University of Tehran Public Law Studies Quarterly 2423-8120 55 1 2025 03 21 Human Rights in Another Mirror: The Phenomenology of Human ‎Rights in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas Human Rights in Another Mirror: The Phenomenology of Human ‎Rights in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas 719 741 98549 10.22059/jplsq.2023.345737.3136 FA Mehdi Rezaei Associate professor, Department of Public and International Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Allam Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran Maziyar Khademi Ph.D Student in Public Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran Alireza Eskandari ..D Student in Public Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2022 11 20 Human rights rank among the symbols of liberal political thought. However, the critical standards of the liberal perspective present an individualistic and antagonistic image of human society. Levinas is a thinker who critiques this aspect. From his viewpoint, human rights derive their objective meaning from the face-to-face encounter with the "other." Thus, an interesting similarity arises between the status of human rights and the phenomenology of this encounter as articulated by Levinas. The main question of this research is: how does Levinas's justification for human rights differ from the liberal approach? From this perspective, one of the most important starting points is the reality that the image of the "other" is not described by a common characteristic found in its social or superficial context. Levinas's justification of human rights responds more convincingly to the common objections that human rights promote individual selfishness and an antagonistic model of society. Levinas defends human rights as the rights of the "other," not as rights based on selfishness. The rights of the "other," according to a non-state condition, possess a kind of trans-territorial character and independence within a political community. The research method is descriptive-analytical. Human rights rank among the symbols of liberal political thought. However, the critical standards of the liberal perspective present an individualistic and antagonistic image of human society. Levinas is a thinker who critiques this aspect. From his viewpoint, human rights derive their objective meaning from the face-to-face encounter with the "other." Thus, an interesting similarity arises between the status of human rights and the phenomenology of this encounter as articulated by Levinas. The main question of this research is: how does Levinas's justification for human rights differ from the liberal approach? From this perspective, one of the most important starting points is the reality that the image of the "other" is not described by a common characteristic found in its social or superficial context. Levinas's justification of human rights responds more convincingly to the common objections that human rights promote individual selfishness and an antagonistic model of society. Levinas defends human rights as the rights of the "other," not as rights based on selfishness. The rights of the "other," according to a non-state condition, possess a kind of trans-territorial character and independence within a political community. The research method is descriptive-analytical. https://jplsq.ut.ac.ir/article_98549_a579d5eea35abe7a55f34e9768d15fa5.pdf