Examine the
inter-relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought.
A duty
generally prescribes what we need to do and what we ought not do. it's a reason
for action. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. Duty specifies the terms that are binding on individuals and groups
in their social practices. it's been suggested that our conscious practices are
often seen as motivated by right based, duty-based or goal-based perspectives Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. Rights discourse has been one among the foremost prominent features of up to
date political philosophy and political agendas.
It argues
that persons, mainly as individuals, are the bearers of a body of claims,
liberties and powers which the remainder of the society has got to acknowledge
and public life should be supported such acknowledgement and support. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. Such an
exaltation of rights has led to a deep unease regarding duties and obligations
that are involved the upkeep and reproduction of a just and sane social order
or for fostering and promoting a perfect society. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. The criticisms regarding
privileging of rights within the constitution of an honest society has
delivered to the fore the role of duties, denoting a shift in perspective,
which, while seeing duties as complementary to rights, also construes duties as
marking an area of their own.
Inter-Relationship
Duties and Rights within Liberal Thought
i)
Interest Theory
This theory
was initially stated by Jeremy Bentham who saw rights not as natural or moral,
but as products of law. He argued that the law by creating duties stipulates
rights. He said, “It makes me liable to punishment in case of my doing any of
those acts which would have the effects of disturbing you in the exercise of
that right (Hart, 1978).” There is no right if there is no corresponding duty
sanctioned by law. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. This understanding of the relation is sometimes called as
‘sanction theory’. It makes possession of a right as another’s legal duty and
it becomes a legal duty only if it is liable for punishment. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. This way of
constructing duties need not preclude social sanctions of a kind. Individuals
as members of non-state organisations may be subject to rules and to the
imposition of sanctions, if they break those rules. Being subject to sanctions
means having duties and those who benefit from those duties can be said to have
rights.
ii)
Choice Theory
The choice
or will theory counter poses itself against the interest theory stipulating the
relation between rights and duties. One of the important proponents of this
theory is H.L.A. Hart. He suggested that a right is a form of choice. The
essential feature of a right is that the person to whom the duty is owed is
able to control the performance of that duty.
iii)
Autonomy
Autonomy is
the capacity for reflection and to formulate and revise our preferences,
desires, values and ideas. The philosopher Immanuel Kant advanced a theoretical
formulation of this notion and put forward a specific conception of duty in
relation to this capacity. He suggested that the behaviour of the nonhuman
world is governed by nature. Non-human beings did not will to act, but acted
subject to natural forces and instinct. To the extent human beings acted on the
basis of their appetites and emotions, they too acted heteronomously, i.e.
according to laws and dictates given externally and not by themselves. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. The
characteristic mark of human beings is their reason, which enabled them to
deliberate the way they should act and will to act accordingly. In following
this reason, they acted autonomously; they acted in accordance with their duty.
The morality prescribed by reason was a matter of ‘practical necessity’. Moral
agents understood this necessity and acted accordingly. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. Through his capacity
for autonomy, an individual acted according to a law that he had prescribed for
himself rather than on external dictates.
iv)
Justice
John Rawls
proposes a set of principles to inform a just society which, he argues, all
reasonable people will concur. These principles establish a fair and equal
basis for collective life expressed in terms of rights. Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought. These principles of
justice lead to two sorts of principles: Principles for institutions which
apply to the basic structure of society, and principles for individuals which
set the duties and obligations of persons with respect to institutions and one
another.
Citizens are
duty-bound to support just institutions as they themselves concur to them. For
Rawls, persons are bound to abide by social practices upholding a just society
on the basis of natural duty or obligation. He, therefore, makes the
distinction between duty and obligations. Persons may be bound by natural duty
or obligation. Natural duties are those moral claims that apply to persons
irrespective of their consent such as to help others in distress, not to be
cruel etc. Such duties are not tied to particular institutions or social
arrangements, but are owed to persons as persons. The liberal tradition on the
relation between rights and duties remains profoundly complex Inter relationship of duties and rights within liberal thought.. A great part of
this complexity has to do with the kind of values prioritised under different
tradition of liberalism.
Those
perspectives which give priority to rights tend to make duties supportive to
rights. Those traditions which insist on certain perfectionist values that a
society should promote tend to be more emphatic on duties.
