•  217
    This fully revised and extended edition of James Nickel's classic study explains and defends the conception of human rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent human rights treaties. Combining philosophical, legal, and political approaches, Nickel addresses questions about what human rights are, what their content should be, and whether and how they can be justified.
  •  76
  •  141
    Poverty and rights
    Philosophical Quarterly 55 (220). 2005.
    I defend economic and social rights as human rights, and as a feasible approach to addressing world poverty. I propose a modest conception of economic and social rights that includes rights to subsistence, basic health care and basic education. The second part of the paper defends these three rights. I begin by sketching a pluralistic justificatory framework that starts with abstract norms pertaining to life, leading a life, avoiding severely cruel treatment, and avoiding severe unfairness. I ar…Read more
  •  81
  •  53
    Sparshott on Relevance
    Dialogue 12 (2): 325-329. 1973.
  •  250
    Is today's international human rights system a global governance regime?
    The Journal of Ethics 6 (4): 353-371. 2002.
    Enthusiasts of the idea of globalization often view international human rights institutions as part of an emerging global governance regime. They claim that these institutions illustrate how state sovereignty is being diminished. This paper looks at the international system for thepromotion and protection of human rights aspart of normative globalization. It arguesthat this system does not constitute a systemof global governance, although in some areas itcomes close.
  •  122
    In his recent book, Liberalism, Community and Culture, Will Kymlicka defends collective rights for some minority groups—and particularly for indigenous peoples in North America—by trying to show that secure cultural belonging is of great value, and rights to protection and autonomy for minorities, including some collective rights, are justified by the special disadvantages some minorities face in enjoying secure cultural membership. Kymlicka defends these claims from within a liberal perspective…Read more
  •  69
    Problems of International Justice (review)
    Teaching Philosophy 12 (4): 413-415. 1989.
  •  87
    Legal Ethics (review)
    Teaching Philosophy 11 (2): 155-156. 1988.
  •  176
    What Future for Human Rights?
    Ethics and International Affairs 28 (2): 213-223. 2014.
    Like people born shortly after World War II, the international human rights movement recently had its sixty-fifth birthday. This could mean that retirement is at hand and that death will come in a few decades. After all, the formulations of human rights that activists, lawyers, and politicians use today mostly derive from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the world in 1948 was very different from our world today: the cold war was about to break out, communism was a strong and opt…Read more
  •  66
    Ian Carter, a measure of freedom
    Law and Philosophy 20 (5): 531-540. 2001.
  •  58
    Should Undocumented Aliens Be Entitled to Health Care?
    Hastings Center Report 16 (6): 19-23. 1986.
    Congress recently decided that undocumented aliens are ineligible for medical benefits under the 1966 Medicaid Act, overruling a judicial decision that would have required the federal government to reimburse states partially for the costs of providing free care. Is providing such care simply a matter of prudence and charity? Or do illegal aliens have strong moral claims to medical care that generate duties for hospitals and government agencies?
  •  54
    Functional evaluations
    Philosophical Studies 24 (1). 1973.
  •  97
    I defend economic and social rights as human rights, and as a feasible approach to addressing world poverty. I propose a modest conception of economic and social rights that includes rights to subsistence, basic health care and basic education. The second part of the paper defends these three rights. I begin by sketching a pluralistic justificatory framework that starts with abstract norms pertaining to life, leading a life, avoiding severely cruel treatment, and avoiding severe unfairness. I ar…Read more
  •  68
    Review: Why Basic Liberties Are Bilateral (review)
    Law and Philosophy 17 (5/6). 1998.
  •  10
    Book Reviews (review)
    Mind 98 (392): 652-657. 1989.
  •  146
    What's wrong with ethnic cleansing?
    Journal of Social Philosophy 26 (1): 5-15. 1995.
  •  131
    Equal Opportunity in a Pluralistic Society: JAMES W. NICKEL
    Social Philosophy and Policy 5 (1): 104-119. 1987.
    The United States has never been culturally or religiously homogeneous, but its diversity has greatly increased over the last century. Although the U.S. was first a multicultural nation through conquest and enslavement, its present diversity is due equally to immigration. In this paper I try to explain the difference it makes for one area of thought and policy – equal opportunity – if we incorporate cultural and religious pluralism into our national self-image. Formulating and implementing a pol…Read more
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    Can a right to health care be justified by linkage arguments?
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 37 (4): 293-306. 2016.
    Linkage arguments, which defend a controversial right by showing that it is indispensable or highly useful to an uncontroversial right, are sometimes used to defend the right to health care. This article evaluates such arguments when used to defend RHC. Three common errors in using linkage arguments are neglecting levels of implementation, expanding the scope of the supported right beyond its uncontroversial domain, and giving too much credit to the supporting right for outcomes in its area. A f…Read more