If we are to serve as a beacon for human rights, we must continue to perfect here at home the rights and values which we espouse around the world - Jimmy Carter
Are Human Rights Dying—Or Are We Being Called to Know Them Differently?
In response to Joe Chuman’s “Are We Witnessing the Death of Human Rights?”
Joe Chuman asks a question that deserves not only moral urgency, but philosophical depth: Are we witnessing the death of human rights? As someone who teaches the philosophy of knowledge to Doctor of Social Work students, I want to suggest a companion question:
What does it mean to know human rights in a time of collapse, contradiction, and contested truth?
Human rights are often framed as universal, inalienable, and self-evident. But they are also historical, contingent, and—at times—selectively applied. We know them not just through legislation or charters, but through the lived testimonies of those who have suffered and survived. We know them in the streets of Selma, the prisons of Tehran, and the border camps of Texas. And when rights are denied, it is often the epistemology of the oppressed that sustains them.
Miranda Fricker discusses epistemic injustice—the silencing of those whose voices convey inconvenient truths. Frantz Fanon warned us that colonial regimes do not simply deny rights; they reshape consciousness so that the colonized doubt their entitlement to them. Foucault cautioned that the discourse of rights can be co-opted by power itself. And yet, as Chuman notes, human rights have inspired liberation movements, democratic ideals, and moral courage worldwide.
Perhaps, then, we are not witnessing a death, but a crisis of knowing. The Enlightenment gave us the language of rights; history gave us the urgency. But it is human beings who provide them with flesh. And when the political skies darken—as they are now—we are called not only to defend human rights, but to reimagine the very ways we come to trust in their truth.
In this sense, human rights are not static doctrines but living commitments. They are not merely codified; they are cultivated. And their future may well depend on our willingness to teach, struggle, and remember—together.
Rev. Dr. Willard W. C. Ashley, Sr., is a psychoanalyst, pastor, and professor teaching Philosophy of Knowledge in the DSW program at NYU. He writes at the intersection of theology, psychoanalysis, race, and justice, with over 40 years of experience in ministry and clinical practice.
Greetings, Ashley. It is so good to hear from you after so much time. I hope you are well. I apologize for my tardiness in responding to your sage insights. I was diverted in part by illness.
Your comments are a needed perspective on human rights. I would often tell my students that human rights did not emerge from the thoughts of a philosopher or political scientists holding forth from an arm chair. They emerge, rather, from real human conditions wherein people sense that they are being deprived of those rights.
With regard to preserving the epistemic conditions that allow for an appreciation of human rights, I confess that I am "old school." In this regard, I see rights growing from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, which has been under attack in the past several decades. Liberal democracy so traces its origins. Despite its excesses, I think we need a rebirth and renewed enchantment with the values of equality, justice and reason, which I believe are necessary, not only for a culture of rights, but for human flourishing over all.
So good to see you applying your vast knowledge of the history and scope of human rights in America. I would just add that Trump’s anti-immigration policies are applied unequally to the detriment of those with brown or black skin as if human rights were contingent. So very sad!
Many thanks, Willard.
Are Human Rights Dying—Or Are We Being Called to Know Them Differently?
In response to Joe Chuman’s “Are We Witnessing the Death of Human Rights?”
Joe Chuman asks a question that deserves not only moral urgency, but philosophical depth: Are we witnessing the death of human rights? As someone who teaches the philosophy of knowledge to Doctor of Social Work students, I want to suggest a companion question:
What does it mean to know human rights in a time of collapse, contradiction, and contested truth?
Human rights are often framed as universal, inalienable, and self-evident. But they are also historical, contingent, and—at times—selectively applied. We know them not just through legislation or charters, but through the lived testimonies of those who have suffered and survived. We know them in the streets of Selma, the prisons of Tehran, and the border camps of Texas. And when rights are denied, it is often the epistemology of the oppressed that sustains them.
Miranda Fricker discusses epistemic injustice—the silencing of those whose voices convey inconvenient truths. Frantz Fanon warned us that colonial regimes do not simply deny rights; they reshape consciousness so that the colonized doubt their entitlement to them. Foucault cautioned that the discourse of rights can be co-opted by power itself. And yet, as Chuman notes, human rights have inspired liberation movements, democratic ideals, and moral courage worldwide.
Perhaps, then, we are not witnessing a death, but a crisis of knowing. The Enlightenment gave us the language of rights; history gave us the urgency. But it is human beings who provide them with flesh. And when the political skies darken—as they are now—we are called not only to defend human rights, but to reimagine the very ways we come to trust in their truth.
In this sense, human rights are not static doctrines but living commitments. They are not merely codified; they are cultivated. And their future may well depend on our willingness to teach, struggle, and remember—together.
Tags:
#HumanRights #PhilosophyOfKnowledge #Epistemology #SocialJustice #Fanon #Fricker #Foucault #Democracy #Decolonization #MoralImagination #DSW #SubstackVoices #KnowJusticeKnowPeace
Rev. Dr. Willard W. C. Ashley, Sr., is a psychoanalyst, pastor, and professor teaching Philosophy of Knowledge in the DSW program at NYU. He writes at the intersection of theology, psychoanalysis, race, and justice, with over 40 years of experience in ministry and clinical practice.
Greetings, Ashley. It is so good to hear from you after so much time. I hope you are well. I apologize for my tardiness in responding to your sage insights. I was diverted in part by illness.
Your comments are a needed perspective on human rights. I would often tell my students that human rights did not emerge from the thoughts of a philosopher or political scientists holding forth from an arm chair. They emerge, rather, from real human conditions wherein people sense that they are being deprived of those rights.
With regard to preserving the epistemic conditions that allow for an appreciation of human rights, I confess that I am "old school." In this regard, I see rights growing from the philosophy of the Enlightenment, which has been under attack in the past several decades. Liberal democracy so traces its origins. Despite its excesses, I think we need a rebirth and renewed enchantment with the values of equality, justice and reason, which I believe are necessary, not only for a culture of rights, but for human flourishing over all.
Sorry you were ill. Let’s keep speaking out and opening minds. Get well soon.
So good to see you applying your vast knowledge of the history and scope of human rights in America. I would just add that Trump’s anti-immigration policies are applied unequally to the detriment of those with brown or black skin as if human rights were contingent. So very sad!
Tragically correct. Trump and his world-view are saturated with racism.
https://poetpastor.substack.com/p/a-cage-of-laws?r=5gejob
Fine article. Let's hope that human rights can be preserved.
My hope, too, Jean. Many thanks.