Pragmatic Rights

In this essay I explore competing senses and tensions of the relation between the etymology of ta pragmata (things) and praxis (doing), with specific attention paid to Heidegger’s theorization of modernity. In so doing I question the relation between rights and persons, and whether there might not be a new way of thinking about rights that does not presuppose or privilege the agency of personhood. Pragmatic rights would not assume the liberal values of self-determination that underpin personhood, and would enable a notion of rights beyond liberal humanism more appropriate for twenty-first century political concerns and problems.