Constitutional basic-rights orders are ‘unsaturated’ and point beyond the status quo.

Evidence

The peculiarly demanding normativity of constitutional orders founded on basic rights is a function of their ‘unsaturated’ character, in virtue of which they point beyond the status quo. … The distinguishing feature of the universalistic moral conceptions that arose with the worldviews of the axial age is that they call for the equal treatment of all persons in principle. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 11

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the key concept of ‘unsaturated’ rights — their demanding normativity derives from pointing beyond the status quo.
• XREF: Builds on the axial-age argument common in critical theory (e.g., Assmann, Eisenstadt); the idea that rights remain ‘unsaturated’ is the engine of Habermas’s progressive-realization thesis. — connects to: Human-rights appeals merely shift authority between unequal sovereign states

Related

• Human rights became an exceptional right for the underprivileged. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Human-rights appeals merely shift authority between unequal sovereign states #complicates (0.72)