Individual And Collective Human Rights

216 Pages·2015·0.95 MB·English

by  David Keith May

Florida State University Libraries
Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School
2013
Individual and Collective Human Rights:
The Contributions of Jacques Maritain,
Gustavo Gutiérrez, and Martha Nussbaum
David Keith May
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE HUMAN RIGHTS: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF

JACQUES MARITAIN, GUSTAVO GUTIÉRREZ, AND MARTHA NUSSBAUM

By

DAVID KEITH MAY

A Dissertation submitted to the
Department of Religion
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Awarded:
Spring Semester, 2013
David Keith May defended this dissertation on March 20, 2013.
The members of the supervisory committee were:

Aline Kalbian
Professor Co-Directing Dissertation

Sumner Twiss
Professor Co-Directing Dissertation

Robin Goodman
University Representative

John Kelsay
Committee Member

The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and
certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements.
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I dedicate this project to Heather Nicole May, my lovely wife, and our three wonderful children:
Savanna Rose May, Justin Alexander May, and Zoey Elizabeth May. I would also like to
dedicate this project to the countless victims of oppression in the world. I hope I can contribute
in some small way to the alleviation of their pain.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe a number of personal and professional debts to the many people who helped bring this
project to its fruition. My first personal debt is one I know I can never repay, though I will spend
the rest of my life trying. I would like to extend my greatest thanks to my wife Heather.
Without her personal sacrifice on many levels, I could have never completed the project. I
would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my oldest daughter, Savanna Rose May.
Savanna is eight years older than her next closest sibling, and if it were not for help in caring for
her little brother and sister, this project would have taken much longer to complete. I would also
like to thank my parents, Debby May and “Buddy” May, for always having faith in me and for
the opportunities I was afforded by having such wonderful parents. Thanks also to my sister,
Carla Ilund, for the support she has provided me throughout my life. I have not always been the
model little brother, but she has loved me all the same.
I would also like to thank all those within Florida State University’s wonderful Department of
Religion who have helped to see this project to completion. I want to especially thank Drs. Aline
Kalbian and Sumner B. Twiss for co-directing the dissertation. The project could have never
developed past the loose connection of thoughts in my head if it were not for their comments and
insights. I came to Florida State University in 2004 to pursue a master’s degree in International
Affairs because of my interest in human rights. I did not know at the time that the Department of
Religion would provide the ideal setting for pursuing my interests in this field, but I discovered
this fact when I had the opportunity to take seminars with Dr. Twiss in the course of earning my
MA. Dr. Twiss’s copious knowledge and insights on all aspects of human rights discourse has
magnified my knowledge in this field. My later introduction to the field of Catholic Moral
Theology and Social Justice in Dr. Kalbian’s seminars has shaped my thinking on human rights
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to a greater extent than I could have ever imagined. I would also like to thank Dr. John Kelsay.
Throughout my years in the Department of Religion, I have marveled at his ability to bring great
clarity to complex theoretical material. I can only hope some of that ability has worn off on me.
I would also like to thank Dr. Robin Goodman from the Department of English for her
willingness to serve as the University representative and for her comments on the project.
Finally, I would like to thank Professor Terry Coonan, director of The Florida State University’s
Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, for his comments on the project.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................................viii

Abstract..........................................................................................................................................ix

1. Background and Directions........................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
1.2 A Brief History of Collective Rights Developments...........................................................4
1.3 Purposes and Limitations of The Project.............................................................................7
1.4 Organization of the Study..................................................................................................14

2. The Individual and Community: From the UDHR to the UNDRIP.......................................23
2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................23
2.2 The Individualism of the Inherence View of Human Rights.............................................24
2.3 The Individual in Society From the Perspective of the UDHR.........................................34
2.4 Some Problems Concerning Communities........................................................................40
2.5 History of the UNDRIP.....................................................................................................45

3. Jacques Maritain: The Natural Law Basis of Human Rights and
the Person in Community.........................................................................................................54
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................54
3.2 The Natural Law Basis of Human Rights..........................................................................56
3.3 Individuality, Personality, and the Person in Community.................................................64
3.4 The “Concrete Historical Ideal”.........................................................................................72
3.5 Maritain’s Influence...........................................................................................................76

4. Gustavo Gutiérrez: Working From the Perspective of the Poor and Marginalized................83
4.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................83
4.2 Rethinking the Role of the Church in Latin America........................................................85
4.3 Gutiérrez’s Critique of Maritain, and His Basis in Solidarity and the
Preferential Option for the Poor...............................................................................................88
4.4 Praxis and the Role of the Social Sciences in Theology....................................................96
4.5 Gutiérrez’s Importance as a Human Rights Thinker.......................................................105

5. Martha Nussbaum and the Capabilities Approach.................................................................114
5.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................114
5.2 The Need for Universal Values and the Failure of Prevailing Views..............................116
5.3 The Capabilities Approach: Aristotle and Marx.............................................................126
5.4 Capabilities and Human Rights.......................................................................................131
5.5 The Capabilities Approach and Rawlsian Political Liberalism.......................................135
5.6 Becoming Global Citizens...............................................................................................139

6. Reconciling Individual and Collective Human Rights..........................................................146
6.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................146
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6.2 The Natural Law Basis of Individual Rights...................................................................147
6.3 The Basis of Indigenous Group Rights............................................................................160
6.4 Collective Agency and Self-Determination.....................................................................170
6.5 Cases of Conflict: Individual Rights Versus Collective Rights......................................177
6.6 On the Outside Looking In..............................................................................................183

Afterword.....................................................................................................................................190

Bibliography................................................................................................................................198

Biographical Sketch.....................................................................................................................206

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ATL A Theology of Liberation
ECOSOC Economic and Social Council
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
IH Integral Humanism
MS Man and the State
PCG The Person and the Common Good
UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights
UN United Nations
UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

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ABSTRACT

The proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations
on December 10, 1948 gave birth to the contemporary human rights movement. Despite the
worldwide influence the idea of human rights has enjoyed, the concept of human rights has been
plagued by a number of criticisms. Among the most pervasive and persistent criticisms of
human rights are that they represent an individualist viewpoint and that they are a relative
product of Western society that are hardly universal. One purpose of this dissertation is to
challenge these criticisms. However, in recent decades the idea of human rights has been
expanded past its original individual focus to incorporate the idea of collective, or group rights.
The juxtaposition of universal, individual rights with particular, collective rights raises anew the
issues of individualism and universalism in the human rights debate. In this dissertation, I
compare the work of the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain, the Peruvian theologian
Gustavo Gutiérrez, and the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum in order to yield a
contextually sensitive natural law approach to human rights that will serve as a common
justificatory basis for individual and collective human rights. This common justificatory basis
will be capable of addressing the tensions of individualism and universalism generated by the
juxtaposition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which enshrines individual,
universal rights, and the more recent United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples (2007), which enshrines more particularistic, group rights.

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