Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Political Science Human Rights

The Origins of Justice

The Evolution of Morality, Human Rights, and Law

by (author) John O'Manique

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Initial publish date
Dec 2002
Category
Human Rights, General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780812237061
    Publish Date
    Dec 2002
    List Price
    $59.95 USD

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

The Origins of Justice: The Evolution of Morality, Human Rights, and Law presents a view of human origins and nature that is radically different from that of the prevailing Western paradigm. John O'Manique's view shifts the emphasis from a negative characterization, in which humans are primarily aggressive and solitary, to a more positive picture of human origins within social communities, in which empathy and mutual care are just as natural and effective as selfish, competitive behavior. Drawing from neo-Darwinian theory and research on evolution, O'Manique develops hypotheses on the origins of human rights and justice that challenge the Western paradigm and the writings of such influential modern theorists as John Rawls and Robert Nozick.
In the prevailing paradigm, justice is a rational solution to the natural condition of fear and conflict. But, O'Manique suggests, scientific evidence supports the hypothesis that human rights, law, and justice arise within caring communities, from the reflections of our early ancestors on genetically based inclinations required for biological development. With the birth of self-consciousness, O'Manique shows how humans, within the context of their communities and cultures, construct systems of justice which transcend the biological base from which they emerged.

About the author

Contributor Notes

John O'Manique is Distinguished Research Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University.

Editorial Reviews

This is a highly original work . . . a scholarly tour de force that situates the development of justice in relationships, beginning with the foundational human relationships of mother and child. . . . It will be of great interest to scholars from biology and evolutionary studies . . . to gender studies, and law.

Riane Eisler, author of <i>The Chalice and the Blade</i>