Human rights is minimally defined as as those necessary legal guarantees for the exercise of human agency.
Human rights is the unresolved tension between the juridical world of equal states and the geopolitical world of unequal states.
Human rights is a wrong-headed notion that sees the human being as a rights-bearer by virtue of being human. Instead, arendt, claims, one's 'right to have rights' should be based upon one's membership to a political community.
Human rights is a problematic discourse because it tends to make the political community a mere means for preserving the rights of man. Instead the individual ought to be the means and the collective ought to be the end.
Human rights is a problem best addressed through a sentimental education that creates a sense of empathy in ourselves and others so as to understand others' suffering.
Human rights is not grounded in the exercise of human reason but rather is built upon a sentimental vision of humanity. That is, while human rights are not rationally defensible, but they do (or ought to) emanate from a sympathetic identification with others.