I've read the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Human Rights
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights-human/
but thats about it.
Can anyone recommend texts or essays on the The more Philosophical side of the notion of Universal Human Rights?
Their ontological status, etc. Anything exploring the idea of Human Rights as a kind of Modern Mythos with a instructive/normative "purpose".
There was an essay by David Kennedy (?) that was very critical of Human Rights discourse that I vaguely remember reading.
I guess I find a lot of the general public discussion of Human Rights seems to treat them as almost like godlike decrees that have are "real" in some sense beyond other laws upheld by authority.
Stanford Encycl:
2.1 How Can Human Rights Exist?
The most obvious way in which human rights exist is as norms of national and international law created by enactment and judicial decisions.