Single Idea 21785

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights]

Full Idea

Hegel says we are only truly free, and so bearers of rights, in so far as we claim our freedom. ...So there are no merely natural rights, and animal's have no rights.

Gist of Idea

We are only free, with rights, if we claim our freedom, and there are no natural rights

Source

report of Georg W.F.Hegel (Lectures on the Philosophy of Right [1819], p.78) by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'Rights'

Book Reference

Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.187


A Reaction

If there are no natural rights, then it is hard to see how claiming a right will create it. I can't create a right to drink the best champagne. It seems particularly unjust to deny rights to people so enslaved that freedom has never occurred to them.