Difference between revisions of "What Are Rights?"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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== Natural Rights == | == Natural Rights == | ||
| − | Let's get [[Natural Rights]] out of the way first. Natural rights are exactly as knowable as invisible pink unicorns: anybody can fantasize them any way they want. During the Enlightenment, when liberalism was invented, liberal natural rights were a propaganda tool used to undermine the equally fictitious natural rights of kings. But even among liberals there was no agreement about whether slaveholding was a natural right or not, because natural rights are really just words. Bentham famously dismissed the idea of natural rights as "nonsense on stilts". | + | Let's get [[Natural Rights]] out of the way first. Natural rights are exactly as knowable as invisible pink unicorns: anybody can fantasize them any way they want. During the Enlightenment, when liberalism was invented, liberal natural rights were a propaganda tool used to undermine the equally fictitious natural rights of kings. But even among liberals there was no agreement about whether slaveholding was a natural right or not, because natural rights are really just words. Bentham famously dismissed the idea of natural rights as "nonsense on stilts". Unfortunately, most libertarians (including Nozick) start with this philosophical abomination rather than more factual alternatives. |
For more on natural rights, see: | For more on natural rights, see: | ||
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== Moral Rights And Enforced Rights == | == Moral Rights And Enforced Rights == | ||
| + | A moral right is a rights claim with its correlative claim of duty. An enforced right is a rights claim whose correlative duty is enforced by threat and/or coercion. Moral rights can coexist in contradictory multitudes because they are only words and not enforced. There is no actual protection with moral rights, and natural rights are an example. Enforced rights, on the other hand, can conflict. That's why law is usually dominant and conflicting rights claims are brought to court to decide a winner. | ||
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| + | From here on, I am only going to talk about enforced rights and duties. | ||
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== A Positive Model Of Rights == | == A Positive Model Of Rights == | ||
[[Image:rights.jpg|400px]] | [[Image:rights.jpg|400px]] | ||
