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not warrant any retaliatory force. Many dictatorships and People’s Moral Rights
States will outlaw certain types of speech as being dangerous or Entitlements can also derive from a system of moral standards
inflammatory or against the will of the people, but this independently of any particular legal system. Moral rights or
censorship is just an evasion of reality - hoping that if a problem human rights are based on moral norms and principles that
is ignored it will go away. Freedom of speech is required for specify that all human beings are permitted or empowered to
liberty because without the freedom of speech, you cannot do something or are entitled to have something done for them.
persuade others of what is right and what is wrong. Without the Moral rights, unlike legal rights, are usually thought of as being
freedom to persuade others, only force can make people act in a universal insofar as they are rights that all human beings of every
particular way. It is an important check on government because it nationality possess to an equal extent simply by virtue of being
allows transgressions to be identified and fixed rather than human beings. Unlike legal rights, moral rights are not limited to
hidden and perpetuated. a particular jurisdiction.
Right to Self Defense Moral rights are rights that impose prohibitions or require-
The right to defend yourself is a corollary to the right to life. You ments on others and which thereby enable individuals to choose
must be able to protect what is yours when it is threatened. If you freely whether to pursue certain activities or certain interests.
are being attacked the situation leaves the realm of morality - it These moral rights identify those activities or interests that the
leaves the realm of the everyday and becomes an emergency. In individual is empowered to pursue, as he or she chooses; and
such an emergency, anything goes. That is the choice that your they protect the individual’s pursuit of those interests and
attacker has made, and he must live with his choice. The activities within the boundaries specified by the rights.
government must maintain the right to bear arms so that self The features of Moral Rights are:
defense will be possible.
1. Moral rights and duties go hand in hand. Students you
Some say that right is just an individual’s entitlement to do should try to understand that if you know your rights then
something. A person has a right when that person is entitled to you have to know your duties also as a responsible citizen.
act in a certain way or is entitled to have others act in a certain way This is because one person’s moral right generally can be
toward him or her. But according to Jonah Goldberg : A right is defined – at least partially in terms of the moral duties other
not an “entitlement.” A right is inalienable, which people have towards that person. To have a moral right
means that it cannot be violated by anyone for any reason. It necessarily implies that others have certain duties toward the
should not be violated by freelance goons, the Mafia, or even the bearer of that right. Duties, are generally the other side of
government. It cannot be, in good conscience, violated for any moral rights: If I have a moral right to do something, then
reason: not for “the public good,” or to feed other people. The other people have a moral duty not to interfere with me
price of having rights means respecting those of others.
when I do it.
This is because, if everyone stole, raped, and murdered, then no
one would be safe and no rights would exist. Adhering to the In some cases, the correlative duties imposed by a right may
rights of others is the price of a free society. This is why respecting fall not on any specific individual but on all the members of
the rights of others is integral to having rights of one’s own. a group. If a person has the right to work, this does not
Rights are powerful devices whose main purpose is that of necessarily mean that any specific employer has a duty to
enabling the individual to choose freely whether to pursue certain provide that person with a job.
interests or activities and of protecting those choices. In day-to- 2. Moral rights provide individuals with autonomy and equality
day basis we use the term right for all these things: in the free pursuit of their interests. A right identifies activities
1. We use the term right to indicate the mere absence of or interests that people must be left free to pursue or not
prohibitions against pursuing some interest or activity. pursue as they themselves choose and whose pursuit may not
be subordinated to the interests of others except
2. We use the term right to indicate that a person is authorized or
for special and exceptionally weighty reasons.
empowered to do something either to secure the interests of
others or to secure one’s interests. 3. Moral rights provide a basis for justifying one’s actions and
for invoking the protection or aid of others. If I have a
3. The term right is sometimes used to indicate the existence of moral right to do something, then I have a moral
prohibitions or requirements on others that enable the justification for doing that. Moreover, if I have a right to do
individual to pursue certain interests or activities. something, then others have no justification for interfering
Types of Rights with me.
