Abstract
This study discusses the highly original approach to human rights presented by Emmanuel Lévinas in his article Les droits de l homme et les droits d autrui and its analyses in light of some of his other works. The author shows that the Lévinasian approach to human rights stems from the analysis of phenomenality of the ethical relation between me and the other, a decisive point in which his understanding of human rights departs from the tradition of natural rights.
The departure is illustrated by a comparison between samuel Pufendorf s and Lévinas views of the origins of human society. The author also investigates Lévinas critical departure from kantian universalism and the foundation of Justice in the ethical relationship and the question provoked by the Third. human rights are shown to belong to those whose singularity is based on their being elected in the responsibility for the other.