Lynn Hunt's Inventing Human Rights

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Lynn Hunt's Inventing Human Rights Lynn Hunt's Inventing Human Rights is about the rise of these in the 18th century. The title of this book is a bit misleading though. This book focuses more on how human rights emerged in the 18th century rather than why they even exist. See, for her, it wasn't about the crisis addressed by current laws. No, it was the literature of the times; in particular, novels. She argues that in order for human rights to be self-evident, two psychological components had to come into play. The first component, or factor, being that folks had to see themselves as individuals with free will. Everybody having equal liberty and the capacity of reason. Second, was learning how to sympathize with one another. Seeing others in their same position, with their own hopes and dreams. Hunt states that, through novels of passionate correspondence and private lives, readers identified themselves with the characters. Especially with female characters who strived to acquire or preserve their autonomy and wholeness. Hunt begins the argument growing from of Richardson’s Clarissa and Pamela. She also touches on Rousseau’s Julie. What's interesting to me is that these novels weren't philosophical or political. The rise of the novel allowed people to develop profound feelings for the autonomy of another person. It dug up in folks the hidden ability to relate with other people in different situations than that of themselves. After reading Richardson's work, Diderot commented on the narrative technique in a eulogy he did of Richardson: "How many times, did I not surprise myself, as it happens to children who have been taken to the theatre for the first time, crying: “Don’t believe it, he is deceiving you… If you go there, you will be lost.”p.55 This newly discovered ability to empathize with someone who they've never met eventually led to broader civil

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