Framework 

4.Reconstructing the Western Model 
5. How to Frame a Real Dialogue 
6. The Shifting Horizons of Secular Modernity 
7. A Realistic Utopia of Human Rights

Conclusion

Jeffrey Flynn is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, USA.  In 2013-14 he is a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Four papers by Jeffrey Flynn: 

* "Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Human Dignity"

* "Rethinking Human Rights" [pdf]

* "Habermas on Human Rights" [pdf]

* "Human Rights in History and Contemporary Practice" [pdf]

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