The Origins of Human Rights

The Origins of Human Rights Origins of Human Rights Essay – Question 1 ‘How was the idea of rights used to understand the relations between individuals and the state?’ Through the rise of empire, human rights evolves and moulded to fit the shifting political and social changes attributed to the nature between the individual and the state. In particular, several views off several time periods must be observed in order to understand how rights regulated the relationship between the individual and the state. The Social Contract school of thought and the philosophers associated with it are a strong indication of these shifting thoughts: Hugo Grotius (1625), Thomas Hobbes (1651), John Locke (1689), Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762) all discuss this relationship with their own respective theories. Based on these arguments, this essay will aim to show that the idea of rights and their relation to the individual and the state could be understood with the evolution of the concept of what the nation state is. The idea of the role of rights between the individual and the state can be addressed typically under the study of ‘Social Contract’. This school of thought questions the origin of society and the legitimacy of the state’s power over an individual. The arguments often state that an individual, in some form of consent, has willingly forfeited some of their rights and freedoms whilst submitting to an authority which will protect their remaining rights. This is imperative to our understanding of the relationship between the individual and the state for the reason that it deeply explores the prior ‘natural state (the state in which there IS no relationship) and the post political state (Where an institution is created to defend rights). This will be discussed throughout this essay through the opinions of prominent philosophers. In 1625, Hugo Grotius promoted his school of thought during the war between Spain and Portugal and was employed by the Dutch, allowing him to defend ‘seizure in the natural principles of justice’. Grotius furthermore promoted the Natural Rights of individuals, namely that each individual owns natural rights which give their own self-preservation. These natural rights in turn suggested that the power of the state can be returned to the individuals if the political state were to fail the reason it was created. The nature of these examples of natural law could lead one to question how they coincided with their context. Grotius’ ideas as a result reflected both a self-preserving outlook and an emphasis of individuals under their own jurisdiction (Soi Juris). Grotius furthermore notes no significant moral difference between the individual and the state. This draws the conclusion of more justification for the Dutch Trade Empire, stating that ‘It shall be permissib le to acquire for oneself and to retain these things which are useful for life†. Restating that the idea of rights and their relation to the individual and the state evolved alongside the concept of a nation state. Thomas Hobbes in 1651 published his thoughts on the individual and the state in ‘Leviathan’. This stated that an individual deprived of society lived in an anarchic condition which he referred to as â€Å"solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish, and short†. Hobbes takes this incredibly cynical outlook and bolsters the argument that this essay makes in that rights of the individual were a reflection of the nation state. This is due to the English civil war around this period. Furthermore emphasised in writing that individuals had to forsake some of their rights, such as the right to kill, (killing in a war context), if others were to forsake theirs too. Ultimately this would create a supreme authority to preserve their lives and property (eventually a ‘monarch’). These subjects had no rights against the monarch, who himself had moral obligations towards natural law. Seeing the above, we can tell that Hobbes is an absolutism-supporter and states that ‘law is dependent upon the sanction of the sovereign and the government without sword are but words and of no strength to secure a man at all†. This further implies that these rights; absolutist during a civil war, reflect Hobbes emphasising civil law as real law due to the enforcement of a