Beyond Human Rights by Alain De Benoist

Beyond Human Rights by Alain De Benoist

Beyond Human Rights is the second in an ongoing series of English translations of Alain de Benoist's works to be published by Arktos. Alain de Benoist begins Beyond Human Rights with an examination of the origins of the concept of 'human rights' in European Antiquity, in which rights were defined in terms of the individual's relationship to his community, and were understood as being exclusive to that community alone. This changed with the coming of Christianity to Europe, after which rights were redefined as a universal concept derived from the idea of each individual as the possessor of a soul that is transcendent and independent of any social identity. This culminated in the Enlightenment belief in 'natural rights', which found its practical expression in the doctrines emerging from the American and French revolutions, in which all individuals were said to possess rights simply by virtue of the fact of their being human. In turn, laws issued by the State came to be viewed as negative impositions upon the naturally independent individual. De Benoist deconstructs this idea and shows how the myth of a 'natural man' who possesses rights independent of his community is indefensible, and how this conception of rights has, in modern times, led to their use as a weapon by stronger nations to bludgeon those weaker states which do not conform to the Western liberal-democratic form of rights, as we have recently seen in action in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya. As such, he presents us with a crucial critique of one of the major issues of our time. Alain de Benoist is the leading philosopher behind the European 'New Right' movement (a label which de Benoist himself rejects, perceiving himself to not fit into the usual Left/Right dichotomy), a metapolitical school of thought which he helped to found in France in 1968 with the establishment of GRECE (Research and Study Group for European Civilisation). He continues to write and give lectures and interviews. He lives in Paris. The Arktos edition of his book, The Problem of Democracy, was also published in 2011.

Alain de Benoist is a key figure in the European 'New Right' movement, which began in France in 1968 with the founding of GRECE (Research and Study Group for European Civilization), a metapolitical school of thought. Although though he rejects the moniker 'New Right' for himself, considering himself as falling outside the normal Left/Right split, he remains its prominent representative to this day. He has fought for Europeans' right to keep their identity in the face of multiculturalism, and he has opposed immigration, preferring the preservation of national cultures to forced integration of immigrant populations. Benoist has been dogged by unfounded charges of radicalism throughout his career, but they have had no effect on his productivity or ambition. He has written hundreds of books and essays on immigration, religion, philosophy, and political theory, among other themes.

With his book Vu de droite (View from the Right), he got the Grand Prize de l'Essai from the Académie Française in 1978. He is also the editor-in-chief of the journals Nouvelle Ecole and Krisis, and his work has appeared in Mankind Quarterly, Telos, The Scorpion, The Occidental Quarterly, and Tyr, among other publications. He has had a huge impact on the intellectual and ideological understanding of the European political situation over the last four decades. His books The Crisis of Democracy (2011), Beyond Human Rights (2011), Manifesto for a European Renaissance (2012), Carl Schmitt Today (2013), and On the Edge of the Abyss (2015) were previously published by Arktos.

He continues to write, speak, and do interviews. He is based in Paris.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781907166204
ISBN 10	1907166203
Title	Beyond Human Rights
Author	Alain De Benoist
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Arktos Media
Year published	2011-09-27
Number of pages	122
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.