Human Rights in the United Nations 3

by cmiphilos1 on April 26, 2022


In general, man is either viewed as wholly derivative from his social and material conditions, including his animal nature, or is regarded as possessing an original human nature which enables him, through reason and freedom, not only to exploit and control his material world, but even to rise above himself. The only proper way of reconciling conflicting interpretations is by viewing them from a higher standpoint, whereby they assume a natural order. This is possible in this case only on the basis of freedom. The philosophies which stress freedom and the spirit are surely able also to give our material needs their proper due; but the philosophies which sink man in the darkness of the subhuman are never able to do justice to freedom. (280)


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