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The Morality of Human Rights: A Secular Ground

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2015

Dohrman W. Byers
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Extract

The July 14, 2006, issue of Commonweal carried an article by Michael J. Perry, entitled The Morality of Human Rights: A Problem for Nonbelievers?. In that article, as in his books The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries, and Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law, Courts, Perry argues that a plausible nonreligious foundation for the idea of human rights has yet to be articulated—that this idea, therefore, appears to be unavoidably religious. He expresses concern that “the growing marginalization of religious belief in many societies that have taken human rights seriously—in particular, in many liberal democracies… may leave those societies bereft of the intellectual resources to sustain the morality of human rights.”

Nicholas Wolterstorff shares Perry's judgment. “It is impossible to develop a secular account of human dignity adequate for grounding human rights. Or to speak more cautiously: given that, after many attempts, no one has succeeded in developing such an account, it seems unlikely that it can be done.”

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , 2010 , pp. 1 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2010

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References

1. Perry, Michael J., The Morality of Human Rights: A Problem for Nonbelievers?, Commonweal, 07 14, 2006 [hereinafter Commonweal]Google Scholar.

2. Perry, Michael J., The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries (Oxford Univ. Press 1998) [hereinafter Idea]Google Scholar.

3. Perry, Michael J., Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law, Courts (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007) [hereinafter Theory]Google Scholar.

4. Commonweal, supra note 1, at 16.

5. Wolterstorff, Nicholas, Justice: Rights and Wrongs 325 (Princeton Univ. Press 2008)Google Scholar.

6. Id. at 389-90.

7. Commonweal, supra note 1, at 16.

8. Idea, supra note 2, at 37.

9. Commonweal, supra note 1, at 17.

10. Cf. Theory, supra note 3, at 18-23.

11. Theory, supra note 3, at 23-25.

12. Cf. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 325-40.

13. Id. at 350-52.

14. See Theory, supra note 3, at 26-28, and Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 320.

15. Idea, supra note 2, at 13.

16. Id.

17. Theory, supra note 3, at 5.

18. Theory, supra note 3, at 6.

19. Idea, supra note 2, at 16.

20. Id.

21. Cf. Idea, supra note 2, at 61 & 68.

22. Idea, supra note 2, at 30 (quoting David Tracy).

23. Perry, Michael J., Morality and Normativity, 13 Legal Theory 215 (2007) (Cambridge Univ. Press 2008) [hereinafter Morality]Google Scholar.

24. See Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 342-52, 357-60.

25. E.g. Kant. See id. at 325-29.

26. Id. at 320.

27. Id. Id. at 321. See also Kant, Immanuel, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals 26 (3d ed., 1785) (Ellington, James W. trans., Hackett 1993)Google Scholar.

28. Kant, supra note 27, at 36. See also Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 309.

29. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 354-57.

30. Id. at 354.

31. Id. at 358.

32. Rawls, John, A Theory of Justice 442 (Belknap Press of Harv. Univ. Press 1999) (1971)Google Scholar.

33. Cf. id. at 444.

34. Cf. id. at 443.

35. Morality, supra note 23, at 216.

36. Matt 7:12 (All Biblical citations are taken from NRSV.).

37. Idea, supra note 2, at 32-33.

38. See id. at 35.

39. See id. at 32-33.

40. Id. at 32.

41. Theory, supra note 3, at 16 (quoting Glenn Tinder).

42. Idea, supra note 2, at 32.

43. Id. at 34.

44. Id. at 32.

45. See supra text p. 12.

46. Idea, supra note 2, at 87.

47. See id. at 32.

48. See infra text p. 25-26.

49. Idea, supra note 2, at 86.

50. Id. at 66.

51. Id. at 68.

52. See supra text p. 21.

53. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 316-18.

54. See supra text p. 13.

55. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 317.

56. See supra text p. 2.

57. Theory, supra note 3, at 7-13.

58. See supra text accompanying note 23.

59. 1 John 4:8, 16.

60. Theory, supra note 3, at 11 (punctuation in original).

61. Id.

62. Id. at 11. See also Morality, supra note 23, at 229.

63. Theory, supra note 3, at 11.

64. See Morality, supra note 23, at 223.

65. See id. at 226.

66. See id. at 237 & 239.

67. Id. at 240.

68. Id. at 230-36.

69. Id. at 323. Taylor, Charles, Closed World Structures, in Religion after Metaphysics 61 (Wrathall, Mark A. ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2003)Google Scholar.

70. See supra text p. 119.

71. Morality, supra note 23, at 233. Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Will to Power 169 (Kaufmann, Walter & Hollingdale, R.J. trans. & Kaufmann, Walter ed., Random House 1967)Google Scholar.

72. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 342-61.

73. Id. at 352. See also id. at 353-60.

74. Id. at 360.

75. Cf. supra text p. 29.

76. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 310.

77. Id. at 321.

78. See infra text pp. 33-35.

79. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 325-41.

80. Id. at 359.

81. See supra text p. 13.

82. Cf. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 358f.

83. See supra text p. 10.

84. Id. at 113.

85. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 321.

86. See supra text pp. 19-21.

87. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 322.

88. Id. at 340.

89. Id.

90. Matt 7:12.

91. Luke 6:38.

92. Idea, supra note 2, at 16.

93. See Dawkins's website at www.richarddawkins.net (last visited Mar. 16, 2010).

94. Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Vol. 1, Gaudium et Spes 36, at 935 (Flannery, Austin ed., Costello Publ'g 1996) (1975)Google Scholar.

95. Cf. Isa 1:11-17.

96. Matt 25:31-46.

97. Gen 1:26-30.

98. Isa 1:11-17.

99. Luke 22:27.

100. Wolterstorff, supra note 5, at 361.