Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Rights: Rights in a society are the fundamental freedoms and entitlements that belong to every person, regardless of their race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. They are essential for human dignity and they enable people to live freely and participate in society. See also Human rights, Fundamental rights, Society, Justice, Jurisdiction, Law, Laws, Justice, Participation._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Alan Gewirth on Rights - Dictionary of Arguments
Gaus I 110 Rights/Gewirth/Gaus: Gewirth’s argument, like Benn’s, starts from a broad conception of agency and holds that, given this conception, individuals are committed to claiming for themselves, and honouring the claims of others to, basic rights to freedom and wellbeing. >Actions/Benn. Benn and Gewirth thus share the common project of deriving basic liberal rights from the very idea of moral agency. GewirthVsBenn: Gewirth’s aim, though, is more radical: he argues that the nature of rational agency impels one to make a certain prudential claim, which gives rise to moral claims on others, which reason requires that one generalize. Moral agency is entailed by rationality. (For a general criticism of this type of argument, see Williams, 1985(2): 55–64.) In contrast, Benn distinguishes rational agency from moral agency. It is possible, he argues, to be a purely ‘natural person’ who makes no moral claims: psychopaths, he suggests, may possess rational natural personality – rational agents devoted to securing their goals – but be devoid of moral personality (1988(3): 101–2). Moral persons are those who see others and themselves in terms of moral relations: it is how we do in fact see ourselves, and it is moral persons who would recognize the basic right of non-interference. 1. Gewirth, Alan (1981) Reason and Morality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2. Williams, Bernard (1985) Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy. London: Fontana/Collins. 2. Benn, Stanley I. (1988) A Theory of Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gaus, Gerald F. 2004. „The Diversity of Comprehensive Liberalisms.“ In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Gewirth, Alan Gaus I Gerald F. Gaus Chandran Kukathas Handbook of Political Theory London 2004 |
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