Abstract: With the current boom in the study of “digital human rights”, it is necessary to think about the fundamental issues of human rights from the philosophical perspective of “possible worlds”. Such philosophical reflection is different from Western human rights philosophy and, more importantly, from human rights law (doctrine). It is based on an understanding of the ontological foundations of the good life, and is also related to the methodological concerns of reassessing intelligent technologies. It not only can be seen as anti-metaphysical, but also features a reconstruction of “the first philosophy”. The example of the “credit human rights” discourse in contemporary China reveals that such thinking has been around for a long time, but has not made sufficient impact in the human rights theory and jurisprudence. Exploring the logic of the construction of the theory of “credit human rights” can reveal the similarities between Western human rights discourse and today's Chinese digital human rights discourse, and reveal the ethical nature of human wisdom in the mist of rights discourse.
Therefore, it is possible to re-understand human wisdom and the wise man and to construct an authentic human right of wisdom for a possible world in the future from a perspective that goes beyond technological intelligence. The conceptual construction of such a human right includes the following elements in broad terms:
Firstly, the beginning of human wisdom is the result of pursuing the balance spirit among the conflict of desires. Ethical justice manifests itself in thought as wisdom. It is a major shift from a man of the material anthropology to a man of the philosophical wisdom theory.
Secondly, in order to maintain wisdom and to be spiritually immortal, man needs to judge in the midst of chaos and pursue balance in judgment. This is the origin of the idea of “human rights”. It does not represent the supreme Dao, but rather the practical process of approaching it. The process of human rights always involves two functions, the regulation of desires and the generation of emotions, which conflict with each other in various ways, thus giving rise to different theories of human rights.
Thirdly, the rise of the modern image of the rational man represents the economic form of the human right of knowledge, which obscures and even alienates the emotional equilibrium law of the human right of wisdom. The practical rationality of the law alleviates this problem, but still fails to get rid of the virtual rationality of the modern era, resulting in the ambiguous expression of the “technical rationality of the law”.
Fourthly, through the modern liberation movement of human nature, the utilitarianism of human rights, led by the modern economics, has faced a powerful moralistic challenge. A series of emotional conflicts and disturbances have led to a growing gap between the expression and practice of the good life of modern people. Without a solution to the problem of emotional balance, the discourse and institutional system of rights justified in the name of human wisdom may no longer be “legitimate” and lose its due credibility. This calls for the rediscovery and re-emergence of the “wise man”, a new revolutionary path taken by the elite of the new era, the elimination of the obsolete parts of the traditional philosophy of life, and the rebalancing of humanity and the world with the wisdom of emotional equilibrium.
Fifthly, the future union of wise men allows mankind to regain the possibility of approaching rationality and balancing the conflict of desires through emotions to bring an end to traditional desires. The national legal system, which is centred on the needs of desires, may be replaced by a system of intelligent jurisprudence of universal empathy. This possible human right of wisdom represents the emergence of a truly rational human being (the ultimate human being), who can be self-terminated. Through this possible human right of wisdom, the “law of the world” can be formed, which is itself a wisdom ontology that transcends any advanced governing techniques.
Key words: Human Right of Wisdom; Possible Worlds; Credit Human Rights; Digital Human rights; Human Rights Philosophy
*About the author: Liao Yi, doctor of laws, professor and director of the Department of Legal Theory, School of Law at Wuhan University.
