Introduction to Ethics Philosophy 2030 Introduction to Ethics Class #19 Collect “What Do You Do?” 1 & 2 Hand Out “What Do You Do?” #3, Due 5/17 Read Chapter 13, pp. 665-680 Class Essay/Memoir/Story Due on 5/19 Final Exam 5/24

How Does a Person Obtain Rights? John Bentham denied the existence of natural rights and argued that all rights are given by the society in its laws. John Stuart Mill, as you recall, argued that a person has the right to be left alone if he is doing no harm to society. Libertarians following Mill typically distinguish between negative rights and positive rights. According to this view, positive rights are those rights which obligate others to act on your behalf. Negative rights are those which prohibit others to act against you.

How Does a Person Obtain Rights? Negative rights include rights such as freedom of speech, private property, freedom from violent crime, freedom of worship, habeas corpus, a fair trial, freedom from slavery and the right to bear arms. Positive rights include police protection of person and property and the right to counsel, as well as economic, social and cultural rights such as public education, health care, social security, and a minimum standard of living.

How Does a Person Obtain Rights? Libertarians typically believe that a person fundamentally has negative rights. John Hospers and Ayn Rand suggest that our basic right is not to be interfered with. Other philosophers (typically liberals) emphasize positive rights. Karl Marx suggested that a person has the right for his needs to be satisfied. He would allow the sacrifice of negative rights in order to achieve this. Most philosophers do not go as far as Marx, but John Rawls argues that negative rights are fairly meaningless without positive rights. What is the good in having free speech if one is starving to death?

What Does Equality Mean? We typically wish to pronounce that persons are equal. Such seems to be the principle of fairness. But what does this really mean? Our text suggests two different versions of equality: 1. Fundamental Equality. That all persons should be treated equally by the government – no special privileges (American Declaration of Independence) 2. Social Equality. That all persons should be treated equally within the social framework – equal opportunity (Mill), e.g. voting, running for political office Note that neither of these versions require sameness in ability or talent. Should we make dancers wear shoes of lead?

Justice There are fundamentally two kinds of Justice: Criminal Justice That is, the methods by which fundamental (and perhaps social) equality is achieved through the administration of laws. Distributive Justice In short, who gets what in the society?

Justice On the matter of distributive justice, John Rawls takes issue with John Stuart Mill’s libertarian view by emphasizing the importance of positive rights to achieve fairness in distributive justice. He suggests that everyone should have equal access to social goods. He asks us to consider his “thought experiment” in which we must determine the rules for society without knowing what our position in it will be. This view is Kantian in spirit.