An Introduction to Rights

Abstract

An Introduction to Rights is a readable and accessible introduction to the history, logic, moral implications and political tendencies of the idea of rights. It is organized chronologically and discusses important historical events such as the French and American Revolutions. It treats a range of historical figures, including Grotius, Paley, Hobbes, Locke, Bentham, Burke, Godwin, Douglass, Mill and Hohfeld and relates the concept of rights to contemporary debates such as consequentialism versus contractualism. This thoroughly updated second edition includes a new preface and expands the discussion of the surprising role that slavery has played in the history of rights. It includes new material on egalitarianism, distributive justice and what the demand for equal rights means.

Dignity, human rights and the limits of mental health legislation

“…The term human rights refers specifically to rights which a human being possesses by virtue of the fact that he or she is a human being (Edmundson 2004;Ishay 2004;Hunt 2007). Human rights recognise extraordinarily special, basic human interests and do not need to be earned or granted; they are the birth-right of all human beings simply because they are human beings (Edmundson 2004).…”

“…prohibitions on torture and degrading treatment) rather than so-called 'positive rights' (e.g. right to access health-care) (Edmundson 2004;Ishay 2004;Hunt 2007).…”

The Rights Network: 100 Years of the Hohfeldian Rights Analytic

“…The following outlines give a brief insight into what is essentially meant by each of these incidents: 6  "Y is under a duty to do φ in relation to X; thus, X has a claim as against Y": this is a Claim-right.  "X is free to do or not do something; Y owes no duty to X nor X to Y": this is a Privilege-right.…”

How Rights Became “Subjective”

“…Others are braver. In their struggle to make sense of this contrast between “subjective right” and “objective right,” they propose that “right” in the first is a noun, and in the second an adjective, and that this is made explicit by the words “subjective” and “objective” (see Edmundson , 8–9; Ivison , 7ff. ; Vincent , 13, 33, 56)!…”

“…For one thing, as an adjective, “right” has to be qualified by an adverb. To add to the confusion, it is also suggested that “the ‘object’ in objective right is, if anything, the global object of moral assessment or prescription” (Edmundson , 9).…”