Single Idea 22810

[catalogued under 25. Social Practice / C. Rights / 1. Basis of Rights]

Full Idea

Asserting a right is more than issuing an injunction. It has an essential conceptual background, in some notion of the moral worth of certain properties or capacities, without which it would not make.

Gist of Idea

A right is not just a rule, but also asserts certain ideas of moral worth

Source

Charles Taylor (Atomism [1979], p.33)

Book Reference

'Communitarianism and Individualism', ed/tr. Avineri,S. /de-Shalit,A. [OUP 1992], p.33


A Reaction

A simple right may arise from a contract, which could be quite trivial, and of no moral importance. The winner of the egg and spoon race has a right to the prize, which is an ice cream. I think he means legal rights in a state.