Understanding Human Rights

• Reasoning about human rights involves understanding the existence, scope, and justification of these rights.

Fundamental Questions

• "What are human rights?" can inquire about the evidence for their existence or if a specific claim qualifies as a human right, such as the right to privacy
• One might also question how human rights are distinct from other forms of rights like legal or moral rights
• "In saying a right is a human right, we mean that it can be given a specially compelling justification."

The Concept of Rights

• Understanding human rights requires conceptual analysis to address controversies over their existence and justification. Conceptual analysis examines ideas and notions commonly associated with the term "rights" to clarify their meanings and connections.
• This analysis differs from providing a strict definition as it offers reasons and weighs interpretations of how the term is used.
• Analysis aims to give an "adequate and neutral account" of what people mean when discussing rights.

Considerations

• The analysis focuses on the concept of rights, while a theory of rights aims to justify claimed rights.
• The correct application of the concept relies of facts and reasons in specific situations.
• A shared understanding of the concept and its terms is necessary for agreement.
• Key Western thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson, John Locke, and Thomas Paine shaped historical ideas about rights.

Social Context

• Rights have a social character to their nature.
• Philosopher Martin Golding illustrates this point using the story of Robinson Crusoe, who lacks another human to interact with.
• When Crusoe is alone, it seems strange to ask if he has the right to eat or go wherever he pleases.
• Rights come into play and are applicable only when they are in social contexts.
• Claims are directed to audiences who can respond by satisfying or frustrating those demands.

Entitlements

• Rights contrast with privileges and gifts, which often require application or demonstration of worthiness.
• Rights should be based on goodwill or convenience.
• Rights are a person's due, and the violation of those entail a wrong doing.
• Being regarded as a rights-holder equates with personal dignity and moral worth.

Lower State example

• Rights demonstrate entitlements.
• Students deserve serious consideration of a case where they feel wrongfully graded.
• Claims of rights should not be deflected or defeated due to inconvenience for others.

Lower State continued

• A rights-holder is wronged by the violation of the right itself, beyond any loss of benefit.
• Rights violations assault dignity and integrity, treating individuals as less competent.
• Asserting one's rights involves asserting oneself as a moral agent.

Important Considerations

• People may claim rights they are not entitled to.
• Justification of rights-claims must be given.

Correlative Duties

• Rights imply that others should act or not act in certain ways.
• In the case of a student's right to have their case heard, there must be people who have a duty to make the opportunity available.

Defining Freedom

• Freedom is the absence of restraint.
• Rights add the obligation of others not to interfere, and a public duty to protect the freedom in context to freedom.

Important distinctions

• General (in rem) rights impose a duty on everyone
• Special (in personam) rights impose a duty on an assignable individual.
• An example of this is loans.

Important qualifications

• Determining obligations with general rights is difficult to determine
• Not all duties imply correlative rights.

Objects of Rights

• Describes the focus of Rights
• Rights are the actions of the holder
• Substance is the object or goal of the holder
• Examples: Rights to food, rights to free speech

Basic rights

• Philosophers and rights theorists increasingly recognize rights with objects to allow individuals to function as normal agents.
• Henry Shue regards rights as basic if its enjoyment of them is essential in allowing the enjoyment of all rights.

Diana Meyers

• Refers to basic rights as "inalienable"
• Identifies four: life, personal liberty, freedom from gratuitous acute pain, and satisfaction of basic needs (adequate food, water, clothing, shelter, and medical treatment for survival).

Alan Gewirth

• Recognizes most basic goods minimally necessary for agency
• Divides goods into different categories: basic, nonsubtractive, and additive

Understanding Rights

• Distinction helps understand why a right is not negated when the rights-holder is not provided with their object.
• Rights claims are because people are seeking the object of the right
• Actions can be claimed as a result of autonomous choice.

Individual Discretion

• Rights-holders are able to have discretion to waive their rights, but rights-holders often have the discretion to exercise or to waive their rights.
• Suggesting "exercising rights", rights empower rights-holders in addition to benefitting them.

Universalizability

• Rights are very closely connected with equal rights
• This happens because there is no difference between people.

Impartiality

• Those who are unequal have to bear the burden of proof.
• Basic needs of safety and food are reasons for equality.

Natural Rights

• Based on traits people can have in common
• It also does not need legal protection.

Moral Rights

• Rights can exist even if the the people are denied access
• Rights can exist if people's claim is disrespected.
• Important to distinguish between legal and moral rights
• Power only creates benefits if there is already legitimacy.

Importance

• To ensure rights for those with whom we share society.
• Ambiguous because it did not distinguish between moral community and political order.

2. THE JUSTIFICATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

• Rights must be a moral right with convincing reasons to be a moral value.
• Consider strengths, relevance, importance
• When the concept of rights is accepted, the group has a practice of rights.