Are human rights innate and universal Essay - 1688 Words

Are human rights innate and universal? Living Human Rights Post WWII on the 10 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was espoused by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to agree on the notion that such atrocities that occurred throughout the Great War and the Second World War would not ever be reciprocated. The document that was drawn up in less than two years by the UN and Western states, and although ambitious it would guarantee a premise for life and living for every individual all over the world. The UDHR are founded on nobility, equality and reverence, and are said to be aimed at all cultures and religions within the West and East of the globe. However there is great discrepancy regarding†¦show more content†¦An unknown critic of the 1970s wrote â€Å"Human rights might turn out like a Trojan Horse, surreptitiously introduced into other civilisations, which will then be obliged to accept those ways of living, thinking and feeling for which human rights is the proper solution in cases o f conflict†, (Donnelly, 1982). Many rights are not relevant to culture and life in third world countries such as the rights of a woman, and cultural relativism is a challenging concept for the world to accommodate to. It is not possible to have ‘universal’ human rights where in some parts of the world marriage is seen as a correspondence between families instead of a commitment between man and woman. It is almost impossible for integration between contrasting cultures to exist. An example of this is the social groups in Africa. Most of the social groups within Africa believe in the ‘four R’s’ being respect, restraint, responsibility and reciprocity, instead of defined rights (Tharoor, 2000). The complete group takes greater priority over the rights of the individual, and many crucial political decisions are resolved through communal debate rather than an individual’s opinion of rights. Constructing a ‘right’ way of life for people to abide by is morally and ethically unjust. All cultures haveShow MoreRelatedLocke vs. Knowledge Innatism1224 Words   |  5 Pagesthat nativists think are innate in the mind are truths that do not have to be learned through experience, such as knowledge of the laws of nature amp; mathematical truths. Examples of these are: 1) â€Å"What goes up must come down† (the law of gravity) amp; 2) â€Å"one plus one is two†. This school of thought is used to explain certain truths that might seem to have universal applicability. Nativists think that certain sorts of knowledge are innate because of 1) its universal applicability or 2) truthsRead MoreThe Existence Of Innate Ideas1275 Words   |  6 PagesEnglish philosopher of the late 17th century. In Book 1 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he presents many ideas of knowledge and its origins. He rejects the existence of innate ideas and proves his beliefs with many arguments, one being that â€Å"universal consent proves nothing innate† (Locke 630). Another argument is that children and idiots do not have this knowledge imprinted on their minds, which must prove innate knowledge to be nonexistent. I disagree with Locke because I believe we allRead MoreEssay about Empiricist vs. Rationalist901 Words   |  4 PagesDescartes believe that knowledge is innate; this way of thinking is used by rationalist. In this paper I will discuss the difference between Descartes rationalism in his essays The Meditations and Lockes empiricism in his essays An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. I will then lend my understanding as to what I believe as the ultimate source of knowledge. Locke discards the suggestion of innate ideas. Locke believes that if we always had innate ideas, it would be impossible for usRead MoreThe Moral Instinct By Pinker845 Words   |  4 Pagesfrom and why is it important for us to know? The cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and scholar, Steven Pinker discusses this in his essay, â€Å"The Moral Instinct†. In this essay, Pinker claims that our morality sense is innate, it constantly changes, and it is universal among each culture. Pinker also explains that moral sense shapes our judgement as it is something that we value and seek in other people. The science of the moral sense is important since it shows how morality impacts our actionsRead MoreUniversal Ethics Is It Nature Vs. Nurture999 Words   |  4 PagesUniversal Ethics, is it nature vs. nurture? Do we act the way we do in light of the fact that and simply because of the chemical responses in our brains? On the other hand, is it results of the way our parents/ guardians have raised us and our friends/associates have affected our behavior in some way shape or form? Michael Gazzaniga, a professor of psychology, concluded that it is possible that our brains are predisposed and that we don’t have free will. Ethics are rules of behavior based on ideasRead More Language Acquisition in Children Essay1626 Words   |  7 PagesLanguage Acquisition in Children Introduction The study of language development, one of the most fascinating human achievements, has a long and rich history, extending over thousands of years (Chomsky, 2000). As the nature-versus-nurture argument is inevitable to arise whenever human behaviors are discussed, it is not surprising that language experts have debated the relative influences of genetics and the environment on language development (Hulit Howard, 2002). Among the various proposalsRead MoreChild Language Acquisition: Nature or Nurture?1645 Words   |  7 PagesChild language acquisition: nature or nurture? (final version) Introduction The study of language development, one of the most fascinating human achievements, has a long and rich history, extending over thousands of years (Chomsky, 2000). As the nature-versus-nurture argument is inevitable to arise whenever human behaviors are discussed, it is not surprising that language experts have debated the relative influences of genetics and the environment on language development (Hulit Howard, 2002). AmongRead MoreHuman Rights And The Rights1178 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction: Human rights are a notion long-debated in history. Two of the three main claims of human rights characteristics are universality and inconvertibility. Universality indicates that human rights are applied equally to every individual, no matter their ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, age, religion, political conviction, or type of government. Inconvertibility means that human rights are absolute and innate. They cannot be removed or denied by any political authority as they are notRead MoreEnglish Syntax- Summary676 Words   |  3 Pagesabout their native language which enables them to speak and understand the language fluently. The cognitive approach is a part of the universal grammar, whose ultimate intent is to define the grammars properties which could be found in every language. Universal grammar is the result that derives from our biologically endowed knowledge, hence it is described as an innate part of each languages grammar. Our biologically endowed knowledge is known as I-language, and as its additon there is an E-languageRead MoreAutonomy and Self-Reliance: Kant Vs. Emmerson1682 Words   |  7 Pagesthe works of writers all around the world. Kant’s idealism stems from a claim that moral law, a set of innate rules within each individual, gives people the ability to reason, and it is through this that people attain truth. These innate rules exist in the form of maxims: statements that hold a general truth. Using this, Kant concluded with the idea of autonomy, in which all rational human wills are autonomous, each individual is bound by their own will and in an ideal society, people should operate