Understanding Rights: Negative and Positive Rights

Study Notes

There are different sorts of rights, including legal rights and moral rights.
Philosophers use the terms "negative rights" and "positive rights" to distinguish between different types of claims.

Negative rights impose a negative duty on others, which is a duty of noninterference.
If someone has a negative right, all others have to do to respect it is refrain from blocking them.
Examples of negative rights include:
- The right to buy a lottery ticket or a steak.
- Freedom of speech.
Negative rights do not conflict, and we can all respect everyone else's liberties at the same time.

Positive rights impose a positive duty on others, which is a duty to provide or act in a certain way.
If someone has a positive right, others have to comply with it to respect it.
Examples of positive rights include:
- The right of criminal suspects to an attorney.
- The right to towing services for members of Triple AAA.
Positive rights can conflict, and this can help us understand which claims are legitimate.
There are two sources of conflict for positive rights:
- Scarcity, where there are not enough resources to satisfy everyone's rights.
- The creation of duties on others to act or provide, which can represent a violation of their negative rights (liberty).

Some positive rights are created by consensual arrangements, such as contractual relationships.
However, if a positive right is not grounded in a consensual arrangement, it can violate the negative rights of others.
This suggests that if we are free and equal by nature, any positive rights would have to be grounded in consensual arrangements.

Impose a negative duty on others, which is a duty of noninterference
Others must refrain from blocking the right-holder to respect the right
Examples include the right to buy a lottery ticket, freedom of speech, and other liberties
Negative rights do not conflict, and everyone's liberties can be respected simultaneously

Impose a positive duty on others, requiring them to provide or act in a certain way
Examples include the right to an attorney for criminal suspects, towing services for Triple AAA members, and other entitlements
Positive rights can conflict with each other due to:
- Scarcity of resources to satisfy everyone's rights
- Creation of duties on others, potentially violating their negative rights (liberty)

Positive rights created through consensual arrangements (e.g., contracts) are acceptable
However, non-consensual positive rights may violate the negative rights of others
If humans are equal and free by nature, positive rights should be grounded in consensual arrangements

In philosophical liberalism, individualism is a core concept, emphasizing that each person is an autonomous individual deserving of respect and dignity equal to that of all others.
Autonomy includes the freedom to pursue personal goals and ambitions, as long as it does not infringe upon the similar freedom of others.

Karl Marx argued that individual autonomy is an illusion, and that our identities are entirely shaped by our socioeconomic class.
Mussolini believed that our identities are determined by our ethnicity.
Modern critics argue that individualism is flawed because our identities are shaped by our communities.

We are members of multiple communities, including family, town, ethnicity, region, nation, religion, interests, affiliations, professions, hobbies, and sports loyalties.
Communities play a role in shaping who we become, but it is a stretch to say that any one community trumps the others or determines our identities.

Despite being part of communities, we still make choices about our values and actions.
Being part of a community allows us to divide labor and benefit from specialization in trade.
The diversity of human interests, talents, and preferences is a testament to individualism, and society is the manifestation of these differences.
If everyone thought the same way and liked the same things, society would be a much less interesting place.