Boylan to Discuss New Book on Sept. 17

Marymount University professor Michael Boylan will discuss his new book, “Natural Human Rights: A Theory” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17 in the Lee Reception Room of the Reinsch Library. The discussion is free and open to the public.

“The book takes the position that there are human rights that belong to everyone at all times and all places,” Boylan said, noting that his position fits into Marymount University’s Catholic mission.

It also counters arguments made in places like the People’s Republic of China, Boylan said, where government officials claim that their country’s different history means Western notions of human rights don’t apply.

The internationally regarded scholar focuses on the history, application and significance of human rights in the West and China, notes his publisher, Cambridge University Press. “Boylan engages the key current philosophical debates prevalent in human rights discourse today and draws them together to argue for the existence of natural, universal human rights.”

The chair of the Philosophy Department at Marymount, Boylan is the author of 26 books and more than 100 articles. He’s been an invited speaker at numerous prominent universities outside the United States, including Oxford, Cambridge and The Sorbonne. He has spoken in 15 countries and five continents. He’s also a published novelist and poet.