Abstract

Article 6 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has the right to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law. Article 15 proclaims everyone’s right to a nationality. This paper will concern itself with both of these rights in order to show that human rights, with their focus on the individual, are not at all limited to the so-called western societies, but are a necessity that impact all human beings. Particularly, Hannah Arendt’s view on the relation between politics and law on the one hand, and her understanding of thinking, imagining and judging on the other, can sharpen the view on the limits and the possibilities of human rights today. Furthermore, the paper will demonstrate the close intertwinement of freedom of thought and political freedom.