English world rights (Georgetown UP), Spanish world rights (Sal Terrae), Chinese simplex rights (Shanghai People’s Publishing House), France (Labor et Fides), Italy (Franco Angeli), Croatia (Breza)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (UNESP)
»What are the origins of the idea of human rights and universal human dignity? How can we most fully understand—and realize—these rights going into the future? In The Sacredness of the Person, internationally renowned sociologist and social theorist Hans Joas tells a story that differs from conventional narratives by tracing the concept of human rights back to the Judeo-Christian tradition or, alternately, to the secular French Enlightenment. While drawing on...
»What are the origins of the idea of human rights and universal human dignity? How can we most fully understand—and realize—these rights going into the future? In The Sacredness of the Person, internationally renowned sociologist and social theorist Hans Joas tells a story that differs from conventional narratives by tracing the concept of human rights back to the Judeo-Christian tradition or, alternately, to the secular French Enlightenment. While drawing on sociologists such as Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Ernst Troeltsch, Joas sets out a new path, proposing an affirmative genealogy in which human rights are the result of a process of ›sacralization‹ of every human being.
According to Joas, every single human being has increasingly been viewed as sacred. He discusses the abolition of torture and slavery, once common practice in the pre-18th century west, as two milestones in modern human history. The author concludes by portraying the emergence of the UN Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 as a successful process of value generalization. Joas demonstrates that the history of human rights cannot adequately be described as a history of ideas or as legal history, but as a complex transformation in which diverse cultural traditions had to be articulated, legally codified, and assimilated into practices of everyday life. The sacralization of the person and universal human rights will only be secure in the future, warns Joas, through continued support by institutions and society, vigorous discourse in their defense, and their incarnation in everyday life and practice.« (book desription of the English edition by Georgetown University Press)
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
1. The Charisma of Reason: The Genesis of Human Rights
2. Punishment and Respect: The Sacralization of the Person and the Forces Threatening It
3. Violence and Human Dignity: How Experiences Become Rights
4. Neither Kant nor Nietzsche: What Is Affirmative Genealogy?
5. Soul and Gift: The Human Being as Image and Child of God
6. Value Generalization: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Plurality of Cultures
Bibliography
Index
»Joas's book is an erudite and provocative contribution to omipresent conversations about human rights, their history, and their justification. ... The book will be of great consequence for religious studies scholars.« The Journal of Religion
»If we have anything like a global ethic, and not just one on paper but that is motivating people all over the world to take action to make things better, it is human rights. I have read much on this subject but nothing comes close to what Hans Joas has done in this brilliant new book. He somehow brings the reader into the intensely exciting history of where the idea of human rights came from, how many major issues it has taken on, and where it might go. ... This is a book for teachers and students, but really for everyone in the world who is trying to make it better.« Robert N. Bellah, Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, Department of Sociology, UC Berkeley
»Eschewing ahistorical rational justifications of timeless universal values as well as debunking genealogical deconstructions of historical origins, Hans Joas offers an affirmative genealogy of human rights as a fruitful alternative. The book links brilliant theoretical argumentation with gripping phenomenological narrative as it illuminates modern processes of sacralization of the human person. This tour de force is obligatory reading for anybody interested in the birth, contingent history, and fragile fate of human rights in our global age.« Jose Casanova, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University
»Hans Joas presents fresh insights for all those who are interested in the debate on the foundations of human rights and their universal character. Due to the innovative character of its approach and to the clarity of its argument, this book will become one of the most important publications on the genesis and validity of human rights.« Wolfgang Huber, Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany from 2003-2009 and coauthor of Violence: The Unrelenting Assault on Human Dignity
»One of the world's most distinguished social philosophers takes on one of the most pressing issues of our times and offers an entirely original approach. No one interested in human rights can afford to ignore this book.« Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber Professor, UCLA
»This important book by Hans Joas presents a valuable and well-balanced account of how the notions of human dignity and human rights were born out of the mutually inspiring combination of secular and religious thought, interpretation, and action.« Süddeutsche Zeitung
»A profound book […] that demonstrates the patience and tenacity needed to develop thoughts and present them not only clearly but elegantly.« Otfried Höffe, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
»Joas's book...
Persons
Hans Joas
OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Universalism
Considering the well-being of all people when making moral and political decisions – for many people today, this is at least seen as an ideal. But such a humanist ethics was not always a given,...
Spanish world rights (Sal Terrae)

Under the Spell of Freedom
How do the history of religion and the history of political freedom relate to one another? The diversity of opinions on this in the fields of philosophy, the humanities and social sciences and in...
English world rights (Oxford UP), Spanish world rights (Sal Terrae)

The Power of the Sacred
»Disenchantment is a key term in the self-understanding of modernity. But what exactly does this concept mean? What was its original meaning when Max Weber introduced it? And can the...
English world rights (Oxford UP), Spanish world rights (Herder), France (Seuil), Netherlands (Lemniscaat), Hungary (Gondolat)

The Genesis of Values
»Public and intellectual debates have long struggled with the concept of values and the difficulties of defining them. With The Genesis of Values, renowned theorist Hans Joas...
English world rights (University of Chicago Press), Russia (Aletheia), France (Calmann-Lévy), Italy (Quodlibet), Poland (Oficyna Naukowa)

The Creativity of Action
»Hans Joas is one of the foremost social theorists in Germany today. In this outstanding book he outlines the fundamentals of a new theory of action, drawing on philosophical pragmatism. The...
English world rights (Polity), Russia (Aletheia)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (CIS), France (Cerf), Korea (Hanul)

G. H. Mead
»This major study reassesses the work of the American pragmatist George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), which had a significant impact in fields ranging from metaphysics and ethics to...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (MIT Press), France (Economica)