Is Dignity the Foundation of Human Rights?

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the claim that human dignity is the foundation of human rights. The proposition, or something like it, is found in the preambles of the major human rights conventions, and is also common in the rhetoric of scholars addressing the subject of rights. The claim is often made loosely; sometimes it is barely more than a piece of decorative rhetoric. Other times, it seems to convey a quite precise (and controversial) proposition. The aim is not to refute the claim but to see what obstacles the claim might face.

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