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Sue L. T. McGregor PhD Professor Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax NS Canada 2010 International Cultural Research Network Conference Halifax NS. The Human Responsibility Movement. Finding a moral ground for a globalized world. Four different philosophical positions within movement:. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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The Human Responsibility Movement
Sue L. T. McGregor PhD ProfessorMount Saint Vincent University, Halifax NS Canada2010 International Cultural Research Network Conference Halifax NS
Finding a moral ground for a globalized world
Four different philosophical positions within movement:
Responsibilities complement rights
Responsibilities infringe on rights
Responsibilities take precedence over rights
World is so different that new norms are needed
Powerful support and opposition Bills or declarations of responsible
humans have powerful support of luminary world leaders (emeritus politicians, faith leaders, scientists, artists, philosophers and Nobel Laureates)
BUT – also strong opposition from Western capitalistic nation states, some “developing- country” states, lawyers, and some non-government organizations (especially Amnesty International)
Global movement, with many initiatives (1993-2003) 1993 The Carta of Human Duties
(International Council of Human Duties
1993 Declaration Toward a Global Ethic (Council of the Parliament of the World’s Religions)
1995 Our Global Neighbourhood (Commission on Global Governance)
1997 Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities (The InterAction Council)
Responsibility initiatives continued: 1998 The Universal Declaration of Global
Ethic (Temple University) 1998 The Charter of Human
Responsibilities (the Alliance for a Responsible, Plural and United World)
1998 Universal Declaration of Human Duties and Responsibilities (UNESCO Valencia)
1999 A Common Framework for the Ethics of the 21st Century (UNESCO)
Responsibility initiatives continued: 2000 Universal Declaration of
Human Responsibilities (former Hart Center UK)
2000 Earth Charter (The Earth Charter Initiative)
2003 Declaration on Human Social Responsibilities (UN Human Rights Commission (now the Human Rights Council)
Four initiatives in this paper 1993 Parliament of the World’s
Churches
1997 InterAction Council
1998 UNESCO Valencia Initiative
2003 UN Human Rights Commission
Conceptual framework
Details of conceptual frameworkCOMMUNITARIAN VERSUS FAITH-BASED Western notions of
individualism (rights) neglected responsibilities
Failure to give duties equal footing with rights caused today’s problems
Western notion of rights is not the only right’s perspective
Need a global ethical standard that reflects principles entrenched in world’s religions
CONVERSE VERSUS CORRELATIVE DUTIES Responsibilities owed
by individuals to society
Vertical duties that run upwards towards society
Responsibility of individual to respect the rights of other individuals
Horizontal duties that run between (across) actors
Details of conceptual framework continued:‘AN ETHIC’ VERSUS ETHICS A global ethic represents
shared ethical values, attitudes and criteria to which all nations and interest groups commit themselves – a universal ethical manifesto
Ethics refers to uniform ethical system (codes of ethics of which some are legally enforceable, norms)
ETHICAL VERSUS LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES Ethical responsibilities are
personally felt by a person who is internally motivated to accept the duty out of a sense of conscience, love and the dignity of humanity (duty towards others and the community)
Legal responsibilities are duties that are imposed by an external body or authority
Details of conceptual framework concluded Transcultural undertandings and
interpretations of core concepts – the conundrum created when people of different languages and cultures try to agree on how to define and translate:
Duty Obligation Responsibility NOTE – Küng (2005) observed most initiatives tend to
use responsibility because it emphasizes inner responsibility (‘an ethic’) rather than external law (ethics); the term responsibility exerts a moral pressure but does not legally compel
Conceptual framework
Duties to
Society
Responsibility
Main intellectual architects 1993 - Council of the Parliament
of the World’s Religions (CPWR) Hans Küng
1997 - InterAction Council Hans Küng
1998 - UNESCO/Valencia Richard Goldstone
2003 - UNHRC Miguel Algonso Martinez
Basic Models CPWR contains four
irrevocable directives (commitments or affirmations – ancient guidelines or ethical principles of humanity that underpin all religions)
IAC contains 19 articles organized into six main topics/themes
Valencia declaration contains 41 articles organized into 12 chapters (akin to major rights housed in UNDHR)
UNHRC contains 29 articles, with 17 of them pertaining to “every person” (no themes or chapters)
Exercise ...
Insights from analysis 31 duties in total across four initiatives Common Duties/Themes (7 appeared in all four
(22%), 13 appeared in three (42%), 5 appeared in two declarations (16%) and 6 appeared once (19%)
65% (n=20)appeared three times or more – evidence of fairly strong correlation
35% (n=11) appeared twice or less, and mostly in the communitarian approach
Relatively unique sets of duties in each initiative, with overlap
Different duties for faith-based versus communitarian
Insights continued
Titles included the concepts of universal and global (to ensure the future of humanity and the planet)
Universal means worldwide in scope, global means involving the whole earth – both terms refer to not being limited to local concerns
Meet basic human needs and security of humankind through reciprocal responsibilities
Insights continued
Three aspire for eventual adoption by the United Nations
Two of these are receiving a lot of pushback (UNHRC and InterAction Council)
The third, the Valencia one, is under the radar
The one on global ethics has not had any pushback and was not intended for the UN
Pushback – duties will morph into legal responsibilities that will weaken rights
Insights final Whether it is faith-based or communitarian
does not seem to matter (one of each is getting push back – respectively, InterAction Council and the UNHRC
Main focus is to strive to reconcile ideologies, beliefs, political views and cultural differences for the good of humanity and the earth – become grounded in ethical principals, values and aspirations as fellow humans