Table of Contents

Introduction PART I: UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE IMPOVERISHMENT OF MORAL DISCOURSE The History of Human Rights in International Law The Relativism of Universality Human Rights as Moral Principles PART II: SOUL KEEPING AND STATE BUILDING: PRINCIPLES AND POLITICS FROM PLATO TO MACHIAVELLI Natural Right: The "Philosophic Quest for the First Things" in Plato and Aristotle The Philosophic First Things in the Light of Christianity Machiavelli and the Low Road to Modernity PART III: THE DECLINE OF TRUTH AND THE RISE OF RIGHTS IN THE THOUGHT OF GROTIUS AND LOCKE The Grotian Answer to the Machiavellian Challenge Locke's Natural Law: The Answer to Grotius's Prayer PART IV: BEING AND GOODNESS: THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF HUMAN RIGHTS Dignity in the Breach: The Human Being and the Concentration Camp Being and Goodness: The Essence of Life and Law in the Philosophy of St. Thomas The Logical Impossibility of Abortion as a Human Right Conclusion