Human rights and war in the phylosophy of international law in Habermas

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present a critical view of Habermas’ Philosophy of International Law. Starting, just as him, from a Kantian basis, a few basic aspects of Habermas’ theory will be analyzed, such as his debate with German jurist Carl Schmitt (1), his formulation of Cosmopolitan Law (2) and the weak importance he gives to Human Right (3). From then on it will be shown that his Philosophy of International Law, despite its role in the structuring of future global institutions, is somewhat inappropriate to resolve contemporary international issues, such as those related to humanitarian intervention (4).