John Tasioulas
Biographic Data
| ID | 1317746 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Tasioulas |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Tasioulas |
| SIGNATURE | TASIOULAS J |
| AFFILIATIONS | King's College London |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4968-045X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 23 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1996 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Artificial Intelligence, Humanistic Ethics
Ethics is concerned with what it is to live a flourishing life and what it is we morally owe to others. The optimizing mindset prevalent among computer scientists and economists, among other powerful actors, has led to an approach focused on maximizing the fulfilment of human preferences, an approach that has acquired considerable influence in the ethics of AI. But this preference-based utilitarianism is open to serious objections. This essay ske…
The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law
What is the nature of law as a form of social order? What bearing do values like justice, human rights, and the rule of law have on law? Which values should law serve, and what limits must it respect in serving them? Are we always morally bound to obey the law? What are the philosophical problems that arise in specific areas of law, from criminal and tort law to contract law and public international law? The book provides an accessible, comprehen…
Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law
Prosper Weil and the Mask of Classicism
Prosper Weil's scintillating intervention of 1983 warned against pathological doctrinal tendencies that threatened to “disable international law from fulfilling what have always been its proper functions.” Weil concluded his sweeping critique of these supposed pathologies with an urgent call for remedial action: “[A]ll is not yet lost . . . . There is still time for jurists to react.” But, as José Alvarez points out in his contribution to this sy…
In Defence of Relative Normativity
This chapter investigates, and attempts a preliminary adjudication of, the conflict between two conceptions of customary international law and the rival conceptions of international society they presuppose. Weil's critique of relative normativity is framed as a pathology of the international normative system. In the Nicaragua case a majority of the World Court held, inter alia, that the United States had breached its obligations to Nicaragua unde…
The Minimum Core of the Human Right to Health
This Report offers a critical interpretation of the idea of 'minimum core obligations' associated with the right to health in international, regional and domestic law and practice. Two important methodological complexities affecting this project need to be highlighted from the very outset. First, it cannot be assumed that all uses of expressions such as 'the human right to health', 'the right to health', or 'minimum core obligations' ear the same…
On the Foundations of Human Rights
This chapter distinguishes the contention that human rights have foundations from certain foundationalist deformations it is liable to undergo. It argues that there is a compelling interpretation of human dignity according to which it is a moral status, not a prudential value among others, but that this status does not consist in possession of a schedule of rights. Moreover, although human dignity lies at the foundations of human rights, it does …
“We the Scientists”
The flourishing of citizen science is an exciting phenomenon with the potential to contribute significantly to scientific progress. However, we lack a framework for addressing in a principled and effective manner the pressing ethical questions it raises. We argue that at the core of any such framework must be the human right to science. Moreover, we stress an almost entirely neglected dimension of this right—the entitlement it confers on all huma…
Taking Rights out of Human Rights
James Griffin's personhood theory of human rights aims to remedy the indeterminacy of sense afflicting the term 'human rights' by grounding such rights in the values of autonomy and liberty. However, a notable feature of Griffin's theory is that it does not give much attention, or attribute much significance, to the fact that human rights belong to the more general class of moral rights. This chapter argues that once we appreciate the need to con…
Customary International Law
In this contribution to AJIL Unbound, I outline a moral judgment-based account (MJA) of customary inter-national law. On the MJA, moral judgment plays a dual role in the formation of customary international law. First, MJA is part of a disjunctive analysis of opinio juris , which involves a moral judgment about what the law ought to be or what it justifiably is. Second, the interpretive process of adducing a customary norm from state practice and…
Human Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights
Justice, Equality, and Rights
This chapter begins by considering the nature of justice, and then discusses justice as a subjective right, justice eclipsed, basic human equality, natural rights, and the transformation of natural rights into human rights.
Human Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights
This chapter investigates whether or not human rights are grounded in human dignity. Starting from an interest-based account of human rights, it rejects two objections to that account that have been pressed in the name of human dignity: the deontological and the personhood objections. More positively, it contends that human dignity is the equal moral status possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their possession of a human nature, and …
Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights
Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights
Journal Article Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights Get access John Tasioulas John Tasioulas * * Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, Faculty of Laws, UCL, London, UK. Email: [email protected] . Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Current Legal Problems, Volume 65, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 1–30, https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/cus013 Published: 28 September 2012
On the nature of human rights
Taking Rights out of Human Rights
Are Human Rights Essentially Triggers for Intervention
The orthodox conception of human rights holds that human rights are moral rights possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their humanity. In recent years, advocates of a 'political' conception of human rights have criticized this view on the grounds that it overlooks the distinctive political function performed by human rights. This article evaluates the arguments of two such critics, John Rawls and Joseph Raz, who characterize the polit…
Global Justice Without End?
