Humanity, Suffering and Victimhood: A Defence of Human Rights Pragmatism

This article explores and defends the pragmatist approach to human rights exemplified by Michael Ignatieff, which seeks to justify them in terms of their practical ability to reduce suffering and abuse. It then presents Alain Badiou's radical critique of this kind of 'ethic of human rights', which claims that it presupposes a negative conception of the human as a victim and leads to a highly conservative politics. However, Badiou's arguments are largely rejected, since they distort the conception of humanity that underlies this ethic, and misrepresent its actual understanding of the role of human rights in politics.