{"product_id":"the-most-human-right-isbn-9780262547246","title":"The Most Human Right","description":"\u003cb\u003eA bold, groundbreaking argument by a world-renowned expert that unless we treat free speech as the fundamental human right, there can be no others.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat are human rights? Are they laid out definitively in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the US Bill of Rights? Are they items on a checklist—dignity, justice, progress, standard of living, health care, housing? In \u003ci\u003eThe Most Human Right\u003c\/i\u003e, Eric Heinze explains why global human rights systems have failed. International organizations constantly report on how governments manage human goods, such as fair trials, humane conditions of detention, healthcare, or housing. But to appease autocratic regimes, experts have ignored the primacy of free speech. Heinze argues that goods become rights only when citizens can claim them publicly and fearlessly: free speech is the fundamental right, without which the very concept of a “right” makes no sense.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHeinze argues that throughout history countless systems of justice have promised human goods. What, then, makes human rights different? What must human rights have that other systems have lacked? Heinze revisits the origins of the concept, exploring what it means for a nation to protect human rights, and what a citizen needs in order to pursue them. He explains how free speech distinguishes human rights from other ideas about justice, past and present.1 Introductions 1\u003cbr\u003e2 What is the \"Human\" of Human Rights? 11\u003cbr\u003e3 The Invention of the Individual 25\u003cbr\u003e4 Going Global 51\u003cbr\u003e5 The Most Human Right 73\u003cbr\u003e6 Do All Opinions Count? 101\u003cbr\u003e7 Conclusion 125\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments 131\u003cbr\u003eAppendix: Universal Declaration of Human Rights 133\u003cbr\u003eNotes 139\u003cbr\u003eWorks Cited 159\u003cbr\u003eIndex 179\"Eric Heinze has produced a book which cuts through years of muddled thinking on the subject. It is required reading for anyone who allows the phrase 'human rights' to cross their lips.... [Heinze] reconnects the idea of rights to the primacy of free speech... an ingeniously simple argument.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e- The Irish Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Despite the recent controversies over free speech, few people have a clear idea of why it’s so fundamental. This insightful and penetrating analysis shows how free speech is not just another good thing we have a right to, like food and protection from abuse, but a prerequisite to the very concept of a ‘right.’ (If you disagree, would it be OK for authorities to prevent you from saying why?)” \u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e Steven Pinker, author of\u003ci\u003e Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This engaging book makes a compelling case that freedom of speech constitutes an essential prerequisite for a regime in which other rights can be claimed by all individuals openly, candidly, and without fear, rather than bestowed by government as a matter of discretion.” \u003cbr\u003e- \u003cb\u003eNadine Strossen, author of \u003ci\u003eHATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A vitally important book about the most basic of human rights. We forget the importance of free speech to open and democratic societies at our peril.” - \u003cb\u003eJames Bloodworth, journalist and author of \u003ci\u003eHired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Human rights are often presented as a package—a set of interdependent and indivisible norms. Eric Heinze argues forcefully that free speech must have priority. Against the injustices of our world and the orthodoxies of reformers alike, Heinze has issued an articulate and provocative challenge.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e- Samuel Moyn, author of \u003ci\u003eHumane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Eric Heinze is one of our most thoughtful, informed, and imaginative scholars of freedom of speech. His book will reward a close reading.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e- Robert Post, author of \u003ci\u003eCitizens Divided: Campaign Finance Reform and the Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eEric Heinze is Professor of Law and Humanities at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything \u003c\/i\u003e(MIT Press), among other books, and has published over 100 articles and has been featured in radio and television and other media around the world.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233716318437,"sku":"NP9780262547246","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262547246_e75121c2-fa6f-4df7-8a66-3944d39456b5.jpg?v=1767740578","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-most-human-right-isbn-9780262547246","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}