Nietzsche and the Universality of Human Rights

Aftab, Mohammadreza; Mohebi, Mohsen

doi:10.22066/cilamag.2022.252904

Nietzsche and the Universality of Human Rights

نوع مقاله : علمی پژوهشی

نویسندگان

10.22066/cilamag.2022.252904

چکیده

Universality of common human values embedded in declarations and international treaties supposed to be evident in the international human rights legal system but it does not mean that there were no intellectual discrepancies behind those instruments. Universality of human rights has its roots more than anything on theories of Jhon locke's natural law and Immanuel kant's rational ethics. But one of the earliest philosophers of opposition side against unity of human nature and universal morality at the embryonic stage was Nietzsche. Bringing forth the theory of will to power by adopting a psychological genealogy method Nietzsche distinguished between two moralities: Masters Morality and Slaves Morality. He attributed human rights as slave morality. Slaves revolted with the spirit of resentment and womanish deception against masters then introduced their own qualities as standard and universal. The Rise of Christianity and the Great French Revolution are amongst two biggest examples of such slave revolt in morality. With such a presupposition, trying by any effort to reconcile human rights morals with Nietzschean views seems to be unachievable. While reviewing past philosophical challenges, this article tries to analyze necessity of co-existence both international human rights legal system and Nietzschean world from a new perspective.

کلیدواژه‌ها

عنوان مقاله [English]

Nietzsche and Universality of Human Rights

نویسندگان [English]

Mohammadreza Aftab
Mohsen Mohebi

phD student of Public International Law, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Tehran, Iran.

چکیده [English]

Universality of common human values embedded in declarations and international treaties supposed to be evident In the international human rights legal system but it does not mean that there was no intellectual discrepancies behinds those instruments. Universality of human rights has its roots more than anything on theories of Jhon locke's natural law and Immanuel kant's rational ethics. but one of the earliest philosophers of opposition side against unity of human nature and universal morality at the embryonic stage was Nietzsche. Bringing forth the theory of will to power by adopting a psychological genealogy method Nietzsche distinguished between two moralities: Masters Morality and Slaves Morality. He attributed human rights as slave morality. Slaves revolted with the spirit of resentment and womanish deception against masters then introduced their own qualities as standard and universal. The Rise of Christianity and the Great French Revolution are amongst two biggest examples of such slave revolt in morality. with such a presupposition, trying by any effort to reconcile human rights morals with Nietzschean views seems to be unachievable. while reviewing past philosophical challenges this article tries to analyze necessity of co-existence both international human rights legal system and Nietzschean world from a new perspective.

کلیدواژه‌ها [English]

Nietzsche
human rights
universality
natural law
ethics

مراجع

- Books
1. MacIntyre, Alasdair, Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity: An Essay on Desire, Practical Reasoning, and Narrative, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
2. Brems, Eva, Human Rights: Universality and Diversity, International Studies in Human Rights, Kluwer Law International, 2001.
3. Descartes, Rene, Discourse on the Method of Correctly Conducting One’s Reason and Seeking Truth in the Sciences, Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Ian Maclean, New York: Oxford, 2006.
4. Filmer, Robert, “Patriarcha”, in: Patriarcha and Other Political Works of Sir Robert Filmrr, Peter Laslett (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949.
5. Locke, John, Two Treatise of Government, Peter Laslett (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
6. Kant, Immanuel, What is Enlightment, in Kant Political Writings, H. S. Reiss (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
7. Kant, Immanuel, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, in: Practical Philosophy translated by Mary Gregor, California: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
8. Fatemi, Seyed M. Ghari, Human Rights in the Contemporary World, Negah-e Moaser Pub., Tehran, (in Persian), 2017.
9. Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Gay Science: With a Prelude in Rhymes and an Appendix of Songs, translated with commentary, by Walter Kaufmann, Vintage Books, 1974.
10. Robinson, Dave, Nietzsche and Postmodernism, Totem Books, 1999.
11. Jaspers, Karl, Nietzsche: An Introduction to the Understanding of His Philosophical Activity, Translated into English by C. F. Wallraff, F. J. Schmitz, Revised Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
12. Holub, Robert C., Jurgen Habermas: Critic in the Public Sphere, Routledge, 1994.
13. Ansell-Pearson, Keith, An Introduction to Nietzsche as Political Thinker: The Perfect Nihilist, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
14. Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Will to Power, translated by Walter Kaufman and R.J. Holdingale, New York: Vintage, 1968.
15. Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Birth of Tragedy, translated by Shaun Whiteside, Holdingale, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1993.
16. Nietzsche, Friedrich, Beyond Good and Evil, translated by Judith Norman, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
17. Nietzsche, Friedrich, On the Genealogy of Morality, translated by Carol Dietche, Cambridge University Press, 2000.
18. Nietzsche, Friedrich,. The Anti-Christ, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols, and Other Writings, translated by Judith Norman, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
19. Dozinas, Costas Human Rights and Empire: The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism, Routledge-Cavendish, 2007.
20. Nietzsche, Friedrich, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Translated by Adrian Del Caro, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
21. Rorty, Richard, Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity, Cambridge University Press, 1989.
22. Mahboobi Aranie, HamidReza, Nietzsche and the Tragic Yes-Saying to Life, Nashr-e Markaz Publishing Co., Tehran, (In Persian), 2013.
23. Ahern, Daniel, Nietzsche as Cultural Physician, Penn State University Press, 1995.
24. Zakerian, Mehdi, All Human Rights for All, Mizan Publication, (in Persian), 2013.
- Articles
1. Alexander, A., "Bentham, Rights and Humanity: A Fight in Three Rounds", Journal of Bentham Studies, vol. 6, 2003.
2. Macfarlane, L. J., "Marxist Theory and Human Rights", in: Government and Opposition, vol. 17, No. 4, 1982.
3. Pennington M., Liberty, "Markets, and Environmental Values: A Hayekian Defense of Free-Market Environmentalism", Independent Review, vol. 10, Issue 1, 2005.
4. Ghai, Yash., “Human Rights and Asian Values”, Journal of the Indian Law Institute, vol. 40, No. ¼, 1998.
5. Binion, G., "Human Rights: A Feminist Perspective". Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 17, Issue 3, 1995.
6. Derrida, J., Wills, D., "The Animal That Therefore I Am" (More to Follow), Critical Inquiry, vol. 28, Issue 2, 2002.
7. Bonnet, Sebastian, "Overcoming Eurocentrism in Human Rights: Postcolonial Critiques – Islamic Answers?", Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, vol. 12, Issue 1, 2015.
8. Douzinas, Costas, "The End of Human Rights", University of Melbourne Law Review, vol. 445, 2002.
9. Ghezelsofla, Mohammad Taghi, "The Relationship Between Ethics and Human Rights in the Thought of Richard Rorty", (In Persian), Human Rights, vol. 9, No. 1 and 2, 2013.
- Websites
1. Soh, Changrok, et al., "Time for a Fourth Generation of Human Rights?", 2018, Online available at: <https://www.unrisd.org/ TechAndHumanRights-Soh-et-al>, last seen 13 December 2022.