Rights and duties are correlative conceptions, that is to say, every right carries with it a corresponding obligation. They are like the two sides of a coin. Rights depend upon duties. “It is only in a world of duties that rights have significance”.
Also, every right requires social recognition, without such recognition, rights are empty claims. Rights do not exist in a vacuum. They require the sanction of society. A right is likewise not a selfish claim. It is a disinterested desire; it is something which is capable of universal application. In asserting my right, I am really rendering a public service and when I fight for the rights of others, I may do so at great personal loss or inconvenience to myself.
Older societies as a rule did not recognize rights to any great extent. They had only petitions and charities. Modern societies on the other hand give a very important place to rights. The French Revolution did not ask for charity; it demanded the rights of men. Some, if not all, of our present day constitution’s guarantee certain fundamental rights for their citizens. Rights have a tendency to grow. New rights frequently come into being, e.g. the right to work, the right to strike, and the right to retain one’s job when one is on strike etc.
At a glance
- Examines Rawls’s two principles of justice and the original position
- Compares five theories of rights, including natural, legal and historical theories
- Discusses Fordism and post-Fordism in relation to democratic economic systems
- 15 sources in the bibliography
Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.2 THEORIES OF RIGHTS
1. The theory of natural rights
2. The legal theory of rights
3. The Historical theory of rights
4. The social welfare or the social expediency theory of rights
5. The idealistic or personality theory of rights.
CHAPTER 2 PARTICULAR RIGHTS
2.1 Right of life
2.2. Implication of the right to life
1. The duty to live.
2. The duty not to commit murder
3. The right to self defense
4. The right to reproduce life coupled with the right to be born without heavy handicaps
2.2. THE RIGHT TO LIBERTY
a) The meaning of liberty
b) Types of liberty
i) Natural liberty
ii) Personal liberty
iii) National liberty
iv) Constitutional liberty
v) Civil liberty
vi) Political liberty
vii) Economic liberty
viii) Moral liberty
2.3. Liberty and Authority
2.3.1 Law and liberty
2.4. Liberty and Equality
2.5. State of Regulation of liberty
1) The right of personal security
2. Liberty of thought, speech and writing
2.5.3 The right to criticize the government
2.5.4 Liberty of the press
2) Liberty of Action
2.5.6 Collective action
a) The right of public meeting
b) The Right of Association
c) The right to boycott, protest and strike
d) The liberty of Religious opinion and practice
2.5.11 The right of conscience
e) The right to resist the State
2.5.13 Punishment
i) The right to punish
a) The retributive theory
b) The deterrent theory
c) The Reformatory Theory
4. The right to property
2.6.1 The evolution of property
2.6.2 Characteristics of property
2.6.3 Theories of property
i. The occupation theory
ii. The legal theory
iii) The Labor Theory
iv) The individualistic theory
v) The socialist theory
vi) The communist theory
vii) The idealistic theory
2.6.11 The case for and against private property
CHAPTER 3 LIBERTY AND EQUALITY
1. EQUALITY
3.1.1 The Legal Dimension of Equality
3.1.2 Political Dimension of Equality
3.1.3 Social Economic Dimension of Equality
3.2 Liberty and equality
CHAPTER 4 THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Development of the concept of justice
4.3 Sources of the idea of justice
4.3.1 The idea of nature had a natural order of things, as a source of justice
4.4 Legal dimension of justice
4.5 POLITICAL DIMENSION OF JUSTICE
4.6 SOCIAL DIMENSION OF JUSTICE
4.7 ECONOMIC DIMENSION OF JUSTICE
4.8 JUSTICE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME
4.9 JOHN RAWLS: A THEORY OF JUSTICE
CHAPTER 5 DEMOCRACY
5.1 THE MEANING OF DEMOCRACY
5.2 FORMS OF DEMOCRACY
5.3 FORMS OF GOVERNMENT
5.4 THE CLASSICAL CASE FOR DEMOCRACY
5.5 THE CASE AGAINST DEMOCRACY
5.6 REMEDY AND CONCLUSION
5.7 CAPITALISM, SOCIALISM AND DEMOCRACY
5.7.1 Introduction
5.7.2 Democratic capitalism
5.7.3 Criticism of democratic capitalism
5.7.4 Democratic socialism
5.7.5 Criticisms of democratic socialism
5.7.6 Current issues affecting democratic capitalism and democratic socialism
1. Corruption
2. Fordism and post- Fordism
3. Poverty
4. Micro-finance
5.8 CONSERVATISM AND LIBERALISM
5.8.1 Conservatism
5.8.2 Liberalism
5.8.3 Communitarianism
CHAPTER 6: LAW
6.1 The philosophy of law
6.2 The nature of law
6.3 Sources of law
6.4 LAW AND MORALITY
Objectives and Themes
This work introduces foundational ideas in political theory and jurisprudence, examining how rights, liberty, equality, justice, democracy and law relate to one another. Its guiding concern is how individual freedom and social obligations can be reconciled within a political community.
