Towards one global community? A critical examination of human rights and cosmopolitan ideas

The dissertation argues that a universal justification of human rights is possible, which is independent of any particular ethical doctrines. This justification builds upon the idea of human beings as free and equal and upon a thin objective view of the human person. Human rights presuppose modern pluralistic societies, because their function is not only to assure to human beings the avoidance of the worst deprivations, but also a fair chance of pursuing varying conceptions of the good life. The idea of human rights is further specified by pointing out that only an abstract scheme of rights is derivable from a theoretical perspective, which needs always be contextualized through local legal norms, institutions and social practices.;The argumentation addresses also the possibility of a cosmopolitan community, which is defined as having three inseparable dimensions: the moral, the legal and the political. Its realization requires a sense of universal human fellowship, the universal endorsement of human rights in practice, as well as the construction of a thin system of global governance. The last chapter argues that this is a vision for the future, because the conditions for its existence are not yet met, especially a global consensus on human rights. A non-ideal theory for the actual real world should be based upon the concept of a quasi-moral quasi-legal order able to impose some normative constraints on the existing international relations.;The central outcome of the overall argumentation is that a shift is necessary in human rights theorizing from institutions to mentalities and practices. While it is not denied that institutions are important both at the domestic and supranational level, including the global one, human rights require an overlapping consensus in every society to be constructed, a readiness of every society to reflect on its social practices and to change them when necessary and especially to recognize that all human beings are free and equal in rights. Cosmopolitan theories are criticized for emphasizing primarily the necessity of global institutional construction and for neglecting the importance of a bottom-up approach, which presupposes promoting structural local transformation.