Cited by 311Legal Rights and Human RightsPolitical Philosophy and EthicsInternational Law and Human Rights

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What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought

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Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte·2010·Human Rights Quarterly

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Abstract

A close reading of academic literature reveals that we do not all conceive of human rights in the same way. This contribution proposes that "natural scholars" conceive of human rights as given ; "deliberative scholars" as agreed upon ; "protest scholars" as fought for ; and "discourse scholars" as talked about . The position of each of these four schools on the foundation, universality, possible realization, and legal embodiment of human rights is reviewed, as well as is the schools' faith, or lack thereof, in human rights. Quotations from academic texts illustrate how the four school model cuts across the academic disciplines with examples drawn from philosophy, politics, law, and anthropology.

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Authors: Dembour, M.-B.
Corresponding author: Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte
ORCID: Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte
Venue: Human Rights Quarterly
Publisher: Project MUSE
Published: 2010-02
Volume: 32
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-20
ISSN: 0275-0392 (ISSN-L)
1085-794X
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.0.0130
OpenAlex: W1964201209
Semantic Scholar: 364e165e505d49723088f8c08d21dce6b224bc93
Cited by: 311
References: 1
Citations by year: 2026: 6 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
FWCI: 151.19
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
figshare.com
Licence: cc-by
Locations: Human Rights Quarterly (publishedVersion)
Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Law › Legal Rights and Human Rights
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Philosophy and Ethics
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Law and Human Rights
Keywords: human rights, natural rights, deliberative democracy, protest movements, discourse, universality of human rights, foundations of human rights

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What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought

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