ABSTRACT
The twentieth century saw the worst wars in the history of humankind, in terms of destruction as well as geographical extension. But that same century also produced hitherto unseen international structures for dealing with war and conflict, most prominently the United Nations. The charter of the United Nations and many of its other documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reflect the truly international state of world politics. They express a number of ethical and political ideals, but without referring to one particular philosophical or religious position to justify them. Rather, they follow the pattern of what American political philosopher John Rawls has called “overlapping consensus”2 – they express claims that (for most people) do stand in need of philosophical or theological underpinnings, but they leave it open to the reader which tradition to refer to. They thus concentrate on conclusions that adherents of different religions and world views should all be able to embrace, based on their own terminology and inventory of ideas. In other words: in spite of a plurality of philosophical premises, we expect humankind to be able to agree on certain conclusions, for the sake of peace and human dignity.