- Competing theories of rights and their relationship to duties
- Life, liberty, property and the limits of state authority
- Legal, political and socioeconomic dimensions of equality and justice
- Rawls’s principles of distributive justice
- Democratic government and competing economic and political traditions
- The nature, sources and moral limits of law
Excerpt from the Book
THE RIGHT TO LIBERTY
Liberty is the essential quality of human life. There can be no absolute freedom anywhere in the society. The only “absolute” right to the full and the development of his/her personality. The right to liberty is relative to this end. No man has the right to pursue his inclinations irrespective of consequences.
Freedom in the negative sense means the mere absence of restraint. But it does not say whether such freedom is good or bad. What is wanted is positive freedom which may be defined as the positive opportunity for self-development or for the continuous expression of one’s personality.
J.S. Mill asserts that “liberty means protection against tyranny of political mors”. The rulers, however essential their presence was for the continuance of the body politics are regarded as holding interests antagonistic to those of the people, and to the limitations of monarchical power was what was meant by the liberty of the people. This limitation took the form of winning recognition for certain immunities and political initiatives and the establishing of constitutional checks. In the course of time, it was found that it would be better to have representatives or delegates of the people as magistrates of the state because the power of the nation concentrates in a forum convenient for exercise. In short, liberty came to mean the popularizing of government.
But soon, liberty proved a mirage, and there came to be the anomaly of a “tyranny of the majority”. Tyranny of the prevailing opinion and feeling. This tyranny was found to be more thorough going and even more deadly than the tyranny of the individual ruler. And in its attempt to come once again to the forefront was born or a new form of liberty. It is to this form of liberty that Mill gives his chief attention in his celebrated essay. “On liberty, his aim being to safeguard the individual even his eventicities and oddities against the attacks of society.
Chapter Summaries
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: Introduces rights as claims connected to duties and social recognition. It compares natural, legal, historical, social welfare and personality theories of rights.
CHAPTER 2 PARTICULAR RIGHTS: Examines life, liberty and property, including their relationship to authority, social obligations and punishment. It considers forms of liberty and competing theories of property.
CHAPTER 3 LIBERTY AND EQUALITY: Explores equality’s legal, political and socioeconomic dimensions and its relationship to liberty.
CHAPTER 4 THE CONCEPT OF JUSTICE: Traces ideas of justice and their legal, political, social and economic dimensions. It discusses income distribution and Rawls’s theory of justice.
CHAPTER 5 DEMOCRACY: Considers democratic forms, arguments for and against democracy, and conditions for its effective operation. It also discusses capitalism, socialism, conservatism, liberalism and communitarianism.
CHAPTER 6: LAW: Surveys philosophical approaches to law, its nature and sources, and the relationship between legal obligation and morality.
Keywords
rights, duties, liberty, equality, justice, democracy, political theory, natural rights, property, distributive justice, John Rawls, sovereignty, jurisprudence, morality
Frequently Asked Questions
What is this work about?
It introduces political and legal ideas concerning rights, liberty, equality, justice, democracy and law.
What are its central themes?
Its themes include theories of rights, individual freedom, property, equality, democratic government, distributive justice and the relationship between law and morality.
What is the work’s primary aim?
It aims to explain foundational political and legal concepts and explore how individual claims relate to social obligations and public authority.
What approach does the author use?
The work uses conceptual discussion and comparison of political and legal theories, drawing on the ideas of named philosophers and political thinkers.
What does the main discussion cover?
It moves from theories of rights to particular rights, equality, justice, democracy and the philosophy and sources of law.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include rights, duties, liberty, equality, justice, democracy, property, sovereignty, jurisprudence and morality.
How does the work distinguish negative and positive liberty?
It describes negative liberty as the absence of restraint and positive liberty as an opportunity for self-development and the expression of personality.
How is Rawls’s theory of justice discussed?
The discussion introduces the original position, the veil of ignorance and two principles concerning basic liberties and social and economic inequalities.
What economic perspectives on democracy are considered?
The work discusses democratic capitalism and democratic socialism, their criticisms, and issues including corruption, changing production systems, poverty and microfinance.
- Quote paper
- Professor Nicholas Sunday (Author), 2013, Fundamental Principles of Rights, Law and Democracy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/209592
