On the concept of sovereignty; sovereignty the conceptual root of the fiction of human rights and the isolated individual. Part I Cover Image

Despre conceptul de suveranitate; suveranitatea rădăcină conceptuală a ficţiunii drepturilor omului şi a individului izolat. Partea I
On the concept of sovereignty; sovereignty the conceptual root of the fiction of human rights and the isolated individual. Part I

Author(s): Mihail M. Ungheanu
Subject(s): Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Globalization, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Editura Academiei Române
Keywords: modernity; theology; sovereignty; human rights;

Summary/Abstract: Some contemporary discourses and ideas have a long history that is forgotten, a history that should be known if one is to understand some of the problems humanity is facing today in the era of globalization. The idea of sovereignty and the idea of human rights, that is sovereignty of the self-legislating and self-regulating autonomous individual, has a theological background. The main contention of this paper is to show that the concept of sovereignty has a clear theological origin and was meant to describe some attributes that belonged to God, then it was transferred to the human leader and to the state, thus becoming a concept of international relationships, and afterwards, the concept was applied to the individual, which was being thought to be the bearer of sovereignty. This is a process that some contemporary thinkers have claimed to be nihilistic, because it provokes a divinization of man and human egoism, the destruction of our environment and social instability and of human relations, distruction of the family, being signs of this nefarious development.

  • Issue Year: 3/2009
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 38-49
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Romanian