Category Archives: rights theory

What are rights?

Philosophers and lawyers have expended a lot of intellectual energy thinking about questions of what rights really are, about when a right is genuine, what the nature of a right is, what the value or the purpose of a right … Continue reading

Posted in human rights, rights theory, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Human Rights vs Property Rights

If the purpose of human rights is to protect human beings’ fundamental interests, the claims persons have against one another in respect of other kinds of interest should not be allowed to have a human rights justification. The inclusion of … Continue reading

Posted in human rights, rights theory, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: what if we were updating it today?

With the Global Citizenship Committee due to hold its inaugural meeting in Edinburgh, we the public have been invited to contribute thoughts on this question.  Here in Edinburgh, in the Ethics Forum hosted by the Just World Institute, we have … Continue reading

Posted in human rights, rights theory, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What does it mean to have a duty ‘to’ someone

This is the question explored in my latest article (Tim Hayward, ‘On Prepositional Duties’, Ethics, 123.2 (2013): 264-291).  We familiarly speak of a person having a duty ‘to’ another person, but are we really clear what this expression conveys? I … Continue reading

Posted in rights theory, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment