Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

122 MARTIN MCKEEVER
A number of recent theological studies have considered
human rights, 25 noting both the important historical process of
cross-fertilization between theology and this form of discourse,
as well as the weighty systematic questions which emerge when
one attempts to integrate human rights discourse into
theological ethics. We will not repeat here the results of these
useful studies but simply note the manner in which they confirm
the need noted above for a better articulation of the normative
basis of human rights. 26
It is worth noting, however, that just as our reading of the
prelude to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights shows a
strong reliance on ethical principles (without an extensive
articulation of same), so too a reading of documents which
present Official Catholic teaching, particularly on moral issues,
would show an increasingly heavy reliance on the discourse of
human rights as a category of ethical argumentation. In some
cases the underlying ethical values such as the dignity of human
life and duty not to kill, torture or act unjustly toward human
beings are simply stated without further justification. In both
social encyclicals and in those on bio-medical issues (though
interestingly not in the same way) human rights discourse is
invoked as a category of ethical argumentation, but is not
elaborated at a theoretical level. In other documents,
particularly those of a more theoretical nature, the ethical basis
of human rights is sought in an articulation of the natural law
25
See, for example, K. HILPERT, Die Menschenrechte, Geschichte,
Theologie, Aktualität. (Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1991); F. COMPAGNONI, I
diritti dell’uomo, Genesi, storia e impegno cristiano. (Torino: San Paolo,
1995).
26
“Menschenrechte sind also kritische Prinzipien zur Beurteilung der
Gerechtigkeit von positiven Rechtsordnungen. Die positive Geltung der
Gesetze allein und für sich verbürgt noch nicht ihre Gerechtigkeit. [...] Der
Maßstab des Rechts ist nicht die Macht, sondern die in den
Menschenrechten entfaltete überpositive Gerechtigkeit. Das ist dann auch
der Grundgedanke dessen, was man in der Ethik wenigstens seit der Stoa
Naturrecht nannte.” K. HILPERT, Die Menschenrechte, 70. See also F.
COMPAGNONI, I diritti dell’uomo, 189-210; K. Tanner, Der lange Schatten des
Naturrechts, Eine fundamentalethische Untersuchung (Stuttgart-Berlin-Köln:
Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1993).