A Theological Response to ‘The Case for a Pre-emptive Strike’

Abstract

After the enlargement of the European Union at the beginning of 2007, Western Europe has seen an enormous migration of East European Roma people begging in the streets. In this article, I will focus on some juridical as well as moral dilemmas these street beggars, mostly Romanian Roma, have raised in the EU territory and especially in the Nordic countries. I will also reflect on the historical facts and on past legislation where it is necessary to provide the background for the current situation. I shall argue that to hinder the right to free movement of Roma beggars in the European Union territory by criminalizing their begging and camping violates their fundamental rights. Moreover, such treatment in this case is tantamount to ethnic discrimination.     

城市区位景观尊严规划研究

20世纪60、70年代以来,西方发达国家的城市景观空间研究由"物质景观"转向了"物质与文化景观并重"的研究,其本质在于从人本主义视角探究不同景观的区位价值和区位重构关系,尤其关注城市日常生活空间质量观下的人居环境景观与景观的社会公正配置与规划,从而响应不同的区位价值,满足阶层化下的人的区位尊严需求。本文重在从行为文化区位景观价值视角探讨城市区位景观价值的演变特征、区位景观理论的内涵与构成及区位文化景观尊严规划的原理构成等。     

DOES INHUMANITY BREED HUMANITY? INVESTIGATION OF A PARADOX

This essay investigates the thesis that inhumanity breeds humanity. Many questions arise when we try to corroborate it: Can we say anything at all about the inhumanity of human beings? Why did large‐scale inhumanity occurring before 1700 not elicit a human rights regime? Was the human rights take‐off from 1760 to 1800 triggered by instances of inhumanity, and why did the take‐off not last? Why did the human rights idea eclipse after 1800 only to reemerge after 1945? Were war and genocide the sole causes of the human rights revival after 1945 or were there also other factors? Was the breakthrough in 1977 of human rights as a mass movement related to any inhumanity? And, finally, is the contemporary enthusiasm for human rights, with 1998 as its stepping stone, sufficient to make atrocities unthinkable for good? I conclude that, at several moments in history, inhumanity did propel humanity, but also that there are many other instances in which inhumanity only gave birth to more inhumanity. If the inhumanity thesis were necessarily true, we would need more human rights catastrophes to inspire more human rights progress. And that would be a self‐defeating paradox.     

尊严与道德:从康德的“目的王国”看人的尊严

在康德的"目的王国"里,尊严是最高价值的存在。人的尊严既是一种合目的性的存在,同时也是一种道德的存在。道德是人的尊严存在的价值依据,这种价值依据主要体现在四个方面:一、尊严以独立性为前提;二、尊严以责任为载体;三、尊严通过权利体现出来;四、尊严导向的是道德与幸福的统一。而尊严最终只有在道德王国与自然王国的统一中才能实现。     

Negative Freedom,Catholic Social Doctrine,and the Conciliar Challenge of the Free Society

The idea of “negative freedom” has been at the heart of modern democratic politics; it has also been an idea regarded warily by Catholic social doctrine. To be sure, Catholic social doctrine now embraces the classic negative political freedoms like freedom of religion and freedom of speech. But the hierarchical magisterium of the Church was slow to arrive at such an embrace. And in the last decades the hierarchical magisterium has renewed its skepticism of the idea, seeing it as both important and often misused. This article considers current criticisms of negative freedom by Catholic social doctrine and seeks to respond to such criticisms by appealing to personalist conceptions of freedom in the philosophy of Charles Taylor and in the theology of Walter Kasper. Overall, the aim of the article is to establish a more sure conceptual basis for negative freedom as an essential component of the commitment by the Catholic Church at the Second Vatican Council to the free society.     

Eros and Modernity,or Sympathy and Nihilism

Chantal Delsol's work is distinguished by its articulation of the interdependence of an effective defense of human rights with a truthful understanding of the dignified responsibility of the human person. Most of the experience of the modern world, however, has called into question the sustainability of the experience of the person, while also making it clear that human beings do not have the option of returning to some more holistic world. Delsol reflects on the emptiness of the experience of the modern individual, the inability of modern societies to accord proper dignity to caregiving, and the continuing need for a personal theology.     

在科学发展中让人民生活得更有尊严

"让人民生活得更有尊严",是对"执政为民"理念的新诠释,彰显了党和政府的人文情怀和历史责任,标志着惠及13亿人口的小康社会将跃上新台阶,预示着我国和谐社会建设有了更高的目标追求。"让人民生活得更有尊严",必须从我国国情出发,积极创造条件,努力在科学发展的道路上扎实推进。