The idea of human rights / Charles R. Beitz.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [213]- 226) and index.

1. Why there is a problem -- 2. Forms of skepticism -- 3. Approach -- 4. Origins -- 5. Doctrine -- 6. Implementation -- 7. An emergent practice -- 8. Problems -- 9. Naturalism about human rights -- 10. Persons "as such" (1) : the demand side -- 11. Persons "as such" (2) : the supply side -- 12. "Common core" and "overlapping consensus" -- 13. The appeal of agreement conceptions -- 14. Progressive convergence -- 15. Human rights in The Law of Peoples -- 16. The idea of a practical conception -- 17. A two-level model -- 18. "Manifesto rights" -- 19. The role of states -- 20. What human rights are for -- 21. A schema -- 22. Minimalism and social justice -- 23. Toleration (1) : the domestic analogy -- 24. Toleration (2) : the autonomy of peoples -- 25. Anti-poverty rights -- 26. Political rights -- 27. Human rights of women -- 28. Residues of skepticism -- 29. Pathologies -- 30. Human rights and global normative order.

Human rights have become one of the most important moral concepts in global political life over the last 60 years. Charles Beitz, one of the world's leading philosophers, offers a compelling new examination of the idea of a human right.