Human Rights: Philosophical Essence and Research Methodology

  • Vira TYMOSHENKO

    Doctor of Law, Professor, Leading Research Fellow of the Research Laboratory on Forensic Support and Forensic Expertise of the Educational and Scientific Forensic Expertise Institute of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

    03035, 1 Solomianska Sq., Kyiv, Ukraine

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2947-5627

Abstract

Abstract. The article solves a number of problems that serve to substantiate the philosophical concept of human rights. It is assumed that the awareness of the philosophical essence of human rights will contribute to their proper implementation. This determines the relevance of the article. The goal is to clarify the possibilities of scientific approaches and methods of researching the philosophy of human rights and conceptualize this philosophical and legal category. Methodological basis: phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches; methods of theoretical and empirical, formal and logical, systems analysis. Conclusions: human rights as a philosophical category are ethical, ontological and normative boundaries that protect the freedom, dignity and value of the individual, while proceeding from the traditions of natural law and ensuring social justice and sustainable development of the individual and society. Each individual approach or method of researching human rights does not provide a complete description of this complex phenomenon. Accordingly, the most effective is a synthetic approach, which is based on a combination of different methodologies and allows us to consider human rights as a specific philosophical and legal category. The scientific novelty lies in explaining the essence of human rights on the basis of harmonizing the fundamentalist and functionalist approaches in their understanding, identifying the practical benefits of substantiated techniques and methods of scientific research of the philosophy of human rights, which contributes to a person’s awareness of the true essence of their rights, their connection with duties and influences people’s behavior. The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that by realizing the essence of human rights in connection with duties, one can comprehend the meaning of their implementation and predict the consequences, which means influencing human behavior, thereby preventing offenses and crime.

 

Keywords: anthropology; ontology; axiology; freedom; humanism; legal positivism; natural law.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Vira TYMOSHENKO

Doctor of Law, Professor, Leading Research Fellow of the Research Laboratory on Forensic Support and Forensic Expertise of the Educational and Scientific Forensic Expertise Institute of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

03035, 1 Solomianska Sq., Kyiv, Ukraine

References

Agalliu, P., & Liçenji, A. (2025). A hermeneutical analysis of human rights protections in the deployment and regulation of AI systems in the Western Balkans. Multidisciplinary Science Journal, 8(1). DOI: 10.31893/multiscience.2026061

Ahlqvist, T. (2022). An outline of future-oriented dialectics: Conceptualising dialectical positions, trajectories and processes in the context of futures research. Futures, 143. DOI: j.futures.2022.103037

Amorosa, P., Schröter, K. (2023). History of Human Rights Law. International Law. DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0249

Barrera, D., Gërxhani, K., Kittel, B., Miller, L., & Wolbring, T. (2024). Experimental Sociology. Outline of a Scientific Field. Publisher (pp. 11-66). Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/9781009099653.003

Bazzani, G. (2025). Solidarity reimagined in the face of global challenges: The emergence of altruistic solidarity. European Journal of Social Theory. DOI: 10.1177/13684310251360994

Brandao, P.R. (2025). The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Modern Society. Al, 6(8). DOI: 10.3390/ai6080190

Carvalho, M.I., & Albuquerque, C. (2025). Human Rights-Based Social Work Perspective, Ethics, and Practice: An Exploratory Literature Review. Journal of Human Rights and Social. Work, 10, 647-661. DOI: 10.1007/s41134-025-00393-9

Erdogan, M. (2021). The Rise of Hermeneutics in Human Rights Interpretation in the Case-Law of the ECtHR and the Domestic Courts. Annales de la Faculté de Droit d’Istanbul, 70, 91-118. DOI: 10.26650/annales.2021.70.0004

Fontanelli, F., & Dzehtsiarou, K. (2025). Admissibility criteria and access to justice in regional human rights jurisdictions. A Comparison of the European, Inter-American, African and Arab Human Rights Courts: Institutional Aspects (pp. 99-123) (1st ed.). Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-6265-695-6_5

Forte, D.F. (2022). Natural Law and Universal Human Rights. Emory International Law Review, 36(4), 694-712. Retrieved from https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/eilr/vol36/iss4/6

