Human rights and discourse theory: some critical remarks

In this short piece, I suggest that Seyla Benhabib’s discourse-theoretic account of human rights succeeds in avoiding the charge of anti-parochialism only at the cost of failing to provide concrete and plausible enough guidance in identifying the holders, duty-bearers, and objects of human rights. I then conclude with a few reflections on what type of guidance may be plausibly expected from a discourse-theoretic approach.