The Idea of Human Rights: Four Inquiries

by Michael J. Perry

Book Overview

Inspired by a 1988 trip to El Salvador, Michael J. Perry's new book is a personal and scholarly exploration of the idea of human rights. Perry is one of our nation's leading authorities on the relation of morality, including religious morality, to politics and law. He seeks, in this book, to disentangle the complex idea of human rights by way of four probing and interrelated essays.

* The initial essay, which is animated by Perry's skepticism...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195138287
• ISBN13: 9780195138283
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Short, Lucid, Deep

"The Idea of Human Rights" explores and illuminates some fundamental questions about human rights: where they come from, whether they are universal, and whether they are absolute. I have nothing but praise for the book. The writing is lucid, the arguments are meticulous, and much thought is packed into only 157 pages of text and notes. Some readers will be put off by the Catholic slant, but the author is fair to different philosophical and theological views. Bottomline: The book is a small classic. Highly recommended for lawyers, philosophers, and activists.

Must read for anyone investigating the concept of Human Rights

"The Idea of Human Rights" is one of those books that leaves a lasting impact on those that read it. The picture on the front is enough to instigate conversations on an incredible array of topics. I read it in a "rights" class investigating whether there were such a thing as objectively derived rights, as opposed to something we subjectively believe should be the case. If you are an ardent supporter of human rights and believe that they cannot be denied, you may not like this book, but you should read it nonetheless because it possesses issues with the concept of universal human rights that must be dealt with. If you are just investigating the concept, once again, it should be read as the issues posed cannot be avoided. Written with clarity and a logical flow, the arguments are easy to follow and very tangible. I keep few academic books from when I was working on my degree. This is one of them.

disturbing, thought provoking, and accessible

Is the idea of human rights a religious idea? Is there such a thing as an absolute right? What are the things that no human being should ever do to another human being? And what are the things that all human beings ought to do for other human beings? Is the language of human rights (as entitlement) part of the problem as we try to understand what is ethical behaviour? Perry asks, and answers these questions. His writing is lawyerly, but accessible. He explores these questions for himself, taking you along for the ride. A smart guy with a lot of information about these things, it is an informative ride and useful to apply to both day-to-day life, and an understanding of what the UN is up against. A required book for anyone who wants to work in politics, especially, but really for anyone who cares about know what we ought to do and ought not to do as moral human beings.