sovereign. John Locke’s theory was outlined in 1689, a theory which differed greatly from Hobbes’ pessimistic â€Å"The natural state is cruel† statement. This theory stated that the individual in the state of nature had a â€Å"reasonably good and enjoyable† life, yet retained the issue that property was insecure. It should be further stated that in this state man had all his natural rights and that, in this natural condition, could be considered completely free due to there being no relationship with the state; i.e. no real civil law or enforcement, yet still retained morality thus being a ‘state of liberty’. Locke, unlike the theorists mentioned above, puts particular emphasis on property in the social contract. According to him, property is made when the individual mixes effort with nature and, given with the above discussion of the law of nature, there are limits as to how much an individual can take. One should only take as much as one can use with out leaving others to suffer for not having enough themselves. This emphasis is grounded by his argument for the relationship of social contract and civil government because it is the protection of physical property, whether it is physical property or the property of their own being, which a man will look for when he seeks to leave the state of nature. Locke continues to write that the property of an individual is insecure in relation to the state of nature due to three strong reasons: The absence of established law, The absence of an impartial judge and the absence of a natural power to execute the natural laws. As said before, man in the state of nature needed to protect their property due to these reasons, and as a resolution entered into a ‘social contract’. Locke states that â€Å"Man did not surrender all their rights to one individual, but surrendered only the right to preserve/maintain order and enforce the law of nature†. As such, the rights to life, lib erty and estate were all retained as these were unable to be separated from the natural rights of man. With the relationship to the state being formed, the individual gained three things: the law, judges to make formal judgements on the law and executive power to enforce the law. Locke writes that â€Å"The purpose of government and law is to uphold and protect the natural rights of men. So long as the government fulfils this purpose, the laws given by it are valid and binding but, when it ceases to fulfil it, then the laws would have no validity and the government can be thrown out of power. In Locke’s view, unlimited sovereignty is contrary to natural law.Locke continued to support for a constitutionally limited government. And as such his life liberty and property arguments greatly dominated and influenced the declaration of American independence of 1776 Rousseau in 1762 stated that state, law and government were interchangeable ideas. He wrote ‘The Social Contract’ stating that it was a ‘hypothetical construction of reason’. Rousseau’s view places itself between Locke’s constitutionalism and Hobbes’ absolutism and gives strong reason for observation to the essays argument as this argument and theory on natural law is centred around the liberties and freedoms of the individual. This in turn gave inspiration to American and French revolutions. Rousseau writes that the life in the State of Nature was happy and there was equality among men, yet eventually with population increased, the means by which people could satisfy their needs had to change. Individuals became families, families became communities. Communities caused labour division. This led to reward difference and resulted in envy pride and contempt. The most important creation was of private property which he states is the one tur ning point from a pure state into a greedy, competitive, vain and unequal society. This is to say the creation of property was the complete and utter destruction of the state of nature. The individual surrendered their rights to the community as a whole, which he came to state as ‘general will’. Through social contract, a new form of social organisation – the state- was formed to assure and guarantee rights, liberties, freedom and equality. State and law were the product of the general will of the people. General will was the will of the majority which must be blindly followed as it is supreme.

