Human Rights and the Care of the Self

Alexandre Lefebvre is Associate Professor in the Department of Government and International Relations and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Sydney; coeditor of Henri Bergson and Bergson, Politics, and Religion, both also published by Duke University Press; and author of Human Rights as a Way of Life: On Bergson's Political Philosophy and The Image of Law: Deleuze, Bergson, Spinoza.

"Human Rights and the Care of the Self is a beautifully written, erudite and teacherly (in the best sense – not dry and didactic but gently thought-provoking) account of a range of thinkers and a powerful re-reading of the concept of human rights itself." - Ben Golder (Contemporary Political Theory) "This very well written and provocative book is an important contribution to the history and philosophy of human rights, and several of the chapters could stand alone as insightful introductions to major human rights thinkers and controversies in the field."  - William Paul Simmons (Perspectives on Politics) “In a world full of causes and distractions, why do we care about international human rights? There are many explanations for the dramatic rise of human rights in the second half of the twentieth century. They range from the naÏve to the cynical. Few theoretical accounts manage to be as shrewd and yet at the same time as stirring.” - James Loeffler (Journal of Human Rights Practice) “Lefebvre's learned and original book creates a new itinerary within Western political and ethical thought.... Human Rights and the Care of the Self presents a valuable, thought-provoking argument that could enable educators and students to articulate their various commitments to human rights in complex and historically informed ways.” - Sarah Winter (symploke)

• Acknowledgments  ixIntroduction  11. The Care of the Self  92. The Juridical Subject as Ethical Subject: Wollstonecraft on the Rights of Man 253. Critique of Human Rights and Care of the Self  474. Human Rights as Spiritual Exercises: Tocqueville in America  615. Human Rights as a Way of Life: Bergson on Love and Joy  856. On Human Rights Criticism  1057. An Ethic of Resistance I: Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  1198. An Ethic of Resistance II: Malik and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights  1419. Human Rights Education  165Conclusion  185Notes  195Bibliography  225Index  245