Descriptif

From the American and French Revolutions of the 18th century to the Declarations of Human Rights of the 20th century (the Universal Declaration proclaimed by the UN in 1948, the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950), human rights have retrospectively emerged as the core of philosophical theories of natural law.  ‘Declared’ by revolutionary movements or international institutions, but rarely fully ‘incorporated’ into constitutions, human rights are often suspected of being more about morality than law. They have a tense and ambiguous relationship with positive law and politics.

Is this because they bear traces of their philosophical origins? How did philosophical theories of natural law pave the way for the rise of human rights? What is the difference between classical natural law (ancient and medieval) and modern natural law (the theories of the 17th and 18th centuries), and why did human rights have no place in antiquity?