Epistemologies of the South and Human Rights: Santos and the Quest for Global and Cognitive Justice

Abstract

This article offers an introduction to Boaventura de Sousa Santos's general philosophical orientation, explores the concepts of "abyssal thinking" and "epistemologies of the South," and draws consequences for the theory of human rights, taking into consideration the idea of rewriting the history of rights in the context of colonialism and Santos's proposal of a post-abyssal conception of rights and intercultural dialogue. This piece ends with some considerations on the cultural and political conditions for advancing a new understanding of human rights.