Assignment in Comparative Human Rights Law

Session 2
On the “Philosophical Basis”of Human Rights by Magallona
Chapter Summary
Submitted by
Joselito C. Manuel

Magallona emphasizes that looking back at the philosophical basis of the human
rights would not yield “one explanation”. In his essay, he stressed on one point: To look at
history. Historical events play a crucial role in shaping what human rights is today. Socio-
political and economic climate occuring throughout history, coupled with the „philosophical‟
thinking at those era influenced the development of human rights as we know it today. Not
only this, but people‟s perspective on human rights varies depending on their religious,
cultural, and educational background.
According to Magallona, even before Aristotle, there has norms regulating human
conduct vis-à-vis morality or human morals: of those divine origins and those of conventional
laws or „agreements‟ of men. Citing a synthesis by one publicist of the International Bill on
Human Rights, it can be said that looking at history, from the bourgeois revolution, feigning
away from monarchy, to the socialist, anti-exploitation revolution from the perceived
capitalists, then the anti-colonialism thrust post WW2, the International Bill on Human
Rights is a by product of history. The events happening then, the way of thinking of the
people or actors then gives the historical „truth‟ of the origins of human rights. The perceive
social injustice, economic inequities, and political repression that happened in those major
milestones culminated into the bill.
This can be seen in the how the 1987 Constitution was framed. While all the
necessities for building a „state‟ and giving it its powers and prerogatives, its additional
clauses were all in response to the predecessor administration‟s handling or denial of people‟s
„human rights‟.