Human Rights as a Western Concept

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Is the notion of human rights a western concept?/Raimundo Panikkar. 3. A response/Arvind Sharma. 4. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.

"Whether the discourse on human rights constitutes an authentically universal discourse, or merely western discourse masquerading as such, is an issue which has persisted ever since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, and shows no signs of letting up. This book presents an in-depth exploration of this issue in a novel format, by presenting a celebrated piece on this issue by Raimundo Panikkar, with a detailed response to it by Arvind Sharma, thereby laying bare several key dimensions of the debate which may otherwise escape notice." (jacket)