Abstract
Any moral theory allows for the existence of rights if it regards the interests of some individuals to be sufficient for holding others to be subject to duties. Some writers on morality and politics have suggested that rights are the foundation of political morality, or even morality generally. R. M. Dworkin has suggested that
political theories differ from one another ... not simply in the particular goals, rights, and duties each sets out, but also in the way each connects the goals, rights, and duties it employs. It seems reasonable to suppose that any particular theory will give ultimate pride of place to just one of these concepts; it will take some overriding goal, or some set of fundamental rights, or some set of transcendent duties, as fundamental, and show other goals, rights, and duties as subordinate and derivatives. (1977, p. 171)
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References
Dworkin, R. M.: 1977, Taking Rights Seriously. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Lukes, S.: 1973, Individualism. Oxford.
Mackie, J. L.: 1977, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong. Pelican Books, Harmondsworth.
Mackie, J. L.: 1978, “Can There be a Right-Based Moral Theory?” Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 3.
Raz, Joseph: 1977, “Promises and Obligations,” in P. M. S. Hacker and J. Raz (eds.), Law, Morality, and Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford,
Raz, J.: 1979, The Authority of Law. Oxford University Press, New York.
Raz, Joseph: 1986, The Morality of Freedom. Oxford University Press, New York.
Warnock, G. J.: 1971, The Object of Morality. London.
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Raz, J. (1986). Right-Based Moralities. In: Friedman, M., May, L., Parsons, K., Stiff, J. (eds) Rights and Reason. Law and Philosophy Library, vol 44. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9403-5_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9403-5_11
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