Volume : 4, Issue : 7, July - 2015

The Universality of Human Rights: Contending Debates

Chandan Dan

Abstract :

<p>There have been long debates among anthropologists and philosophers on the issue whether moral values are universal or relative to the cultural context in which it emerges. Presently this debate has become significant in the discourse of international human rights theory as the often-presumed universality of human rights standards have been objected to by both the scholars and politicians, arguing that the validity and meaning of human rights are relative to particular cultural, social, and political contexts. The Universalist versus Relativist debate has been strikingly complex, requiring consideration of fundamental and, perhaps, irresolvable issues regarding morals, the nature of rights, and the philosophical foundations of human rights. Different significant and theoretical questions on the aforementioned issue have been considered in the present discussion.</p>