Hello everything is fine? I am Professor Leandro Cordioli, and today is Monday, the day of our two minutes of philosophy. Do you know what human rights are?
Have you ever wondered what these rights we call human rights are? Philosophers and jurists have long been concerned with issues related to resistance to oppression and tyranny, and human rights fit into this context. This video is a quick version of my longer lesson on human rights.
It is worth making a historical introduction to present the issue of human rights. In fact, if you want to know more, there is a playlist on the channel where I talk about the history of human rights declarations and another about natural law and natural rights. So what are human rights?
Let our clock begin! Firstly, it is interesting to highlight that human beings' concern with the issue of oppression and injustice has been around for a long time. Even the Code of Hammurabi and the Old Testament already addressed the injustice that the most vulnerable people in society could suffer.
The tragedy Antigone, by Sophocles, is another classic example of resistance to oppression practiced by rulers. But perhaps the rational foundations only appeared with the philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, who began to worry about "natural justice". This tradition went through the Middle Ages, with the conceptions of Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on natural law.
However, it was only after the Enlightenment, between the 15th and 18th centuries, with the Declarations of Human Rights and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of the French Revolution, that this individualistic notion of rights emerged. At that time, the main rights were bourgeois rights: the right to life, freedom, property and equality. Only in 1948, after the Second World War, with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, did this concept come to be understood as something that applies to all human beings, not just men and citizens, but also women, children and the elderly.
. There was a concern to protect human rights internationally. Other rights, such as social rights — to work, leisure, housing and education — also began to be considered human rights.
That was our two minutes of philosophy. Human rights emerged from resistance to oppression in modern societies, but there was already a long tradition of concern with defending against injustice, both from other people and from those in power. This video is just a brief introduction to the historical evolution of human rights, and there is certainly much more for us to study on the topic.
I would like to suggest some readings that can help with this study. The Era of Rights, by Norberto Bobbio, defends human rights, proposing that they emerged as a response to oppression. Another interesting author is Michel Villey, with his work Law and Human Rights.
Villey adopts a more critical stance, stating that every human right is, in essence, the exercise of an injustice. Finally, I recommend reading Natural Law and Natural Rights, by John Finnis. Professor John Finnis argues that human rights are positive, as they allow the defense of basic human goods, but that these rights must be contextualized within a relationship of justice.
This helps to clarify who the rights holders are and what their respective obligations are, circumventing Villey's criticisms. If you found this video useful and learned something new, don't forget to like it. This motivates us to continue with this work.
I also ask you to subscribe to the channel and share it with your friends on social media. This helps a lot in making this knowledge reach more people. Oh, and don't forget to check out our list of videos on the history of human rights declarations.
A hug and have a good week! These are the votes of Professor Leandro Cordioli.