Legal Rights How Moral Rights are Different from Utilitarianism:
The entitlement may derive from legal system that permits or • Moral Rights express the requirements of morality from the
empowers the person to act in a specified way or that requires point of view of the individual while utilitarianism
others to act in certain ways toward that person: the entitlement is expresses the requirements of morality from the point of
then called legal right. Legal rights are limited to the particular view of society as whole.
jurisdiction within which legal system is in force. • Moral rights promote the individual’s welfare and protect the
individual’s choices against encroachment by society while
utilitarianism expresses the requirements of morality from the
point of view of society as a whole.
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Positive and Negative Rights to care, for the upbringing of their children; doctors have a
Since the concept of rights limits the actions of the govern- ment, special duty to care for the health of their patients; and manag-
the only way to circumvent them is by adding new rights that are ers have a spe-cial duty to care for the organization they
allegedly superior to the others. The concept of Positive Rights administer.
was developed. These new rights differ from the old rights. In each of these cases, there is a publicly accepted institution
Instead of involving freedom from interference from others, (such as a familial, medical, or corpo-rate institution) that
these new rights demand goods and services. defines a certain position or role (such as parent, doctor, your
1. Positive Right is when you have a right to something that manager) on which the welfare of certain vulnerable persons
means you can force someone else to provide you with it (such as the parent’s children, the doctor’s patients, the manag-
ers corporate constituencies) depends.
2. A Negative Right is when you have a right to something, but
you have to gain/maintain it yourself. Society attaches to these institutional roles special duties of
caring for these- vulnerable dependents and of protecting them
Negative rights is distinguished by the fact that its members can
from injury, duties that the person who enters the role knows he
be defined wholly in terms of the duties others have to not
or she is expected to fulfill. When a person freely enters the role
interfere in certain activities of the person who holds a given
knowing what duties society attaches to the ac-ceptance of the
right. On the other hand positive rights do more than impose role that person in effect enters an agreement to fulfill those
negative duties. They also imply that some other agents have the duties.
positive duty of providing the holder of the right with whatever
• So what kind of ethical rules do you think govern contracts.
he or she needs to freely pursue his or her interests. Contractual
The system of rules that underlies contractual rights and
Rights and Duties
duties has been traditionally interpreted as including several
Contractual rights and duties (sometimes called special rights
moral constraints:
and duties or special obligations) are the limited rights and.
correlative duties that arise when one person enters an agree- 1. Both of the parties to a contract must have full knowledge
ment with another person. For example, if I contract to do of the nature of the agreement they are entering.
something for you, then you are entitled to my performance: 2. Neither party to a contract must intentionally misrepresent
You acquire a contractual right to whatever I promised, and I the facts of the contractual situation to other party.
have a contrac-tual duty to perform as I promised. 3. Neither party to the contract must be forced to enter the
How Contractual Rights and Duties are Different contract under duress or coercion.
from Other Rights and Duties: 4. The contract must not bind the parties to an immoral act.
Contractual rights and duties are distinguished, Contracts that violate one or more of these four conditions
1. Contractual rights are attached to specific individuals and the have traditionally been considered void.
correlative duties are imposed only on other specific individual. Overview
If I agree to do something for you, everyone else does not • A ‘right’ is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a
thereby acquire new rights over me, nor do I acquire any new man’s freedom of action in a social context. Rights are
duties toward them. absolute.
2. Contractual rights arise out of a specific transaction be-tween • The price of having rights means respecting those of others.
particular individuals. Unless I actually make a promise or
enter some other similar arrangement with you, you do not Activity
acquire any contractual rights over me. Briefly discuss moral rights. How are moral rights different
3. Contractual rights and duties depend on a publicly accepted from utilitarianism?
sys-tem of rules that define the transactions that give rise to
those rights and duties. Contract for example, create special
rights and. duties between people only if the people recognize
and accept a system of conventions that speci-fies that by doing
certain things (such as signing a paper) a person undertakes an
obligation to do what he or she agrees to do
Without the institution of contract and the rights and duties it
can create, modem business societies could not operate. Virtually
every business transac-tion at some point requires one
of the parties to rely on the word of the other party to the effect
that the other party will pay later, will deliver certain services
later, or will transfer goods of a certain quality and quantity.
Contractual rights and duties also provide a basis for the special
duties or obligations that people acquire when they accept a
position or a role within a legitimate social institution or an
organization. Married parents, for example, have a special duty
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