Theoretical foundations for interdisciplinary study of human rights

Abstract

The article discusses the problematics of interdisciplinary study of human rights and the possibility
of development of a coherent theoretical basis thereof that would contribute immensely into the human
rights field both academically and practically. The question the author raises is whether there would be
a possibility for human rights scholars to go beyond legal positivism and to overcome postmodernist
methodological cul-de-sac or whether there may be such an analytical framework that would provide
the tools necessary to supplement the contemporary human rights studies conducted within social sciences
and humanities – which are almost inclusively descriptive – with a number of explanatory models.
The article presents the comparative and critical analysis of the theoretical findings in the literature
on human rights by the numerous scholars in history, philosophy, international relations, anthropology
and ethnology, as well as natural science in order to establish the premises upon which it could
be possible conduct effective interdisciplinary research on human rights which would include where
analysis units are Individual, groups of individuals, communities, nations and supranational structures
respectively.

Key words: sociology, human rights, paradigmatic impasse, interdisciplinary research.