Abstract

The program for this conference indicates that one of the fruitful, and thus positive, consequences of the conjunction of the western Enlightenment with Christianity has been political freedom and democracy, the breakup of state absolutism, and the establishing of human rights. Since these political-legal practices and ideals now appear to be almost universally approved or aspired to, we might hypothesize that they transcend, or serve as the ultimate political telos, for all cultures and societies. On the other hand, the truth might simply be that the push for democracy and human rights around the world represents nothing more than the pressures of western hegemony