Human Rights and Human Nature: Introduction

Abstract

Recourse to the concept of human nature has always played a prominent role in the justification and defense of human rights. The idea has its roots in ancient philosophy and in religious traditions and also extends to early modern natural rights thinking. “Human nature”, as a concept, is still widely used in contemporary philosophical and juridical human rights discourse as a way of justifying the universal and egalitarian validity of the claim of human rights. The chapter provides a short introduction to approaches, arguments, problems and challenges as well as an overview of the essays of the volume.