Secular Formatting of the Sacred Human Rights and the Question of Secularization and Re-Sacralization (original) (raw)

Whereas Samuel Moyn has argued that human rights represent the last utopia, sociologist Hans Joas suggests that the modern history of human rights represents a critical alternative to the standard theory of secularization understood as disenchantment (Weber). In Joas's reading, human rights contribute to a sacralization of the person, not only understood as utopia, but as societal ideal. Following Durkheim, Joas understands the sacred within society as the continuous process of refashioning the ideal society within the real society. Although acknowledging Joas's critique of Weber, the author is more critical of his idealization of universal human rights and his affirmative genealogy of this ideal running back to the so-called Axial Age. He argues that the normative and formative function of human rights is better served by a suspicious genealogy of morals, taking also their problematic aspects into account, including their dependence on new forms of violence and cruelty. He concludes that a more modest and pragmatic understanding of human rights may therefore strengthen rather than weaken their authority and future influence. HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE SACRED SPACE OF SOCIETY Sociologist Hans Joas argues in Die Macht des Heiligen (2017) that by studying the place of the sacred within secular society, we may observe how it interrupts and changes society from within. Whereas many nations have constructed the nation as sacred during the 20 th century and still do so today, Joas argues that this is a false sacralization, which leads to violence, militarism, and in some cases totalitarianism. According to Joas, human rights represent an alternative to this story of the sacred nation, emphasizing universal humanitarian values and the sacredness of the person, hence also the de-sacralization of the state (Joas 2019). His argument follows along historical trajectories similar to Samuel Moyn's analysis of human rights as the last utopia (Moyn 2010), yet within a different theoretical framework. Setting out from Durkheim's understanding of the social construction of a sacred space, Joas undertakes a detailed and critical analysis of Weber's theory of secularization as disenchantment of the world. He points out that the idea that religion will gradually disappear in modern society is a narrative based on Weber's contemporary situation, yet with extremely poor historical basis. Joas has previously discussed the term 'post-secular' condition as defined by Habermas (2001) and argued that there was never such a thing as a merely secular society (Joas 2004). In his most recent book, we are offered a more complex, but also a more balanced theory of secularization and re-sacralization as an alternative to Max Weber's theory of disenchantment. The article presents and discusses the theoretical background of Joas's