On The Philosophical Foundation Of Human Rights

Human rights is a lofty and sacred wording. The idea of human rights has been one of the greatest ideas from modern times. The emergence of the concept of human rights is a complicated process and has something to do with the idea of man and the philosophy of society and politics. So, probing into the philosophical foundation of human rights when it is emerging, and further its justification, is a most important question. Right to life is one of the most important human rights, and one that can best embody the value of the idea of human rights itself. In this dissertation we probe into the philosophical foundation of human rights using the right to life as an example. The core question of the dissertation is: whether utilitarianism can be the foundation of human rights. If it can, then whether we may encounter insurmountable difficulties; if the utilitarian consequentialism can not lay a philosophical foundation for human rights, then in what sense absolutism represented by philosophy of Kant can lay a foundation.The preface of the dissertation explains a general understanding of the concept of human rights and that of rights, and points out the relationship between the two concepts and their different meanings. Then it expounds the value and significance of the study.Chapter 1 describes the overall spiritual change in the west from modem times and the fundamental overturn of the concept of man. From modem times religion receded from public sectors and the secular life became a religion in the western world. Namely, the world went through a process of what Weber called "disenchantment". The decay of religion led to a change in people's attitude toward the world and man itself: the world became a natural one and man became independent. Human value is not derived from God, but pursued from a purely natural world.Chapter 2 views the idea of man and the general philosophical foundation in modern legislation regarding human rights through the analysis of right to life and the study of the thoughts of thinkers in the period of Enlightenment. Right to life refers only to the natural life of man. The concept of man on which modern legislation regarding human rights is based, is what the thinkers in Enlightenment called natural man. The justifiable demands as human rights are based on natural humanity and desire--and this is the universal foundation of human rights. At the beginning of the emergence of the concept of human rights the systematic utilitarianism had not come into existence. But the state of nature and the contractual idea of society and politics which were presumed by thinkers of Enlightenment, are a utilitarian consequentialism, that is, to achieve the aim of acquiring secular happiness for everyone. So we say that thinkers of Enlightenment pointed out two paths of justification for human rights, namely, absolutism of human rights based on universal natural humanity and relativism of human rights based on secular utility.Chapter 3 discusses the reasonableness of the view of human rights based on systematic utilitarianism and its insurmountable difficulty. The dissertation holds that the design of human rights system based on the utilitarian principle of greatest happiness of the greatest number is indispensable, because what the legislation regarding human rights after Enlightenment aims to realize is secular happiness for everyone. But the design of the human rights system based on the principle of "greatest happiness of the greatest number" must have insurmountable difficulty because the minority tends to be the instrument of this aim under the principle. Especially, even right to life under this utilitarian principle can be legitimately deprived-euthanasia, abortion and capital punishment are examples of this. This fundamentally contradicts the spirit of human rights which aims to realize the universal dignity and happiness of everyone. So utilitarianism can not become the base philosophy of human rights, but only become the goal-related principle. There must be a philosophy which provides j...