Pragmatist View of Human Rights: Theoretical Explanations of China's Human Rights Practice

YU Xiqiao & GUO Dong

Abstract: The pragmatist view of human rights represents a theoretical condensation of the Chinese practice in human rights development. In view of the problem of circular idling between rights and claims caused by the traditional view of human rights of focusing on contents and not valuing implementation, social segmentation caused by empty talks on interests and claims while ignoring social development, and the phenomenon of the issue of human rights completely becoming empty and useless political rhetoric, the pragmatic view of human rights, based on the fact that there is a gap between the claims and realization of human rights, emphasizes that instead of blindly expanding the types of rights in term of text, it is better to base on practice and promote the maximum realization of existing rights through development. The pragmatist view of human rights attaches importance to relevant economic, social and cultural basis to promote the realization of human rights, rather than only focusing on the claims themselves; it pays greater attention to enhancing the realization of rights, rather than the distribution of rights under the total limit; it advocates more for cooperativism in the realization of rights, rather than confrontation. The pragmatic concept of human rights takes Marxism as its theoretical basis and the gene of practice and the dimension of development as its theoretical characteristics, and promotes the development of human rights through the realization of rights.

Keywords: pragmatist view of human rights · rights and claims · realization of rights · cooperativism · development