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John asked:
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Please give me a definition of a "right".
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Please start the definition with: "A right is ......", and do not use the word "right" after the verb.
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============
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Some human rights are universal, and some are not. If one has a right solely by virtue of being
human, then that right is universal: it applies universally,that is, to allmembers of the class of beings
called "human." For example, one has the right to live unmolested by others just becauseone is a
human being. It is a universal human right. We may also call it a "negative" right because having the
right confers no benefit on the rights-bearer. Also, we meet our obligation to respect each other's
universal human rights at no cost to ourselves.
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There are some rights, however, which one subset of human beings has while other subsets do not.
They are rights particularto those subsets. For example, the right to cast one's vote for a candidate
for the Presidency of the United States (or any elected office of any country) is a particular human
right. Being human is a necessary but not a sufficient condition of having the right to vote: there are
other conditions that one must also satisfy (e.g., being a citizen of a certain country, being of a certain
age, legal status, etc.).
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Another example is the right to receive payment for goods or services. When people voluntarily
undertake to exchange certain goods or services (either for money or for other goods or services),
each party gains rights in what the other offered in exchange. These particular rights may be called
"positive" because they confer benefits on those who have them. Also, positive rights are honored at
a cost, either voluntarily assumed (as in economic exchange, e.g., I owe you money and you owe me
goods or services) or involuntarily imposed (as in a governmental electoral system that is paid for by
taxes).
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A right is not an observable property of the being that has it, but the correlative of a moral prohibition:
"Do not do this to (or, do not refrain from doing this for) this being." A right is a moral boundary line. A
physical boundary line either canor cannotbe crossed. A moral boundary line, however, can but may
not be crossed. Human (and other) beings are values that morally limit the kinds of actions that
human beings, who are capable of appreciating those values, may take. Justifying this (or any other)
theory of right, however, would require working out a general theory of value, which we obviously
cannot do here.
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Tony Flood
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