Across three main sections, the chapter engages with a discussion about the meaning, histories, and critiques of the idea of human rights. It begins with an exploration of the concept of human rights from different philosophical approaches, and of the main characteristics associated with this idea. Then, the chapter undertakes an exploration of the (possible) history of the concept of human rights that we use in our days. The chapter concludes with a discussion of four different ‘critiques’ of human rights, providing theoretically-grounded tools to query the definition and history presented. The selected critiques are those grounded on Marxist, feminist, postmodern, and postcolonial theories.
