India/western Sociology

[dhu]

Well, do you know the theory of rights as we know them today emerged in the Christian Church, full-blown doctrine, in a debate between the Franciscans and Dominicans, centuries beofre John Locke ever thought of rights. In fact the history of human rights is the history and discussion is very simple. It started out with the question of whether the Church could own property or not. That is to say, was the human being the Sovereign, Dominus, of the Earth, and everything in it or was he merely a custodian. So the notion of Active and Passive notion of Rights, three centuries of discussion, people, was in theology, in Christian theology. there is nothing modern in any sense of the word, in whatever notion of modernity you wish to use, which unities theories of human rights, discourse about human rights, from its Christian origins. And furthermore, what is so modern, assume for a moment, counterfactually, that suddenly John Locke woke up one day and had this wonderful theory of human rights, maybe Simon B.. had it, maybe Hobbes had it, doesn't matter, someone had, woke up one, wonderful geniuses as these Europeans are, and came up with a full blown theory of human rights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTL8eUvQGFE