Rights Ethics
States that our entitlements as members of society are the foundations of ethics.
Origin of rights ethics
During the period of enlightenment as a protest agianst the concept of absolute sovereignty.
Locke's Position
States that we have natural right to own property. By mixing our labor with the land, it becomes our property.
Rand's Position
Argued that a Laissez-faire capitalist society is the only type that can protect people's natural rights.
Claims of Natural Right Ethics
Natural rights stem from our human nature, which is a special creation of god. All and only humans have rights. Rights are self-evident and inalienable. We do not have to qualify for or earn these rights. Rights exist indepedently of and prior to duties.
Principle of Equality
All humans are created equal.
Libertarian
Places more value on liberty rights. Opposed to placing any social or political restraints upon individual freedom.
Marx Critques
Argues that the list of so-called natural rights was historically conceived to justify certain economic and political systems and to protect the landowning burgeois.
Gustavo Gutierrez Critque
Argues that the right to private ownership has been won at the expense of the rights of the poor.
Moral rights v. Legal rights
Legal rights are bestowed by a particular government to the governed people and are relative to specific cultures and governments. On the other hand, moral rights are the rights individual creators have in relation to copyright works or films they have cr
Positive Rights
(welfare rights); Entail the right to receive certain social goods such as adequate nutrition, housing, education, and police and fire protection.
Negative Rights
(liberty rights); Entail the right to be left alone to pursue our legitimate interests without interference from the government or other people.
John Rawls
Attempts to resolve the conflict between liberty rights and welfare rights through the application of his principles of justice.
Rights and the moral community
Only those in the moral community possess rights. The possession of rights has been interpreted as stemming from either: a power of self-assertion or the interests of beings.
Critiques of right ethics
Theological basis of natural rights ethics, whih privileges humans as a special creation, is difficult to justify. The belief of natural ethicists that rights are self-evident is problematic. The seperation between liberty and welfare rights is not clear