Dead Man Walking :: essays research papers

During the first few weeks of our FYS-X class, the students are required to view the movie â€Å"Dead Man Walking. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the showing at school, but I rented the DVD from Block Buster Video. I missed an opportunity to gain some bonding time with my classmates, but I could not get off work in the short notice that the class was told about the film viewing. When I viewed film, I had the pleasure of being in my home atmosphere, and I had the opportunity to better concentrate on the movie and the ability to rewind at certain points in the film. Before viewing the film, I was not too excited about having to watch it. I was under the impression that this movie would be boring and more of an educational video. After I watched the movie, I knew that my prediction about it was very inaccurate. â€Å"Dead Man Walking† is one of the finest films I have ever seen, and it has raised my bar of standards for a drama.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The thing that stands out the most about â€Å"Dead Man Walking† is the story. The film is about the death penalty, and the tragic events that lead to it. The story follows Poncelot, a convicted killer, and Helen, a nun, who meet during Poncelot’s death row period, and they both change each other. Poncelot is accused of killing a young couple, and is placed on death row. He writes to Sister Helen, who agrees to come to the prison and visit him. Poncelot immediately says he did not commit the crime, and Helen believes the prisoner. Helen gets Poncelot an attorney, but the attorney fails and Poncelot is sure to be executed by the government. The film does not state a clear bias for the death penalty, but it gives the viewer the chance to decide if capital punishment is right or wrong. At the beginning of the film, the viewer is lead to believe that maybe Poncelot did not actually commit the crime, so someone might believe that his execution would be un fair. During the course of the film, the viewer sees the affects of the victim’s family and the community reactions, and whoever is watching probably feels that whoever actually committed the crime should definitely be punished as harshly as possible. When Poncelot tells Helen that he did indeed commit the crime, the viewer’s feelings about him receiving the death penalty probably change again, but there is so much emotion going on in the scene that one can not help but feel sorry. Dead Man Walking :: essays research papers During the first few weeks of our FYS-X class, the students are required to view the movie â€Å"Dead Man Walking. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the showing at school, but I rented the DVD from Block Buster Video. I missed an opportunity to gain some bonding time with my classmates, but I could not get off work in the short notice that the class was told about the film viewing. When I viewed film, I had the pleasure of being in my home atmosphere, and I had the opportunity to better concentrate on the movie and the ability to rewind at certain points in the film. Before viewing the film, I was not too excited about having to watch it. I was under the impression that this movie would be boring and more of an educational video. After I watched the movie, I knew that my prediction about it was very inaccurate. â€Å"Dead Man Walking† is one of the finest films I have ever seen, and it has raised my bar of standards for a drama.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The thing that stands out the most about â€Å"Dead Man Walking† is the story. The film is about the death penalty, and the tragic events that lead to it. The story follows Poncelot, a convicted killer, and Helen, a nun, who meet during Poncelot’s death row period, and they both change each other. Poncelot is accused of killing a young couple, and is placed on death row. He writes to Sister Helen, who agrees to come to the prison and visit him. Poncelot immediately says he did not commit the crime, and Helen believes the prisoner. Helen gets Poncelot an attorney, but the attorney fails and Poncelot is sure to be executed by the government. The film does not state a clear bias for the death penalty, but it gives the viewer the chance to decide if capital punishment is right or wrong. At the beginning of the film, the viewer is lead to believe that maybe Poncelot did not actually commit the crime, so someone might believe that his execution would be un fair. During the course of the film, the viewer sees the affects of the victim’s family and the community reactions, and whoever is watching probably feels that whoever actually committed the crime should definitely be punished as harshly as possible. When Poncelot tells Helen that he did indeed commit the crime, the viewer’s feelings about him receiving the death penalty probably change again, but there is so much emotion going on in the scene that one can not help but feel sorry.

