Human Rights Ethics makes an important contribution to contemporary philosophical and political debates concerning the advancement of global justice and human rights. Butler's book also lays claim to a significant place in both normative ethics and human rights studies in as much as it seeks to vindicate a universalistic, rational approach to human rights ethics. In the spirit of Hegel and Habermas. Butler proposes to vindicate a "totally rational account of human rights," but one that depends on a right to freedom of thought in its universal modes.