Human Rights Beyond Naturalism

Naturalistic Conceptions of Human and Animal Rights: From Human Exceptionalism to Transspecies Universalism

“…The ground of human rights is rather the feature, universally possessed by human beings, that justifies these rights'). 24 The universalist formula that 'all humans have human rights' is thus the conclusion of an enthymeme (the unstated major premise is that human rights are grounded in X; the unstated minor premise is that all humans have X; the stated conclusion is that all humans have human rights); according to Pollmann (2014), p. 127, this kind of reasoning is bound to be circular, because the conclusion is already presupposed in the premises. That is, X in premise 1 is determined in a manner that is predetermined by premise 2, in order to reach the desired conclusion-the conclusion thus shaping the major premise from the outset.…”

“…27 Haslam (2006), p. 256. 28 See also Pollmann (2014), p. 123f (distinguishing among naturalistic theories between metaphysical/theological, rationalist/transcendental, and materialistic/anthropological accounts).…”

“…Tasioulas (2012a), p. 26 (noting 'strong continuities between human rights and the traditional idea of natural rights'); Nickel (2007), p. 12 (human rights as 'the recycling and updating of old ideas within a new, transnational context'). 7 See Pollmann (2014), p. 126 (noting the self-evident and central presupposition that 'one has to belong to the human species to be a bearer of human rights'). 8 See e.g.…”