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Mozibur Ullah
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Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

To put this in colloquial but aphoristic terms: justice is the spirit of the law and not its letter; rights are the letter of the law and not its spirit.

To connect this Weils above; note that the letter can be measured - it is written; and the spirit cannot - it is unwritten.

It's this dialectic that informs Sophocles Antigone; she standing for the the unlettered custom, ie positive law; and Creon, for sovereign law.

Another way of thinking through this concept is through Schmitts definition of sovereignty in his Political Theology where he securalises a theological concept of sovereignty:

Sovereign is he who decides on the exception

One can then ask what is that decides the exception - the exceptional case - that in some part lies outside that of the written law; it cannot be the law itself - thus it would be Justice; there is then a scale of values in which Justice stands above that of Rights; it is sovereign, and cannot be assimilated to it.

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

To put this in colloquial but aphoristic terms: justice is the spirit of the law and not its letter; rights are the letter of the law and not its spirit.

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

To put this in colloquial but aphoristic terms: justice is the spirit of the law and not its letter; rights are the letter of the law and not its spirit.

To connect this Weils above; note that the letter can be measured - it is written; and the spirit cannot - it is unwritten.

It's this dialectic that informs Sophocles Antigone; she standing for the the unlettered custom, ie positive law; and Creon, for sovereign law.

Another way of thinking through this concept is through Schmitts definition of sovereignty in his Political Theology where he securalises a theological concept of sovereignty:

Sovereign is he who decides on the exception

One can then ask what is that decides the exception - the exceptional case - that in some part lies outside that of the written law; it cannot be the law itself - thus it would be Justice; there is then a scale of values in which Justice stands above that of Rights; it is sovereign, and cannot be assimilated to it.

added 152 characters in body
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Mozibur Ullah
  • 48.8k
  • 15
  • 99
  • 259

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

To put this in colloquial but aphoristic terms: justice is the spirit of the law and not its letter; rights are the letter of the law and not its spirit.

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).

To put this in colloquial but aphoristic terms: justice is the spirit of the law and not its letter; rights are the letter of the law and not its spirit.

Source Link
Mozibur Ullah
  • 48.8k
  • 15
  • 99
  • 259

Simone Weil was a critic of the notion of rights in her essay on The Human Personality; she wrote:

The notion of rights, which was launched on the world on 1789, has proved unable, because of intrinsic inadequacy, to fulfil the role assigned to it.

For:

The notion of rights is linked with sharing out, of exchange, of measured quantity. It has a commercial flavour, essentially of a legal claims and arguments. Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone is adopted, it must rely on force in the background, otherwise it will be laughed at.

Against the notion of right, which she notes originates from Roman law (and is personal); she compares the Greek notion of justice (which is impersonal).