Which Rights Should Be Universal? PDF
Preview Which Rights Should Be Universal?
Which Rights Should Be Universal? WILLIAM J. TALBOTT OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Which Rights Should Be Universal? Which Rights Should Be Universal? WILLIAM J. TALBOTT 1 3 OxfordUniversityPress,Inc.,publishesworksthatfurther OxfordUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellence inresearch,scholarship,andeducation. Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto Withofficesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam CopyrightbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. PublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress,Inc. MadisonAvenue,NewYork,NewYork www.oup.com OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise, withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversityPress. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Talbott,W.J. Whichrightsshouldbeuniversal?/WilliamJ.Talbott. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN----- ISBN--- . Humanrights—Philosophy. . Humanrights—Moralandethicalaspects. I. Title. JC.T ′.—dc PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica onacid-freepaper To my parents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book began as a public lecture at the University of Washington in January . The idea grew to become a chapter, then a book, then two books, of which this is the first. The second volume (Human Rights and Hu- manWell-Being)willalsobepublishedbyOxfordUniversityPress. The book has benefited from the contributions of many people. I used part of the manuscript in a joint seminar that I taught with my colleague in political science Jamie Mayerfeld in the winter of . I received many goodsuggestionsfromthemembersoftheseminar,especiallyfromKather- ineKimandGracePastine. I presented a draft of several chapters to an interdisciplinary group of humanities scholars at the University of Washington’s Simpson Center for the Humanities in the fall of . I particularly benefited from the com- ments of Bruce Burgett, Margit Dementi Rankin, Shannon Dudley, Dianah LeighJackson,andKathleenWoodward. Ihavealsobenefitedfromdiscussioninmyundergraduateclasses,espe- cially from questions asked by Dakota Solberg-Moen and Andrew Ness. I wasfortunatetobeabletodiscusspartofthemanuscriptwithaninterdisci- plinary group of faculty at Green River Community College in February .Inthespring of,Ihadanopportunityto presentapartialdraft of the book in a series of five lectures to a nonacademic audience in the Wednesday University, a joint program of Seattle Arts & Lectures and the U.W.SimpsonCenterfortheHumanities. WorkonthisbookhasbeensupportedbyasummergrantfromtheU.W. Human Rights Education and Research Center, by a one-quarter release from teachingfunded bythe U.W.Simpson Centerfor the Humanities,and byasabbaticalleavefromtheUniversityofWashington. viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I have received valuable comments from many people on drafts of vari- ouschapters,includingJeffClausen,DavidKeyt,BruceKochis,ThomasMc- Carthy, Tom Nagel, Paul Taylor, Martin Tweedale, Jay Wallace, and an anonymous referee. Elijah Millgram and Liam Murphy provided detailed and very useful comments on several chapters. Jacques Corriveau, Kather- ine Kim, and John Talbott read and commented on an early version of the full manuscript. Katherine Kim helped with the proofreading of the final version.Ialsowanttothankthefollowingmembersoftheeditorialstaffat Oxford University Press for their contributions: Stacey Hamilton, Merryl Sloane, Lara Zoble, and especially Peter Ohlin for his encouragement and guidancethroughoutthepublicationprocess. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Jamie Mayerfeld. Over the years, I have discussed many of these issues with Jamie; in the winter of we cotaughtacoursethatgavememanyideasforthebook;andoverthepast three years Jamie has commented on many drafts of many chapters. His goodadvicehashelpedmeinmorewaysthanIcanlist. I want to thank my daughters, Kate and Rebecca, for teaching me so much about the rewards of child rearing as well as for being such a good audience for my ideas over so many years. I am grateful to my stepdaugh- ter, Erin Burchfield, who challenged me to articulate the appeal of moral relativism and who also provided me with information about the life of women in Nepal after she spent a semester there. Finally, I want to thank my wife, Judy, who has provided me with the encouragement and emo- tional support that enabled me to write the book, has proofread the entire manuscript, has provided me with many suggestions that improved the book,andhastaughtmesomuchaboutempathicunderstanding. CONTENTS Introduction The Proof Paradigm and the Moral Discovery Paradigm Cultural Relativism about Human Rights An Epistemically Modest Universal Moral Standpoint The Development of Women’s Rights as a Microcosm of the Development of Human Rights Autonomy Rights Political Rights Clarifications and Objections Conclusion Notes References Index Which Rights Should Be Universal?
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