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How Ontological Realism Matters in Life and
Learning
Professor dr.philos. Janne Haaland Matlary,
Institute of Political Science, University of Oslo and the
National Defence University College
Guest Lecture, Catholic University, April 19th, 2011
Department of Political Science
When Might Becomes Human Right –
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 What is a human being?
 How can we know, if at all?
 Is there truth to be discovered?
 If yes, human rights exist
 If no, they are politics – or positive law –
 In my own life, the quest for answers led me to the
Church and to my profession
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First Principles in Life and Learning:
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 Is tremendous – you probably take it for granted,
but in Norway there are no Catholic high schools or
universities
 But historically, the Church invented both –
Benedictine schools early in Roman empire, church
ran education in many states to the present day
 Church at forefront of knowledge and all sciences,
ex. Jesuits and astronomy
 Pontifical Academy of Science
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The Catholic intellectual contribution
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 Is the human being and the question of meaning
 There is no contradiction between faith and science
 It all starts with ontology – that which exists, then
with epistemology – how we know
 Take the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Chiabou: Does
his freedom of expression exist when his
government says no? - Likewise, can slavery be
adopted if a majority wants it? –
 The answer depends on ontology
Department of Political Science
The essence of being and knowing
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 All that exists, is power, therefore
 All law is but positive law
 Ergo, freedom of expression exists if the Chinese
politbureau so decides
 Freedom of expression is a function of human
dignity,
 Is inherent and inalienable, thus apolitical
 Ergo, freedom og expression belongs to Liu
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Arguments
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 Aristotle: man is a social and rational animal
 Ergo, he can reason about both «fact» and
«value», what we call natural law
 Nietszche: will to power is the human drive,
 Ergo, power determines everything
 The Church developed the natural law tradition and
upholds it
Department of Political Science
Aristotle versus Nietszche
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 1946 The Nuremburg Trials – a higher law than
positive law
 1948 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights –
authoritative, ’peremptory norms’
 ”Human rights are based on human DIGNITY and
are INHERENT” – preamble
 Natural law tradition in Europe and in US liberal
arts colleges and universities
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What are human rights?
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 No importance until 70s (anti-apartheid), and
Carter’s presidency
 Only really important at end of Cold War when
communism ceased to insist on absolute state
sovereignty
 Human rights take precedence over state
sovereignty in international law
 States are obliged to secure the HR of their citizens
Department of Political Science
After 1948…
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 Through the international courts (ICC; ECHR,
ICTY, Rwanda-tribunal)
 Through monitoring
 Through media and NGO ’shaming’ – scrutiny from
international and national actors
 HR only «common ideology» today
Department of Political Science
The Power of HR
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 European Convention of Human Rights,1950; court
in Strasbourg
 Especially important on rights of prisoners, fair trial,
etc. But valid only for signataries
 Norway is inspected by Council of Europe and
reprimanded, visits to prisons, etc. We have been
critisized over our use of custody
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Other HR sources
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 A Charter of HR
 Is part of the constitutional treaty, may become law
 Own court
 HR conditionality towards third countries, including
trade partners
 EU major actor besides the US
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Also the EU develops HR
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 From European to Universal, but only politically and
legally important after 1990s
 Aggressive advocates want to change human rights
– or can they be changed? Ex. The family and
marriage
 Legal view that HR are dynamic – and politically the
HR concept is extremely useful
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Human Rights to stay
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 I sit on an expert panel tasked to propose how to
do this
 Europeans depend on the Strasbourg Court today.
They just ruled on the presence of crucifixes in
Italian state schools. This case illustrates the
dilemma: If HR cannot be defined objectively, they
become powerful political tools of manipulation
 Lautsi vs. Italia - case
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A Bill of HR into the Norwegian
Constitution?
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 I negotiated for the Holy See in several UN
conferences
 We uphold and support international human rights
 The Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 is a
natural law document
 But how should one interpret «evolution»,
development, etc?
 Checks and balances needed in international
system
Department of Political Science
The Holy See and Human Rights