Abstract

NIEL, Luis. My Rights and the Rights of the Other. Phenomenological Reflections on the Foundation of Human Rights. Rev. filos.open insight [online]. 2017, vol.8, n.13, pp.9-32. ISSN 2395-8936.

The article’s goal is to present a phenomenological reflection on Human Rights [HR]. In a first introductory section we will outline a brief juridical-conceptual characterization of the concept of «right», following Carlos Nino’s thought in order to show that HR cannot be justified based on the legal science. In the second part we will present our own account of HR out of a phenomenological perspective, which will be developed in different levels of constitution. Hence, we will show, first, how to rightly understand the «being human» of the other, based on the distinction between the empathic and the moral recognition; second, how the most basic rights, i.e. freedom and the right to live are constituted in a very basic genetic sense, based on the subjective-intersubjective relation, and how this constitution arises in a direct correlation with the recognition of the other and of his/ her own rights, in the most basic experiential meaning of the term; third, how, from a phenomenological transgenetic or intergenerational perspective, it is possible to describe and thus explain the historical origin of HR by means of the concept of «primal-institution -Urstiftung- of sense», that institutes legitimacy and validity as it happens within history. We will present this phenomenological account as an alternative to the classical dichotomy between iusnaturalism and iuspositivism.

Keywords : Freedom; Human Rights; Life; Other; Phenomenology.