Human Rights: The Historical Background
The debate between Lynn Hunt and Samuel Moyn will be the starting point for this talk. The idea of a relative continuity between the eighteenth-century declarations of rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights approved by the UN in 1948 was contested par Moyn, who highlighted huge gaps and indifference until human rights became diffused in the 1970s. Hunt’s innovative attention to the role of literature and emotions in the eighteenth-century new system of values was important, but it is true that supposed continuities, in the long run, were more deduced than researched. On the other hand, Moyn’s rejection of the social movements’ role in the emergence of human rights impoverished the analysis, which was largely restricted, in both cases, to the Western World. My argument is that the shared religious notion of human life inviolability, combined with the assertion of local rights around the world, the impact of abolitionism, the diffusion of constitutions, and the social movements pushing for decolonization were responsible for the promotion of human rights.
All welcome- this event is free but booking is required.
This page was last updated on 30 June 2024
