Routledge - The Relational Self and Human Rights Book

This academic work from Birkbeck Law Press explores Paul Ricoeur's relational concept of the self to rethink the foundations of human rights. While many critical theory schools argue that human rights are based on problematic conceptions of the legal person, this book offers a different perspective. It addresses the liberal view of the human as a self-interested individual who sees others as tools or hurdles. Instead, the text provides a novel reading of subjectivity and rights by utilizing Ricoeur's re-interpretation of human subjectivity as a relational concept. It specifically examines Ricoeur's idea of recognition as a reciprocal process to provide a new framework for understanding the human subject within legal and social structures.