Confronting alterity: Rawls and the liberal framework of human rights
by Alessandra Sarquis
International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies (IJHRCS), Vol. 3, No. 4, 2015

Abstract: In a world marked by multiplicity of actors, who have increasing access to information and opportunities for interaction, the liberal approach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has become incessantly contested. I argue that Rawls fails to address the challenges brought by complex diversity in his normative framework of human rights. He considers a non-challenging notion of otherness in the formation of individuals and their rapport with the public domain. The other is someone to be dealt with in our quest to construct a political order rather than someone to engage with to have our freedom revealed and responsibly exercised. Rawls underestimates the dynamic process of estrangement and reconciliation among differentiated individuals as well as socio-political entities in the constitution of self-conscious moral agents. He restrains moral agents' exploration of critical capabilities, impairing a constructed notion of political consensus and eventually the legitimacy of human rights principles today.

Online publication date: Wed, 24-Feb-2016

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies (IJHRCS):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

    Username:        Password:         

Forgotten your password?


Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com