Libertà e diritti tra India ed Europa. Un approccio genealogico ai valori culturali

Freedom and Rights between India and Europe. A Genealogical Approach to Cultural Values - This paper will deal with the issue of human rights and multiculturalism away from cultural relativism and universalism while taking inspiration from Nietzsche’s Moral Genealogy. In particular, the concepts of karma, dharma and trivarga (an indian traditional form of particularism in the law) will be explained as they are expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most important texts of Indian philosophical literature. From this analysis it will emerge the impossibility of deducing the idea of human rights from the Sanskrit text. Not because the Bhagavad Gita adopts a communitarian conception of the self but because it entails a very complex and interesting idea of freedom which is little compatible with contemporary human rights discourse. Then, it will be quoted a criticism against the Bhagavad Gita based on the historical genealogy of cultural values, as it was formulated by B.R. Ambedkar - Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution. Finally, this writing will highlight some of the misunderstandings revolving around human rights and multiculturalism. This will be done while suggesting a genealogical approach where different intellectual and law traditions challenge and implement each other, rather than being locked in a sterile mutual respect.

Clelia Bartoli, Libertà e diritti tra India ed Europa. Un approccio genealogico ai valori culturali in "DIRITTI UMANI E DIRITTO INTERNAZIONALE" 3/2009, pp 541-563, DOI: 10.3280/DUDI2009-003006