[ Who is the ‘Human ’ in Human Rights? A Levinasian Reflection]

Copyright © 2015 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: We are living in a period where public opinion is unanimous in the defence of Human Rights, as the protesters are always far outnumbered by the partisans. This paper neither takes a side nor acts as a judge in disputes between supporters and protesters, but offers a constructive criticism of the theory and praxis of Human Rights. Thus, in an attempt to extend the scope of traditional criticism whose only target was the concept of ‘Right, ’ this essay reflects on the essential identity of Man, the beneficiary of the Rights. It walks in the footsteps of Levinas in the laying of the practice of the ‘unconditional duty to the Other ’ as the foundation of Man’s Humanity and as the objective foundation of the Rights