Human Rights in a Posthuman World: Critical EssaysThis important new work reflects on the contemporary human condition in a 'posthuman' and 'machinistic' world, almost overwhelmed by security concerns, terror and its politics, and technoscience.Exploring the role of human rights and development in such a world, Baxi contends that any serious analysis of human rights theory and practice must confront two critical realities. Firstly, that the new world economic and military orders, along with the continuing wars of and on 'terror', adversely impact global social and human development policies and programmes. Secondly, that emergent technologies, especially artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, and nano-technologies, generating the discourse of the posthuman, have serious implications for human rights. The book presents a critique of the approaches towards a theory of human rights proposed by Amartya Sen and his emphasis on the ethical, as opposed to the juridical nature of such rights. It proceeds to examine the complexities and contradictions of the ideology of development, and asks why there has been so little progress with regard to the right to development. It explores how in the current world scenario the 'emancipatory potential' of human rights may be carried forward in theoretical work and through activism. |
Contents
Amartya Sen and Human Rights | 30 |
The Uncanny Idea of Development | 76 |
The Development of The Right to | 124 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
activist Alain Badiou Amartya Sen Badiou Cambridge Capabilities Approach Chapter comity conceptions constitute construction contemporary human rights context corporate critique Cyborg developmental discourse concerning distinction Donna Haraway duties economic emergent entails enunciation especially ethical force example forms Foucault freedom fully further Future of Human genre Giorgio Agamben global governance Haraway Hayles hegemonic histories human rights Ibid idea of human insists insurgent international law Iraq John Rawls juridical justice labour languages least London means Michel Foucault moral narrative normative notion obligations Oxford University Press philosophical political posthuman posthuman world practices production question Ray Kurzweil reading reason recourse remains resistance to theory responsibility rhetorical right to development robots Sen's signify social movement society stands struggles suggests supra TAHR tasks technologies technoscientific terror terrorist theory of human Third World Third Worldism TOHR transhumanist Truman text understanding UNDRD United Nations Upendra Baxi variously violence war on terror