When we think of human rights we assume that they are meant to protect people from serious social, legal, and political abuses and to advance global justice. In Human Rights and the Care of the Self Alexandre Lefebvre turns this assumption on its head, showing how the value of human rights also lies in enabling ethical practices of self-transformation. Drawing on Foucault's notion of "care of the self," Lefebvre turns to some of the most celebrated authors and activists in the history of human rights-such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Henri Bergson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Charles Malik-to discover a vision of human rights as a tool for individuals to work on, improve, and transform themselves for their own sake. This new perspective allows us to appreciate a crucial dimension of human rights, one that can help us to care for ourselves in light of pressing social and psychological problems, such as loneliness, fear, hatred, patriarchy, meaninglessness, boredom, and indignity.

About the Author
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.

Reviews
"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 naive 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 *



Book Information
ISBN 9780822371311
Author Alexandre Lefebvre
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 363g