Natural Human Rights

Michael Boylan is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Marymount University. He is author of 26 books and more than 100 articles. His monograph A Just Society (2004) was recently the subject of an edited volume featuring fourteen authors from eight countries, entitled Morality and Justice: Reading Boylan's 'A Just Society'. He has served on professional and governmental policy committees and was a Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a program presenter at the Brookings Institution. He is an international figure who has been an invited speaker at a number of prominent universities outside the United States, including Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, University College London, Trinity College (Dublin), University College (Dublin), The Sorbonne, The Katholic University of Leuven, University of Oslo, University of Copenhagen, Cologne University, Bochum University, Twente and Delft Universities, Santiago University (Chile), University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, Australian National University and Charles Sturt University (Waga Waga, Australia). He is also a published novelist and poet.

• Part I. Conceptualizing Human Rights: 1. How do we talk about human rights?; 2. A short history of human rights in the West; 3. Human rights in China; Part II. Justifications for Human Rights: 4. Legal justifications; 5. Interest justifications; 6. Agency justifications; 7. Ontology, justice, and human rights; Part III. Applications of Human Rights: 8. War rape; 9. Political speech; 10. LGBT rights.

'In this important book Boylan the philosopher and Boylan the novelist join forces. By combining fine stories; conceptual, historical, and literary analysis; an extended systematic argument; and pertinent case studies, Boylan successfully develops his theory of universal human rights. A demonstration of admirable scholarship and a superb addition to philosophy!' Klaus Steigleder, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany