Human Rights Discourse in Modern Africa: A Comparative Religious Ethical Perspective
Contemporary discourse on human rights in Africa constitutes an important and controversial aspect of the general discourse on African society and culture. I begin by examining the idea of human rights as a moral category and discuss its pertinence to African cultural and political life. I then anal...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
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Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
1995
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In: |
Journal of religious ethics
Year: 1995, Volume: 23, Issue: 2, Pages: 293-322 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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Summary: | Contemporary discourse on human rights in Africa constitutes an important and controversial aspect of the general discourse on African society and culture. I begin by examining the idea of human rights as a moral category and discuss its pertinence to African cultural and political life. I then analyze and discuss the two dominant positions in the current debate, namely, the communitarian and the individualist theses. I argue that both positions are inadequate because they dissociate dimensions of life that need to be interpreted in their interplay. Drawing upon samples of traditional African religious and ethical traditions, I propose a personalist theory of human rights that affirms the intrinsic individuality and sociality of the human status. |
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ISSN: | 1467-9795 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
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