The American philosopher Seyla Benhabib will present a new approach to Hegel’s philosophy of right in her lecture “Hegel’s Concept of the Person and International Human Rights Today.” Professor Benhabib notes, “One of the great achievements of post-World War II legal developments is to declare that ‘all humans,’ and not nationals or citizens alone, are to be considered as persons entitled to international human rights. There is a great deal of skepticism today among intellectuals as well as politicians and the general public about the validity and coherence of such claims.”

On the day after the Hegel lecture, Seyla Benhabib will hold a workshop that aims to examine more precisely themes from her presentation. Students and doctoral candidates in humanities fields are invited to attend. In order to participate you must register in advance by May 29. To register, please send an email to hiwisdhc@zedat.fu-berlin.de. You will receive details about the workshop with confirmation of your registration.

Seyla Benhabib is the Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science and Philosophy at Yale University. She has also taught at Harvard University and the New School for Social Research in New York. Among her many awards and achievements, Benhabib is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Meister Eckhart Prize of the Identity Foundation and the University of Cologne, and honorary degrees from Valencia, Utrecht, and Istanbul.

Founded in 2007, the Dahlem Humanities Center (DHC) at Freie Universität Berlin brings together the broad range of humanities research that is unique to Germany. It provides an interdisciplinary forum for an exchange of ideas on both a local and international level. The highlight of the DHC’s public activities is the annual Hegel Lecture. The personalities that are invited as speakers include outstanding scholars in the humanities and persons engaged in the cultural sector. The lecture is intended for the general public as well as an academic audience.