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Article: A truth not quite self-evident Noel Malcolm considers the unsolved dilemmas of the ever more powerful human rights movement
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- December 23, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry
by Michael Ignatieff
Princeton UP, pounds 13.95, 187 pp
pounds 13.95 ( pounds 1.99 p&p) 0870 155 7222
"WE HOLD THESE truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable rights . . ." Thus Thomas Jefferson in 1776. But do we?
And are they? If the truths about the unalienable rights of men were
properly "self-evident", there could be no real disagreement about
them. In fact, however, there are few areas of modern law and
politics where disagreement and uncertainty are more rife.