Intro to Rights

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Some of these questions connect with the concept of moral and legal rights. Rights are not an important part of all moral systems, but they are a part of some of the most influential modern theories of morality.

In general, an individual right can be thought of as a moral safety device that is built 'around' an individual to protect him or her from certain kinds of harm. For example, rights are used to protect individuals from becoming nothing more than the means to ends determined by other people. This was done to blacks when they were used as a means to develop the American economy. Individual rights also function as a limitation on what can be done simply because doing it would make most people better off.

Reference: For thoughts on the basis of individual rights, see Social Justice ed. by Richard Brandt, Human Rights by Alan Gewirth, Inalienable Rights by Diana Meyers, and Persons, Rights, and the Moral community by Loren Lomasky. For a full scale philosophical discussion of rights, see Judith Thomson's The Realm of Rights..

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