Watching the Opera in Silence: Disgust, Autonomy, and the Search for Universal Human Rights

24 Pages Posted: 7 Jan 2016

See all articles by Richard Delgado

Richard Delgado

Seattle University School of Law

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

Are human rights expanding over time? Christopher Stone, Peter Singer, and many others hold that they are and that this is a good thing. In a famous article and book, Stone points out that in early times, human beings recognized rights only for members of their immediate family or clan. Gradually, our circle of concern expanded to include members of other clans, then foreigners, women, Jews, and other races. Stone writes that we will eventually come to endow natural objects, such as rocks, trees, fish, and rivers, with rights so that one day the entire natural environment will receive protection in its own right and not merely because this will benefit humanity. More recent writing explains what propels this expansion in human consciousness, including recent work suggesting that fiction and vicarious experience can play key roles.

Keywords: law and literature, human rights, race, civil rights, critical race theory

Suggested Citation

Delgado, Richard, Watching the Opera in Silence: Disgust, Autonomy, and the Search for Universal Human Rights (2009). University of Pittsburgh Law Review, Vol. 70, 2009, U of Alabama Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2711804, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2711804

Richard Delgado (Contact Author)

Seattle University School of Law ( email )

WA
United States

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