 I
want to get off of libertarianism and Dee's ideas about rights. I
believe in positive rights, and I believe there is a way to justify
them.
I also think that an updated version of the moral theory called utilitarianism is the best overall moral theory. Our ideas about rights and justice should be developed inside that theory.
There are various forms of utilitarianism, but they all agree that we are morally bound to create as much moral good as
possible -- where good is defined as human welfare. So utilitarianism stresses consequences. It is a form of consequentialism. Some utilitarians argue that we should judge each individual act by considering its consequences. Others believe that we should not judge individual acts but rather judge the consequences of following certain rules. I lean toward the latter.
In any case we end up with a version of the principle of utility, which tells us that we should act in such a way (or follow the rules) that will maximize human happiness or welfare. We can extend this principle to social institutions and basic rights. Guided by this principle, we should choose institutions or basic rights that will maximize human welfare.
We can also develop a view of justice within the overall framework of the principle of utility. If we are thinking about distributive justice, for example,
a just distribution is that which results from applying a set of rules that maximize human welfare. This would probably include some rules about property and individual
non-interference rights.
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