| Rights + Morals

| Morality: What is moral or immoral in a particular situation? eg: tram-car What would a utilitarian say? What would a rights-based (deontological) thinker say?

| Morality: “But that’s just… wrong!” Is that enough to ban something? Why/ why not? –Is something else going on here?

| Utility: How judge best utility? –Offensive music? What about my friends and family? What about fundamental, inherent, non-derogable human rights?

| Deontology: What if respecting rights does not promote the most efficient outcomes? Are we all deontological? –Torture? –Independence movements? –Anti-terrorism laws?

| Rights: What are rights? Where do they come from? –God –Utility –Human –Social Contract Why does this matter?

| Rights: POSITIVE v NEGATIVE rights –Govt leave me alone vs govt give me stuff What about: –Torture? –Reproductive rights? –Education? Healthcare? Workers rights?

| Rights: INDIVIDUAL v COMMUNITARIAN rights Does the community have rights and interests as distinct from the individuals who comprise it? Is it ever fair to limit the freedoms of the individual to benefit the concept of the community? –Is it effective?

| Rights Limits: JS Mill’s Harm Principle Freedom until cause harm How direct must the causation be? –Smoking? Drugs? Seatbelts? What about communitarian harms? –The ‘ick’ factor again

| Rights Limits: Consent State can intervene when you can’t competently choose –What about the individual means they can’t consent? –What about the activity means they can’t? Collective action problems? Is this a situation of positive intervention to protect rights?

| Rights Limits: When rights clash: This happens often – examples? Who wins? –The Rightiest Right? –The one with most utility?

| Death Penalty: Aff: If you break the law and kill people, lose rights. Deterrent effect (utility) Community safety + security (utility) Neg: Rights to life for all Wrongfully convicted (utility/rights) Disproportionately effects certain people