John Rawls argued in The Law of Peoples that we should reject any principle of international distributive justice, whether in ideal theory or nonideal theory. Instead, he advocated a duty of assistance on the part of well‐ordered societies toward burdened societies. I argue that Rawls is correct that we should endorse a principle with a target and cut‐off point rather than a principle of international distributive justice. But the target and cut‐…
Mercy
Human Rights, Universality and the Values of Personhood
International Law and the Limits of Fairness
that point of view.How far we can press the role of ethical values in international law depends, among other things, on a sober assessment of precisely the sort of facts that realists have always deemed central: the nature and durability of the state system; the imbalances of power it embodies; the motivations of, and the extent of interaction and interdependence among, the various actors in the international sphere, and so on. 2 The hopeful pros…
Consequences of Ethical Relativism
Various disastrous consequences have been attributed to ethical relativism, ranging from increased crime rates to the decline of Western cultural values. While sceptical about such empirical claims, this article contends that relativism has subv ersive interpretative consequences, i.e. those pertaining to the viability of our ethical self‐understanding. The main such consequence is its subversion of the idea of ethical critique, which in turn und…
In defence of relative normativity
This article investigates, and attempts a preliminary adjudication of, the conflict between two conceptions of customary international law and the rival conceptions of international society they presuppose. The first conception of custom is of a positivistic variety and draws on a statist conception of international society. The other manifests a natural law orientation and finds its rationale in a communitarian account of that society. The first…
Are Human Rights Essentially Triggers for Intervention
The orthodox conception of human rights holds that human rights are moral rights possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their humanity. In recent years, advocates of a 'political' conception of human rights have criticized this view on the grounds that it overlooks the distinctive political function performed by human rights. This article evaluates the arguments of two such critics, John Rawls and Joseph Raz, who characterize the polit…
Artificial Intelligence, Humanistic Ethics
Ethics is concerned with what it is to live a flourishing life and what it is we morally owe to others. The optimizing mindset prevalent among computer scientists and economists, among other powerful actors, has led to an approach focused on maximizing the fulfilment of human preferences, an approach that has acquired considerable influence in the ethics of AI. But this preference-based utilitarianism is open to serious objections. This essay ske…
International Law and the Limits of Fairness
that point of view.How far we can press the role of ethical values in international law depends, among other things, on a sober assessment of precisely the sort of facts that realists have always deemed central: the nature and durability of the state system; the imbalances of power it embodies; the motivations of, and the extent of interaction and interdependence among, the various actors in the international sphere, and so on. 2 The hopeful pros…
In defence of relative normativity
This article investigates, and attempts a preliminary adjudication of, the conflict between two conceptions of customary international law and the rival conceptions of international society they presuppose. The first conception of custom is of a positivistic variety and draws on a statist conception of international society. The other manifests a natural law orientation and finds its rationale in a communitarian account of that society. The first…
Consequences of Ethical Relativism
Various disastrous consequences have been attributed to ethical relativism, ranging from increased crime rates to the decline of Western cultural values. While sceptical about such empirical claims, this article contends that relativism has subv ersive interpretative consequences, i.e. those pertaining to the viability of our ethical self‐understanding. The main such consequence is its subversion of the idea of ethical critique, which in turn und…
Human Rights, Universality and the Values of Personhood
International Law and the Limits of Fairness
that point of view.How far we can press the role of ethical values in international law depends, among other things, on a sober assessment of precisely the sort of facts that realists have always deemed central: the nature and durability of the state system; the imbalances of power it embodies; the motivations of, and the extent of interaction and interdependence among, the various actors in the international sphere, and so on. 2 The hopeful pros…
Mercy
Global Justice Without End?
