The Origins of Human Rights

External Since: Feb 28, 2004 Posts: 1666

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=ba6...eAxi&is

Rights from Wrongs: The Origins of Human Rights in the Experiences of
Injustice
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In Rights from Wrongs, renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz puts forward
a wholly new and compelling answer to one of the most persistent dilemmas
in both law and moral philosophy: where do our rights come from? Does
something called "natural law" really exist outside of what is written in
constitutions and legal statutes? If so, how can we know what this law
says, and why are rights not the same everywhere and in all eras?" In this
book, Dershowitz offers a fresh resolution to this age-old dilemma: Rights,
he argues, do not come from God, nature, logic, or law alone. They arise
out of particular human experiences with injustice. While justice is an
elusive concept, hard to define, and subject to conflicting
interpretations, injustice is immediate, intuitive, widely agreed upon, and
very tangible. Rights from Wrongs is the first book to propose a theory of
rights that emerges not from some theory of perfect justice but from its
opposite: from the bottom up, from trial and error, and from our collective
experience of injustice. Human rights come from human wrongs.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publisher's Weekly
The double meaning in Dershowitz's title indicates just one of the
insightful thoughts that mark the well-known Harvard law professor's latest
work. In tracing the evolution of rights, he argues forcefully against any
concept of natural rights deriving from religion and from law. Defining
himself as a pragmatist, Dershowitz asserts that human rights derive from
the world's experience with "wrongs," i.e., injustice. Only after seeing
genocide, for example, did the notion develop that this was a violation of
human rights. Dershowitz (Supreme Injustice) has a rare ability to develop
complex ideas in readable prose. In the book's first half, he carefully
examines the rationale for an experiential approach to rights; the second
half applies this approach to some of today's hot-button issues. Dershowitz
is often on the liberal side: for instance, he has little stomach for
literal interpretations of the Constitution-what he calls the "dead
constitution" approach. But he can surprise: he argues, for instance, that
Justice Scalia's "dead constitution" approach led him to a firmer defense
of individual rights than other justices in the recent Hamdi case. Whether
conservative or liberal, absolutist or relativist, readers will find areas
of disagreement, but most will concur that a talented and creative legal
mind is at work. Agent, Helen Rees Literary Agency. (Nov. 12) Copyright
2004 Reed Business Information.
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External Since: Dec 23, 2004 Posts: 10

buckeye-ELO.DeleteThis@nospam.net wrote:

>
>
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=ba6...eAxi&is
>
> Rights from Wrongs: The Origins of Human Rights in the Experiences of
> Injustice
> FROM THE PUBLISHER
> "In Rights from Wrongs, renowned legal scholar Alan Dershowitz puts
> forward a wholly new and compelling answer to one of the most persistent
> dilemmas in both law and moral philosophy: where do our rights come from?
> Does something called "natural law" really exist outside of what is
> written in constitutions and legal statutes? If so, how can we know what
> this law says, and why are rights not the same everywhere and in all
> eras?" In this book, Dershowitz offers a fresh resolution to this age-old
> dilemma: Rights, he argues, do not come from God, nature, logic, or law
> alone. They arise out of particular human experiences with injustice.
> While justice is an elusive concept, hard to define, and subject to
> conflicting interpretations, injustice is immediate, intuitive, widely
> agreed upon, and very tangible. Rights from Wrongs is the first book to
> propose a theory of rights that emerges not from some theory of perfect
> justice but from its opposite: from the bottom up, from trial and error,
> and from our collective experience of injustice. Human rights come from
> human wrongs.

The first book to expound on this? Incredible, it seems so obvious.

> FROM THE CRITICS
> Publisher's Weekly
> The double meaning in Dershowitz's title indicates just one of the
> insightful thoughts that mark the well-known Harvard law professor's
> latest work. In tracing the evolution of rights, he argues forcefully
> against any concept of natural rights deriving from religion and from law.
> Defining himself as a pragmatist, Dershowitz asserts that human rights
> derive from the world's experience with "wrongs," i.e., injustice. Only
> after seeing genocide, for example, did the notion develop that this was a
> violation of human rights. Dershowitz (Supreme Injustice) has a rare
> ability to develop complex ideas in readable prose. In the book's first
> half, he carefully examines the rationale for an experiential approach to
> rights; the second half applies this approach to some of today's
> hot-button issues. Dershowitz is often on the liberal side: for instance,
> he has little stomach for literal interpretations of the Constitution-what
> he calls the "dead constitution" approach. But he can surprise: he argues,
> for instance, that Justice Scalia's "dead constitution" approach led him
> to a firmer defense of individual rights than other justices in the recent
> Hamdi case. Whether conservative or liberal, absolutist or relativist,
> readers will find areas of disagreement, but most will concur that a
> talented and creative legal mind is at work. Agent, Helen Rees Literary
> Agency. (Nov. 12) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
>
*********************************************************************************

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Cheerful Charlie