Difference between revisions of "What Are Rights?"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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| − | Rights are a far more complex subject than we usually think. Most people would be surprised at how much that their folk models of rights leave out. Libertarians rely on such simple models because they can lead to the right ideological conclusions. At least four fields consider rights: philosophy, law, economics, and anthropology. A good model would be compatible with all four fields. | + | <!-- you can have any number of categories here --> |
| + | [[Category:Mike Huben]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Rights|025]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Under Construction]] | ||
| + | {{DES | des = Rights are a far more complex subject than we usually think. Most people would be surprised at how much that their folk models of rights leave out. Libertarians rely on such simple models because they can lead to the right ideological conclusions. At least four fields consider rights: philosophy, law, economics, and anthropology. A good model would be compatible with all four fields. | show=}} | ||
== Natural Rights == | == Natural Rights == | ||
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For the sake of simplicity, we are only going to consider right (also known as claim right) and duty. A right can be expressed as "R has a right against D to T". For example, Anne has a right against everybody to use her car. '''For every right, there is a correlative duty.''' A duty can be expressed as "D has a duty to R to T". For example, everybody has a duty to Anne to let her use her car. You cannot have a right without creating a duty. | For the sake of simplicity, we are only going to consider right (also known as claim right) and duty. A right can be expressed as "R has a right against D to T". For example, Anne has a right against everybody to use her car. '''For every right, there is a correlative duty.''' A duty can be expressed as "D has a duty to R to T". For example, everybody has a duty to Anne to let her use her car. You cannot have a right without creating a duty. | ||
| − | Libertarians sometimes give lip service to Hohfeld, but the general pattern is to conveniently forget that rights create duties. | + | Libertarians sometimes give lip service to Hohfeld, but the general pattern is to conveniently forget that rights create duties.[[Robert Nozick]] does not index "duty" in [[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]], and indexes Hohfeld only to refer to a meaning of liberty. [[David Boaz]] does not index "duty" or Hohfeld in [[Libertarianism: A Primer]]. [[The Encyclopedia Of Libertarianism]] does not index "duty", but erroneously discusses Hohfeld and duty briefly (without a citation) under Natural Rights: Hohfeld wrote about legally created rights, not natural rights. [[Jan Narveson]] correctly uses rights and duties in [[The Libertarian Idea]], but doesn't credit Hohfeld or anybody else in the legal tradition. |
For more on Hohfeld's classification see: | For more on Hohfeld's classification see: | ||
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== Spheres Of Rights? == | == Spheres Of Rights? == | ||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
| − | + | {{Quotations|title=What Are Rights?|quotes=true}} | |