Renaissance of Filmmaking: French New Wave

Maybe the period right after the world war was the most revolutionary period in film history with the Italians having their neo-realism and the French having their new wave. French new wave was set miles apart from the traditional French cinema. It was bold, young, strong, sharp, and innovative and honestly a New Wave in every sense. In the ass's some French film critics led this informal movement, which would in turn, inspire and change the way the world viewed cinema.It can be called the renaissance of film-making. The directors of French New Wave were not set into any McCollum. Each had their own style, specialty and a thirst to make something unique. From the movies made during this era some may be forgotten but many are still viewed and highly recommended. The tides of this new wave reached to shores of all big film industries across the world. The direction styles were distinctive. The director did not follow a pre-determined script.A lot of work was done impulsively. The locat ions weren't artificially created. All real locations were used: the directors believed that it would help maintain the authenticity of the story. The same was the reason to use natural lighting instead of artificial lighting. The sounds in the films were natural and direct unlike the mainstream indirect sounds. All these factors contributed to making French New Wave movies extremely real-like.Not Just this, the language was kept colloquial-no heavy dialogues, no larger-than life emotions venting through the words-everything was kept as day-to-day as possible. To add on to this colloquialism the actors were almost always non-professionals, which meant that their body language wouldn't be conditioned, their expressions would be real and their ordinary appearance would make the characters look authentic. All these actors also resulted in the fact that the director did not need a horde of man force and could work conveniently with a select few people.The low budgets that these films we re given suited the directors Just fine because they anyway needed very basic things for their films: Real locations did not cost anything, no need for artificial lighting and non-professional actors did not need to be paid handsomely. The two much captioned adjectives that could be used for French New Wave could be Free and Original. Free in a way that nothing about the New Wave movies was confined to a form or a single method. Freestyle direction, camera handling, storytelling methods, etc were the identifying traits of French new wave.The fact that many scenes did not use a stationary camera and instead used a handheld camera sets it apart. When it came to French new wave nothing was set in stone. The director acted on his intuition. Discontinuity of scenes is a major aspect of French new wave. It is very simple to notice it in any movie that belongs to it. The same went with the sound part of French New Wave films. The fact that these directors used direct sound sometimes gave t he films a very documentary feel and also to add that there wasn't a particular ay of narrating the story.The 1960 French new wave film, ‘Breathless' came and it did have a lot of elements which made it a very characteristic French New Wave film. The bold scenes of sexual appeal or the selfishness of who are supposedly lovers is very unprecedented. A simple story and yet with so much complexity- not in the plot- but in the way it's made, it's bold, vibrant and innovative. Even though now such movies are common, in the ass's it was a revolution. French new wave might not be a formal and pre-planned movement but It happened at the right place and at the eight time and its effect to this day are seen all round the world.The fact that the Indian Art-film industry holds a lot of influence from the French new wave is a good example as any. The stories of French new wave films were all different but what set them apart from the rest of the world was their difference in storytelling, even though this difference was not uniform in the French New Wave films. It has inspired a lot of big directors to make films which were the mark of excellence and will keep doing so. It showed that any story of any kind can always break rules and be shown in a different style.

Essay about The Secret War in Laos Why Was It a Secret

Imagery and politics are two closely related concepts. â€Å"Politics will eventually be replaced by imagery. The politician will be only too happy to abdicate in favor of his image, because the image will be much more powerful than he could ever be† (McLuhan, 1971). The image has the power to make or break the politician. The impact of imagery also applies to the Government as a whole. The image created by the government influences the support of the population; because of this correlation, information regarding government affairs goes through filters; information that could negatively impact the image of the government may not be provided to the public depending on how important it may be for the general population to know. In the beginning†¦show more content†¦What Americans were unaware of was the additional violence happening in Laos. Music has always been an effective way for one to release their anger and frustration and many Americans were angry and frustrated with the government for allowing their men to die in Vietnam. One of their methods of portraying their irritation to the government were through musical protests. The largest musical anti-war movement was in 1969, 4 years before the end of the Secret War and 6 years before the end of the Vietnam War at Woodstock (Candaele, n.d.). The audience consisted of approximately 500 000 Americans and 33 performers. Among the performers were worldwide renowned artists like Jimi Hendrix and The Who (Harrison, 2009). The use of the performers would have stirred up support from their other fans; similar to celebrity endorsement advertising techniques. Moreover, wars are expensive to fund and â€Å"in recent years, Republicans have been characterized by two principal positions: They like starting wars and don’t like paying for them† (Bartlett, 2009). In 1968, Republican president Nixon imposed a 10% surtax to pay for the Vietnam War. The tax was largely paid by the poor and middle c lass. The Vietnam War cost â€Å"$25 billion per year and disillusionment was beginning to reach greater section of the taxpaying public†¦adding fuel to the fire of the anti-war movement† (History, n.d.). On top of that there was an extra â€Å"$1.5 billion per annum† (McCoy, 1996) goingShow MoreRelatedThe Secret War And How It Affected The Hmong People1230 Words   |  5 PagesTOPIC: The Secret War and how it affected the Hmong people. SPECIFIC PURPOSE: At the end of my speech, my audience will get a better sense of what the Secret War was and how it affected the Hmong people. INTRODUCTION: Just by the name itself, it can already be implied to what the â€Å"Secret War† was. It was a war that was kept as a secret from the public, and by public, I mean the American public. 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