Tensions of Modernity

Politics today is marked by tension between claims of universal human rights and diversity. From the war on terror to immigration one of the major challenges facing liberalism is to understand the scope of equality in a world in which certain peoples are perceived to reject and/or violently resist democratic principles. This book revisits Europeâs initial encounter with the Native Americans of the New World to shed light on how the Westâs initial defense of so-called âbarbariansâ has influenced the way we think about diversity today and elucidate the arguments of exclusion that unconsciously permeate the moral world we live in. In doing so Daniel R. Brunstetter traces Bartolomà de Las Casasâs oft heralded defense of the Native Americans in the sixteenth century through the French Enlightenment. While this defense has been rightly lauded as an early example of human rights discourse tracing Las Casasâs arguments into the eighteenth century shows how his view of equality enabled arguments legitimizing the annihilation by âjustâ war of those perceived to be âbarbariansâ. This philosophical narrative can be useful when thinking about concepts such as just war multiculturalism and immigration or any area in which politics confronts radical difference. . Language: English