Human Rights and the environmental question: a review of Enrique Dussel

Abstract

This article, based on bibliographical research and supported by some of the writings of the Argentine thinker Enrique Dussel (1980; 1993; 2000; 2012; 2015; 2004; 2003) and in dialogue with other researchers (Herrera Flores, 2009; Wolkmer; Lipstein, 2017; Mignolo, 2017; Quijano, 2005; Costa; Loureiro, 2015; 2019), focuses on the relationship between the Critical Theory of Human Rights and the environmental issue in Latin America (LA). To this end, the text is organized into two main axes, which follow the introduction, where we reiterate the need to critically reflect on human rights through the recognition of the living and denied subjects of the liberation process in Latin America. In the first, we will address the relevance of Dussel as a thinker who radically discusses Latin America based on the relationship between his Philosophy of Liberation and Human Rights. In the second, we will indicate some elements of the political critique of the philosopher from Mendoza for the debate on the Critical Theory of Human Rights and the implications for the environmental issue in Latin America through the historical and violent colonial subjugation imposed by the model of capitalist civilization.