Jensen, K., Krause, M., & Witkovsky, B. (2025). Human Rights as a Lay Category of Thought: Content and Structure in the United States. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 11. DOI: 10.1177/23780231251333455

Kociołek-Pęksa, A., & Menkes, J. (2017). Axiology of human rights on the premises and determinants of contemporary discourse in the philosophy of international law. Bratislava Law Review, 1(2), 129-136. DOI: 10.46282/blr.2017.1.2.82

Mahlmann, M. (2023). The Concept of Human Rights and the Global History of an Idea. In: Mind and Rights: The History, Ethics, Law and Psychology of Human Rights (pp. 41-198). Cambridge University Press. РDOI: 10.1017/9781316875520.002

Mangur, F. (2026). Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights and their Interpretation in Contemporary Thought. Journal of Applied Science and Social Science, 16(1), 616-618. Retrieved from https://www.internationaljournal.co.in/index.php/jasass/article/view/3065

Melani, Y., Salahudin, S., Firdaus, M., Sumitro, S. (2024). Human Rights Studies: A Systematic Literature Review (SLR). QISTINA Jurnal Multidisiplin Indonesia, 3(1), 584-596. DOI: 10.57235/qistina.v3i1.2348

Moen, L.J.K. (2026). Freedom and relational equality. Philosophical Studies, 183, 25-44. DOI: 10.1007/s11098-025-02420-x

Morska, N. (2022). Ontology of human rights in todays globalized world: the philosophical dimension. Amazonia Investiga, 11(60), 264-271. DOI: 10.34069/AI/2022.60.12.27

Orbik, Z. (2019). Human rights in the light of the concepts of natural law. Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology Organization and Management Series, 9(6), 275-284. DOI: 10.29119/1641-3466.2019.140.22

Pace, S.R. & Gabel, S.G. (2025). Evidence for the impact of the human rights-based approach in social policy and programming: A scoping review. International Social Work, 68(5), 786-801. DOI: 10.1177/00208728251336086

Permana, A.A. (2024). Understanding Religion, Human Rights, and Conflict: Philosophical and Sociological Perspectives. Hanifiya Jurnal Studi Agama-Agama, 7(1), 161-172. DOI: 10.15575/hanifiya.v7i2.35901

Tchoukou, J.A. (2025). Regulating Gender Violence in Postcolonial Societies: Is Legal Pluralism a Problem for Human Rights? Journal of Human Rights Practice, 17(1), 22-42. DOI: 10.1093/jhuman/huae043

Thu, H.T., & Chung, D.H. (2026). The Dialectical Relationship between Human Resource Development and the Realization of Social Justice within Social Security Systems: A Political Philosophy Perspective. Indian Journal of Information Sources and Services, 16(1), 763-774. DOI: 10.51983/ijiss-2026.16.1.79

Tymoshenko, V.I. (2024). Sociological theories of state and law: history and modernity. Kyiv: NAIA. Retrieved from https://elar.naiau.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/28300

Tymoshenko, V.I., Makarenko, L.O., Tarasevych, T.Yu., Kovalchuk, Yu.I., & Atamanchuk, I.V. (2021b). Legal positivism in criminal law and criminology: A retrospective analysis. Journal of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, 28(2), 243-251. DOI: 10.37635/jnalsu.28(2).2021.53-61

Tymoshenko, V.I., Maksymov, S.I., Makarenko, L.O., Kravchenko, О.S., & Kravchenko, S.S. (2021a). Threats to human rights in a globalized world. Amazonia Investiga, 10(39), 9-15. DOI: 10.34069/AI/2021.39.03.1

Wulakada, A.-G.H. (2025). Philosophical Approach in Legal Research. Journal of Public Representative and Society Provision, 5(3), 545-553. DOI: 10.55885/jprsp.v5i3.606

Yushchyk, O.I. (2017). Methodological paradigm of scientific knowledge of law. Journal «ScienceRise: JuridicalScience», 2(2), 14-20. Retrieved from http://nbuv.gov.ua/UJRN/srjusc_2017_2_5

Zylberman, A. (2016). Human rights and the rights of states: a relational account. Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 46(3), 291-317. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/26445089


Abstract views: 5
PDF Downloads: 2
Published
2026-07-01
Section
Philosophy and philosophy of law