Drawing on some of Kant's views in the third Critique, it is argued that metaphor-making is a paradigm of creative imagination. Current conceptions of individual autonomy and political agency rely on individualistic conceptions of the moral and political subject, defined by Western values that are an integral part of the liberal democratic political culture. These conceptions cannot be presumed to be universal. Particular heed must be paid to the challenges that this raises for Western liberal democratic assumptions about individual autonomy and political agency. I will suggest that this issue should become a central concern of democratic theorists.
Meaning is shared in successful communication.
Successful communication does occur. Therefore, meaning is objective. The identification of human rights with western culture or civilisation has enjoyed a good deal of currency in non-western cultures as well as among certain groups in the west. In recent years we have seen discussions of Asian, African and Islamic models of human rights as well as claims by western critics that human rights are just one more example of European imperialism. This suggests that there is something that could be called a 'western human rights tradition,' a tradition that stands in opposition to other traditions.