John Rawls argued in The Law of Peoples that we should reject any principle of international distributive justice, whether in ideal theory or nonideal theory. Instead, he advocated a duty of assistance on the part of well‐ordered societies toward burdened societies. I argue that Rawls is correct that we should endorse a principle with a target and cut‐off point rather than a principle of international distributive justice. But the target and cut‐…
Are Human Rights Essentially Triggers for Intervention
The orthodox conception of human rights holds that human rights are moral rights possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their humanity. In recent years, advocates of a 'political' conception of human rights have criticized this view on the grounds that it overlooks the distinctive political function performed by human rights. This article evaluates the arguments of two such critics, John Rawls and Joseph Raz, who characterize the polit…
Taking Rights out of Human Rights
On the nature of human rights
Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights
Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights
Journal Article Towards a Philosophy of Human Rights Get access John Tasioulas John Tasioulas * * Quain Professor of Jurisprudence, Faculty of Laws, UCL, London, UK. Email: [email protected] . Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Current Legal Problems, Volume 65, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 1–30, https://doi.org/10.1093/clp/cus013 Published: 28 September 2012
Human Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights
Justice, Equality, and Rights
This chapter begins by considering the nature of justice, and then discusses justice as a subjective right, justice eclipsed, basic human equality, natural rights, and the transformation of natural rights into human rights.
Human Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights
This chapter investigates whether or not human rights are grounded in human dignity. Starting from an interest-based account of human rights, it rejects two objections to that account that have been pressed in the name of human dignity: the deontological and the personhood objections. More positively, it contends that human dignity is the equal moral status possessed by all human beings simply in virtue of their possession of a human nature, and …
Taking Rights out of Human Rights
James Griffin's personhood theory of human rights aims to remedy the indeterminacy of sense afflicting the term 'human rights' by grounding such rights in the values of autonomy and liberty. However, a notable feature of Griffin's theory is that it does not give much attention, or attribute much significance, to the fact that human rights belong to the more general class of moral rights. This chapter argues that once we appreciate the need to con…
Customary International Law
In this contribution to AJIL Unbound, I outline a moral judgment-based account (MJA) of customary inter-national law. On the MJA, moral judgment plays a dual role in the formation of customary international law. First, MJA is part of a disjunctive analysis of opinio juris , which involves a moral judgment about what the law ought to be or what it justifiably is. Second, the interpretive process of adducing a customary norm from state practice and…
On the Foundations of Human Rights
This chapter distinguishes the contention that human rights have foundations from certain foundationalist deformations it is liable to undergo. It argues that there is a compelling interpretation of human dignity according to which it is a moral status, not a prudential value among others, but that this status does not consist in possession of a schedule of rights. Moreover, although human dignity lies at the foundations of human rights, it does …
“We the Scientists”
The flourishing of citizen science is an exciting phenomenon with the potential to contribute significantly to scientific progress. However, we lack a framework for addressing in a principled and effective manner the pressing ethical questions it raises. We argue that at the core of any such framework must be the human right to science. Moreover, we stress an almost entirely neglected dimension of this right—the entitlement it confers on all huma…
In Defence of Relative Normativity
This chapter investigates, and attempts a preliminary adjudication of, the conflict between two conceptions of customary international law and the rival conceptions of international society they presuppose. Weil's critique of relative normativity is framed as a pathology of the international normative system. In the Nicaragua case a majority of the World Court held, inter alia, that the United States had breached its obligations to Nicaragua unde…
The Minimum Core of the Human Right to Health
This Report offers a critical interpretation of the idea of 'minimum core obligations' associated with the right to health in international, regional and domestic law and practice. Two important methodological complexities affecting this project need to be highlighted from the very outset. First, it cannot be assumed that all uses of expressions such as 'the human right to health', 'the right to health', or 'minimum core obligations' ear the same…
The Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law
What is the nature of law as a form of social order? What bearing do values like justice, human rights, and the rule of law have on law? Which values should law serve, and what limits must it respect in serving them? Are we always morally bound to obey the law? What are the philosophical problems that arise in specific areas of law, from criminal and tort law to contract law and public international law? The book provides an accessible, comprehen…
Cambridge Companion to the Philosophy of Law
Prosper Weil and the Mask of Classicism
Prosper Weil's scintillating intervention of 1983 warned against pathological doctrinal tendencies that threatened to “disable international law from fulfilling what have always been its proper functions.” Weil concluded his sweeping critique of these supposed pathologies with an urgent call for remedial action: “[A]ll is not yet lost . . . . There is still time for jurists to react.” But, as José Alvarez points out in his contribution to this sy…
Artificial Intelligence, Humanistic Ethics
Ethics is concerned with what it is to live a flourishing life and what it is we morally owe to others. The optimizing mindset prevalent among computer scientists and economists, among other powerful actors, has led to an approach focused on maximizing the fulfilment of human preferences, an approach that has acquired considerable influence in the ethics of AI. But this preference-based utilitarianism is open to serious objections. This essay ske…
Political science (21 works) · Law (19 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Law and economics (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Human rights (11 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Environmental ethics (7 works) · International Law and Human Rights (5 works)